Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Going by the score, statistics and participation chart, Florida coach Dan Mullen got just about everything he would have wanted from Saturday night's home opener against Tennessee Martin at Spurrier/Florida Field. The 11th-ranked Gators shutout the Skyhawks, 45-0, his quarterback was nearly perfect, and the team was able to substitute freely and get lots of players needed repetitions. 

Unfortunately, though, two of those substitutions — for two very important players — were by necessity, which put something of a damper on what could have been an otherwise satisfying night at the "Swamp."

Feleipe Franks completed 25 of 27 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers, while the UF defense pitched its first shutout in three years, but the Gators (2-0) may be without wingback Kadarius Toney and standout cornerback CJ Henderson for an extended period of time due to injuries sustained during the first half. Not great timing, considering UF opens Southeastern Conference play next weekend at Kentucky. 

Toney, who wears No. 1 on offense, was tackled hard on a running play in the first quarter and left the game with what appeared to be an arm or shoulder injury. In the second quarter, cornerback CJ Henderson, who wears No. 1 on defense and is arguably the best pro prospect on the team, was helped off the field with an apparent ankle injury after breaking up a deep pass play and getting his feet tangled in the fallout. 

Call them casualties No. 1 and 1A.

Mullen gave little detail on either Toney or Henderson in his postgame news conference. 

"We'll know more Monday," he said. 

Their teammates carried on just fine in their stead. The UF offense cranked out 543 yards (312 passing, 231 rushing), with Franks completing his first 15 pass attempts and six different players scoring touchdowns. The UF defense held the FCS-classified Skyhawks (1-1) to just 194 yards and eight first downs, thanks to five sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and one turnover. The latter came on an end-zone interception by true freshman Kaiir Elam in the fourth quarter that helped preserve the program's first shutout win since beating North Texas, 32-0, on Sept. 17, 2016. 

"I haven't seen any stats, but the only one that matters is that we didn't score any points," UT Martin coach Jason Simpson said. "I've played against multiple SEC teams in my career. There's been bigger [SEC] teams, but I don't know if there's another as fast as that one."

Maybe so, but the Skyhawks acquitted themselves well against the Gators' speed for a quarter and a half. They got some help on UF's first series when tight end Kyle Pitts was left alone in the left flat to catch a swing pass on third-and-1. As he turned upfield, though, Pitts fell down. Mullen, rather than gamble on fourth-and-3, opted to send on Evan McPherson, whose 32-yard field goal put the Gators up 3-0 just over six minutes into the game.  Florida's offense spun its wheels on the next drive, too. The Gators weren't unable to get anything going in the running game, and on fourth-and-2 from the UTM 43, Franks was stopped shy of the line to gain on a quarterback keeper. The Skyhawks, though, had to punt on the ensuing possession and pinned the Gators at their 8.

A few plays and 23 yards later, UF had a first down at its 31 when Franks dropped, had all day to survey the field and found wideout Van Jefferson behind the secondary on a deep left-to-right post. The play was actually designed to hit Jefferson on the left side of the field, but the offensive line let Franks set up, scan and wait for his man to race past the UTM safety. 

"That shows you how much time I had," Franks said. 

The pass was perfect and Jefferson scored on a 69-yard bomb for a 10-0 lead at the 8:35 mark of the second period. 

After a UTM three-and-out, the Gators needed just four plays to extend their lead, with one a Franks-to-Josh Hammond hook-up for 15 yards on third-and-5 from midfield. On the next play, the Skyhawks bit on fake jet sweep action and no one bothered to pick up wideout Tyrie Cleveland coming off the line from the slot. Cleveland was about 10 yards more open than Jefferson when he hauled in an easy 35-yard touchdown catch to make it 17-0 with five minutes to go in the half. 

At that point, Franks had completed his first 12 passes, on the way to 15 straight before missing on a "Hail Mary" into the end zone on the final play of the half. He went to the locker room 15 of 16 for 183 yards and the two scores. 

"That was fun," Franks said. "Everything was clicking."

That didn't mean Mullen was pleased with how his team performed in the first half overall. He articulated as much at intermission. 

"Oh man," Jefferson said. "We're paying UT Martin. I mean, not knocking them or anything, but he wanted to see us execute better and just see us play better. So he came in there and he gave us a good talk and we came out in the second half and were stronger." 

He used that phrase again. His mantra.

"The 'Gator Standard,' really," junior safety Shawn Davis said. "That was his message."  Out of the locker room, Franks led scoring drives of 51 and 66 yards before exiting the game at the end of the third period. Backup tailback Malik Davis had a 1-yard scoring run to take the lead to 24-0 and starting back Lamical Perine's 5-yard touchdown made it 31-0 heading into the fourth quarter. 

Both UF reserve quarterbacks led touchdown drives in that final quarter, with fifth-year senior Kyle Trask throwing a 9-yard scoring pass to redshirt freshman Jacob Copeland and classmate Emory Jones racing up the middle for a 16-yard run and the first rushing touchdown of his career. 

But as far as guys under center, the night belonged to Franks, whose 15 straight completions were the second-most to start a game in UF history. Not bad, given all that heat that was sent Franks' way in the aftermath of his three-turnover performance in Florida's hard-fought 24-20 win over Miami two weeks earlier. 

"He played pretty well. It was a pretty good night," Mullen said. "Most people would take it, [but] I'm sure it's Feleipe Franks [and] this is Florida. You play quarterback at Florida, they'll be like, 'I don't know, we have a ways to go.' He threw two incomplete passes."

Mullen was being sarcastic, of course, but he was dead serious — and will be more so this week — in addressing the need to "crank up" the across-the-board intensity as the Gators head into SEC competition. 

"We have a good team, have a good mindset, so we just have to prepare," Jefferson said. "Coach Mullen was preaching [that] it gets real this week going into SEC play, so I think we've just got to hone in and get to work."

Very possibly without a couple of outstanding players, unfortunately.