UF coach Dan Mullen celebrates with fans Saturday after beating Miami, 24-20, in the 2019 season opener at Orlando.
Mullen, Gators Keep Sloppy Performance in Perspective
Wednesday, August 28, 2019 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As one might have expected, it didn't take long for Dan Mullen's press opportunity Wednesday to turn into an examination of every Florida football fan's hot-button favorite subject.
Quarterback Feleipe Franks.
Mullen, in his first media gathering since the No. 8 Gators defeated Miami, 24-20, Saturday night in Orlando, already had addressed his disappointment with committing four turnovers as well as providing a general brushstroke of missed assignments by any number of players. The totality of it all — especially two interceptions thrown by Franks in the fourth quarter, both in minus-territory — created some late-game drama and the need for a couple of terrific defensive stands to seal the outcome.
The second of those Franks' interceptions came between those stands and at just 4:20 to play in the game, with UF clinging to its four-point lead. Mullen took his share of blame for the mistake. He questioned whether it was a good decision on his part, especially given UM coach Manny Diaz's first-hand knowledge of Mullen as an aggressive play-caller from their two seasons together at Mississippi State. If Franks had not thrown that last pass (and pick), Mullen said, his stats would have read 17 of 26 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against a defense that ranked fourth nationally last season.
"That's a pretty decent day for an opening game," Mullen said.
The coach even went a step further, supposing that if that last pass had hit big like Mullen thought it might — he saw a potential explosive play from his spot on the sidelines — Franks would have had over 300 yards and three TDs against a defense that surrendered neither of those numbers all last season.
But, of course, Franks did throw an interception and was basically eviscerated for it — for his overall performance that night, actually — by his own fan base.
His coach did not appear overly concerned, instead applying some perspective to the outcome.
"Our focus has got to be on where we are as a team, what we see and 'are we getting better,' because that's what we can control and worry about," Mullen said. "Listen, if there weren't that many opinions out there, people wouldn't really care [and] college football wouldn't be that important. So it's great that everybody wants to talk about it. There's talk-radio. There's TV. There's local media. There's national media, right?"
Oh, and social media, which decided during and after the game to forget about all the terrific things Franks did over the final four games of the 2018 season, including an MVP performance in a 41-15 blowout of No. 8 Michigan in the Peach Bowl. The Twittersphere apparently forgot the Gators won the game Saturday, as well. Probably the program's most significant opening-day victory in nearly three decades, by the way.
And that's what Franks was focused on when he talked with reporters after Tuesday night's practice.
"I'm worried about the team here, the coaches here — the team and the coaches and winning games. I'm not worried about anything outside of that," Franks said when asked about the social media firestorm. "We won. I don't know everybody else's opinion on how I played. I'm worried about my coach's opinion, and I got a good response. That's what I'm worried about. On to the next game."
That would be in 10 days, as the Gators (1-0), by virtue of their so-called Week 0 date that represented the earliest game in college football history, will have an August bye this weekend, making for the earliest open date in UF history. Mullen will give his players Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off before returning Monday to begin preparations for the Sept. 7 home opener against FCS program UT Martin, which opens its season Thursday against Northwestern (La.) State.
Because of the unique nature of playing a game so early and having a bye so early, Mullen said this week just felt different, with the UM game almost feeling like a separate part to the season. Come Monday, though, normalcy and routine will be restored and the Gators can continue cleaning up the multitude of issues — turnovers, missed blocks, missed tackles, penalties — that helped make for such a nail-biter against the Hurricanes.
Offensively, maybe next week against the Skyhawks, the Gators can get into more of a rhythm, rather than exiting a game with only 54 offensive snaps, including one scoring drive of just 11 yards and another (albeit of 80 yards) of just four plays. A good start would be some sustained drives and a much better display of running the football than 28 carries for a measly 50 yards (or 1.8 per attempt), a likely scenario after facing a very good UM front seven.
Defensively, perhaps the Gators will have knocked off some of their tackling rust that might have been a byproduct of minimal hitting and taking down of teammates during preseason. Oh yes, and penalties. Think the defensive coaches will address pass interference calls on fourth-and-34 and third-and-12 on the final drive of a four-point game? Or unnecessary late hits and unsportsmanlike conduct calls (one each in the fourth period)?
In case anyone has forgotten, the sky was falling among Gator Nation when Florida lost a game early last season at home against Kentucky. Mullen's team improved after that until taking a couple steps back later in the season in consecutive defeats against Georgia and Missouri.
The team got better after those two, also.
Mullen and his staff are well aware they have issues to address — as well as plenty of time to do so — after a mistake-filled first game against what figures to be a pretty good team; a game the Gators won, by the way.
UF's coaches and players understand that (even if some fans may not).
"We have to worry about our performance, our practice, our preparation, how we do things. That's going to make us better," Mullen said. "If we're worrying about everything else, then we're worrying about the wrong things."
