Gators Respond as Scoreboard Has Final Word

Gators quarterback Kyle Trask threw for a career-high 363 yards in a 56-0 thumping of Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. (Photo: Anissa Dimilta/UAA Communications)

Gators Respond as Scoreboard Has Final Word

Saturday, November 9, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Call it a roast. An old-fashioned beatdown. A kick in the teeth.

If it's possible, Florida's 56-0 victory over Vanderbilt underneath a clear-blue sky Saturday afternoon might not have been as close as the score indicated.

Say what?

"Should have scored a whole bunch more,'' Gators head coach Dan Mullen said. "In the first half, we left a bunch of points out there."

Mullen stated the obvious considering how Florida's bounce-back victory played out. This one could have been over a lot sooner than it actually was.

The No. 10-ranked Gators (8-2, 5-2) stormed out of the tunnel at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium eager to put some distance between themselves and last week's disappointing loss to Georgia. The overmatched Commodores served as the perfect feast.

It just took a while for the Gators to find their groove.

They turned the ball over on downs on the game's opening drive. Next, the defense forced a three-and-out, but on the ensuing possession, quarterback Kyle Trask threw an interception on third-and-10 at Vanderbilt's 27. The score was knotted at zero to start the second quarter.

From there, the Gators played like a runaway train charging down a mountain. At halftime, they owned a 277-18 advantage in total yards and led 14-0. A defense that was shredded on third down in the loss to Georgia and lacked a sack or turnover was on the prowl.

"Had guys running to the football,'' Mullen said.

Most notably, freshman linebacker Mohamoud Diabate, who finished with a career-high three sacks in a defensive performance by the Gators that featured six sacks, five tackles for loss, a forced fumble, two interceptions and four quarterback hurries.

Diabate, subbing for an injured Jeremiah Moon (foot injury), had the best game of his young career. Donovan Stiner had two interceptions and Jonathan Greenard, grabbing a ball that bounced right into his hands on Diabate's strip-sack of Commodores quarterback Deuce Wallace in the third quarter, raced 80 yards for UF's first defensive touchdown of the season.

At that point the Gators led 35-0 and the rout was on.

"We played the way we expect to play," Diabate said.

During a week in which they faced questions about a potential hangover following the disappointing loss to the Bulldogs that knocked them from the driver's seat in the SEC East race, the Gators offered the perfect rebuttal with a dominant performance. The 56-point victory was Florida's largest margin of victory over an SEC opponent since a 63-5 spanking of Kentucky 11 years ago.

Mullen was pleased the Gators played with an edge, something he stressed to the team all week in practice. As he picked up apart the victory, the only blemish was the points left off the board in the first half.

Following Trask's 1-yard touchdown toss to Lamical Perine and his 9-yard run to give the Gators a 14-point lead early in the second quarter, the next three drives of the first half ended with a missed 41-yard field goal by Evan McPherson, a Johnny Townsend punt and another Trask interception.

"We were moving the ball up and down,'' Trask said. "We had little offensive miscues. We knew we could get into the end zone. We didn't let that impact us negatively."

No, they didn't.

In the third quarter, the Gators exploded for 28 points on a pair of touchdown throws by Trask – 66 yards to Trevon Grimes and 15 yards to Kyle Pitts – Greenard's fumble return and backup quarterback Emory Jones' 13-yard run. Through three quarters, Florida led 42-0 and had outgained the Commodores 493-78.

Jones added two more scores in the fourth quarter for the final margin and a perfect sendoff for the announced crowd of 86,201 at "The Swamp." They departed the field in a much better frame of mind than a week earlier following their 24-17 loss to Georgia in Jacksonville.

"That game was really a tough loss. It was very emotional for us,'' Trask said. "I think our team did a great job of kind of getting back on track."

By winning, the Gators kept their slim hopes of a division title intact but will need from Auburn and Texas A&M. Florida closes the SEC portion of its schedule next week at Missouri, which lost 27-0 at Georgia on Saturday night.

To get to Atlanta, Florida must win at Missouri next week and then have No. 6 Georgia (8-1, 5-1) lose both its final SEC games, Saturday at Auburn and then at home to the Aggies.

The most important step the Gators took Saturday was overcoming the disappointing loss to Georgia with a strong comeback performance, keeping their bid alive for a 10-win regular season and potential berth in a New Year's Six bowl.

Mullen's message was not only delivered, but executed on the field.

"Play with a little chip on our shoulder,'' he said. "I thought we had that. That's all we talked about."

The Gators talked the talk and walked the walk Saturday in their most lopsided win under Mullen, surpassing last season's 63-10 win over Idaho. While their chances to overtake Georgia in the SEC East are slim, the Gators can clinch their first back-to-back 10-win seasons in a decade with a win at Missouri and at home against Florida State in the regular-season finale Nov. 30.

That's the kind of progress Mullen was hired to deliver. Following the chatter about how much they had left to play for in the wake of the Georgia loss, the Gators went out and made a statement.

In the end, the scoreboard said it all.