Dan Mullen became only the third coach in SEC history to lead his new team to a win over his previous team a year after changing jobs. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Gators Notebook: Mullen Shows 'Em Who, Toney Time, More Tidbits
Sunday, September 30, 2018 | Football
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By: Ethan Hughes, FloridaGators.com Intern
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the days leading up to Florida's game at Mississippi State, photos emerged on social media of Bulldogs fans and students wearing T-shirts with the words "Dan who?" written on them. The shirts were present once again during the game on Saturday night.
The message was simple: they aren't pleased with Gators coach Dan Mullen's decision to leave Mississippi State after nine years with the school to take the head coaching job at UF.
Here's guessing they won't forgive him anytime soon.
Mullen reminded Bulldogs fans of exactly who he is on Saturday night, as his second-half adjustments proved crucial in Florida's 13-6 defeat of the No. 23 Bulldogs (3-2, 0-2 SEC) at Davis Wade Stadium.
In the first half, UF (4-1, 2-1) more or less ran its basic offensive and defensive schemes with little variation. The result was a grind-it-out half of football, with MSU holding a 6-3 lead at halftime. The Bulldogs outgained the Gators in the half 159-131, including just 40 yards rushing by UF.
Offensively, MSU's highly acclaimed defensive line, led by preseason All-Americans Montez Sweat and Jeffery Simmons, caused Florida's offensive front problems in both the running game and the passing game, sacking redshirt sophomore quarterback Feleipe Franks once and pressuring him on several other occasions.
On the other side of the ball, UF utilized a bend-but-don't-break approach, allowing the Bulldogs to chew up some clock and move the ball but getting stops when they needed them.
"We just had to be more physical," Mullen said. "I think that was the biggest aspect of us. It wasn't like there were gaping holes everywhere and there were explosive play after explosive play. It was, they were knocking us back a little bit and getting kind of the ball-control, move the sticks. I don't know if that was their plan coming in, but, I mean, we had three possessions in the first half. We felt like they were really trying to run the clock and shorten the game and slow the game down a whole bunch."
MSU coach Joe Moorhead confirmed that slowing the game down was part of his game plan.
"I think we were making a concerted effort to run the ball and come out to establish the run," he said. "I think in the first half, we had a bunch of carries. We threw nine passes, and we were moving the ball with some success on the ground. That's what we wanted to do coming out early."
There are a lot of good coaches out there with solid schemes. However, the ability of a coach to humble himself, admit what he's doing is not working and change on the fly is what separates good coaches from great ones.
It's early in his UF tenure, but Mullen appears to have that trait.
In the second half, Mullen ran the ball outside the tackles more and utilized a quick-hitting passing game. Getting the ball out of Franks' hands quicker neutralized the Bulldogs' pass rushers and allowed UF to take advantage of some mismatches on the perimeter.
Mullen and his staff also involved some different players in the second half. Sophomore receiver Trevon Grimes had six catches for the season entering Saturday. He caught four passes for 34 yards against the Bulldogs. Redshirt sophomore tight end Lucas Krull caught his first pass since opening weekend. Freshman tight end Kyle Pitts made his first career grab. Freshman running back Dameon Pierce, normally used in a reserve role with the game in hand, carried four times for 30 yards, all in the second half.
Defensively, coordinator Todd Grantham blitzed early, late and often in between. Florida sacked MSU quarterback Nick Fitzgerald five times in the second half.
"We play Kentucky [playing ball-control], and they had a similar plan," Mullen said. "I think we got guys jump out of gaps, trying to make a play like, 'Oh, we got to get off the field. I'm going to go try to make a play on my own,' instead of just doing your job, filling your gap, playing fit. Just be a little bit more physical, a little bit more stouter, and, all of a sudden, that first-and-10, second-and-4, third-and-1 goes from first-and-10 to second-and-9 to third-and-7, and that's a different deal. That was a big adjustment to be honest with you."
Added Fitzgerald: "They did a really good job mixing up pressures and mixing up looks for us. We just didn't make the plays we needed to."
The result was UF outgaining the Bulldogs 226-43 in the half, outscoring them 10-0 and winning an important game.
What kind of coach can push seemingly all the right buttons at halftime of a road conference game?
Gators fans have been wanting to see more of sophomore receiver Kadarius Toney, and they got more Toney against the Bulldogs. He ran the ball twice for 20 yards, caught a pass for nine yards, returned a kickoff 21 yards and threw the decisive touchdown pass. Kadarius Toney
Midway through the third quarter and with UF threatening at MSU 20-yard line, Toney, who played quarterback in high school, went in motion to the left. Franks took the snap, threw a backward pass to Toney, who then lofted a beautiful ball over two Bulldogs defenders and right into the waiting arms of redshirt senior tight end Moral Stephens.
It was the only touchdown in the game. It was also Toney's first career touchdown pass.
"They're a really aggressive defense," Mullen said. "We'd been driving the ball. We got the ball in the red zone. We'd been throwing some quick screens. All of a sudden, they jump up on the quick screen, and the double pass is open."
Gators defensive end Jachai Polite finished with two sacks on Saturday. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
(NOT SO) POLITE
Junior defensive end Jachai Polite took over the game in a big way.
He recorded two sacks, doubling his career total, notched two tackles for loss and knocked down a pass at the line. He was in the backfield on almost every play and completely disrupted everything MSU was trying to do offensively.
Polite's dominance forced the Bulldogs to account for him on every play, opening things up for Grantham to get creative with blitzes.
Polite has a reputation for being an energetic, hard-playing guy with enormous potential. For whatever reason, he hadn't been able to tap into that potential. He did on Saturday night, much to the chagrin of everybody in maroon and white. HUGE WEEK AHEAD
The Gators won a rivalry game at Tennessee and followed it up with a hard-fought road win over a top-25 league opponent. However, they don't have much time to enjoy the victories, with No. 5 LSU coming to Gainesville on Saturday.
The Tigers are 5-0 and fresh off a 45-16 beatdown of Ole Miss. They also handled Miami, a top-25 team, in a neutral-site game on opening weekend.
"The next week is going to be harder [than this week]," Franks said. "I think we're going to enjoy our win next day but get our bodies back [to feeling right] tomorrow and be ready to work again on Monday.
"We have to prepare and work twice as hard as we did last week for next week. We just have to be ready to go on Monday and start that all over."
In addition to the game, SEC Network's SEC Nation will be in town, Tim Tebow is being inducted into the Ring of Honor and the 2008 National Champion Gators will be recognized on the field. Oh, and there's still bad blood between the two teams from 2016 when the game controversially was moved from Gainesville to Baton Rouge due to Hurricane Matthew. Florida won that one, while LSU extracted revenge last year in the Swamp.