Quarterback Feleipe Franks.
Mullen, in his first media gathering since the No. 8 Gators defeated Miami, 24-20, Saturday night in Orlando, already had addressed his disappointment with committing four turnovers as well as providing a general brushstroke of missed assignments by any number of players. The totality of it all — especially two interceptions thrown by Franks in the fourth quarter, both in minus-territory — created some late-game drama and the need for a couple of terrific defensive stands to seal the outcome.
The second of those Franks' interceptions came between those stands and at just 4:20 to play in the game, with UF clinging to its four-point lead. Mullen took his share of blame for the mistake. He questioned whether it was a good decision on his part, especially given UM coach Manny Diaz's first-hand knowledge of Mullen as an aggressive play-caller from their two seasons together at Mississippi State. If Franks had not thrown that last pass (and pick), Mullen said, his stats would have read 17 of 26 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against a defense that ranked fourth nationally last season.
"That's a pretty decent day for an opening game," Mullen said.
The coach even went a step further, supposing that if that last pass had hit big like Mullen thought it might — he saw a potential explosive play from his spot on the sidelines — Franks would have had over 300 yards and three TDs against a defense that surrendered neither of those numbers all last season.
But, of course, Franks did throw an interception and was basically eviscerated for it — for his overall performance that night, actually — by his own fan base.
His coach did not appear overly concerned, instead applying some perspective to the outcome.
"Our focus has got to be on where we are as a team, what we see and 'are we getting better,' because that's what we can control and worry about," Mullen said. "Listen, if there weren't that many opinions out there, people wouldn't really care [and] college football wouldn't be that important. So it's great that everybody wants to talk about it. There's talk-radio. There's TV. There's local media. There's national media, right?"
Oh, and social media, which decided during and after the game to forget about all the terrific things Franks did over the final four games of the 2018 season, including an MVP performance in a 41-15 blowout of No. 8 Michigan in the Peach Bowl. The Twittersphere apparently forgot the Gators won the game Saturday, as well. Probably the program's most significant opening-day victory in nearly three decades, by the way.
And that's what Franks was focused on when he talked with reporters after Tuesday night's practice.
"I'm worried about the team here, the coaches here — the team and the coaches and winning games. I'm not worried about anything outside of that," Franks said when asked about the social media firestorm. "We won. I don't know everybody else's opinion on how I played. I'm worried about my coach's opinion, and I got a good response. That's what I'm worried about. On to the next game."
That would be in 10 days, as the Gators (1-0), by virtue of their so-called Week 0 date that represented the earliest game in college football history, will have an August bye this weekend, making for the earliest open date in UF history. Mullen will give his players Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off before returning Monday to begin preparations for the Sept. 7 home opener against FCS program UT Martin, which opens its season Thursday against Northwestern (La.) State.
Because of the unique nature of playing a game so early and having a bye so early, Mullen said this week just felt different, with the UM game almost feeling like a separate part to the season. Come Monday, though, normalcy and routine will be restored and the Gators can continue cleaning up the multitude of issues — turnovers, missed blocks, missed tackles, penalties — that helped make for such a nail-biter against the Hurricanes.
Offensively, maybe next week against the Skyhawks, the Gators can get into more of a rhythm, rather than exiting a game with only 54 offensive snaps, including one scoring drive of just 11 yards and another (albeit of 80 yards) of just four plays. A good start would be some sustained drives and a much better display of running the football than 28 carries for a measly 50 yards (or 1.8 per attempt), a likely scenario after facing a very good UM front seven.
Defensively, perhaps the Gators will have knocked off some of their tackling rust that might have been a byproduct of minimal hitting and taking down of teammates during preseason. Oh yes, and penalties. Think the defensive coaches will address pass interference calls on fourth-and-34 and third-and-12 on the final drive of a four-point game? Or unnecessary late hits and unsportsmanlike conduct calls (one each in the fourth period)?
In case anyone has forgotten, the sky was falling among Gator Nation when Florida lost a game early last season at home against Kentucky. Mullen's team improved after that until taking a couple steps back later in the season in consecutive defeats against Georgia and Missouri.
The team got better after those two, also.
Mullen and his staff are well aware they have issues to address — as well as plenty of time to do so — after a mistake-filled first game against what figures to be a pretty good team; a game the Gators won, by the way.
UF's coaches and players understand that (even if some fans may not).
"We have to worry about our performance, our practice, our preparation, how we do things. That's going to make us better," Mullen said. "If we're worrying about everything else, then we're worrying about the wrong things."
Players Mentioned
QB
/ FootballJon Sumrall Media Availability 3-3-26
Tuesday, March 03
Rusty Whitt Media Availability 3-3-26
Tuesday, March 03
Myles Graham Media Availability 3-3-26
Tuesday, March 03
Jayden Woods Media Availability 3-3-26
Tuesday, March 03
