GAINESVILLE, Fla. – They opened October at home and close the month on home turf.
But between their win over South Carolina on Oct. 3 and Saturday's Halloween night visit from Missouri, you could say it's been a little freaky for the Gators.
A quick stroll through the spooky forest:
- The Gators scored 38 points and rolled up 402 yards of offense but lost 41-38 at Texas A&M on Seth Small's field goal on the final play, surrendering 543 yards to the Aggies.
- An emotional Gators head coach Dan Mullen comes under fire afterward for urging the UF administration to sellout the Swamp after experiencing the impact of a larger-than-expected crowd at Kyle Field.
- The morning after the loss, multiple Gators test positive for COVID-19.
- On Oct. 13, Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin announces the football program is pausing all activities after more than 20 team members test positive for the coronavirus.
- Florida postponed its home game Oct. 17 against LSU and tentatively rescheduled it for Dec. 12.
- The Gators move the Oct. 24 home game against Missouri back a week as the program manages its COVID outbreak.
- Mullen announces via Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering at home isolated from his family.
- The Gators returned to practice Monday night in preparation for Saturday's game against the Tigers.
While the Gators are not expected to be a full strength on Saturday as players navigate the quarantine and tracing protocols related to COVID-19 testing, Mullen said Monday he is sure they will have the minimum 53 eligible players according to Southeastern Conference guidelines.
They took an important step by returning to the field for the first time in two weeks on Monday.
"I think they were excited to get back to playing football and have some sense of normalcy. 2020 has been a strange year for everyone,'' Gators offensive coordinator
Brian Johnson said following practice. "For those guys to get a chance to do what they love is something that obviously can't be taken for granted. It was good to get them out there and see everybody."
The No. 10-ranked Gators (2-1) host a Missouri team coming off a 20-10 win over Kentucky. The Tigers opened the season with losses to Alabama and Tennessee but have rebounded with a win over LSU on Oct. 10 and last week's home win against Kentucky, limiting the Wildcats to just 36 plays and 145 yards on offense. Meanwhile, Missouri dominated time of possession by holding the ball 43 minutes, 10 seconds compared to 16:50 for Kentucky.
The opportunity to return to action is one Mullen said the Gators embraced at Monday morning's team meeting. The layoff was difficult for everyone and the latest oddity in a year that keeps churning out lemons instead of lemonade.
"Good to be back in the office,'' Mullen said. "We're kind of getting back into our routine and our schedule that we get ready for game week. You've got to make sure we're doing that. Treating it as kind of coming off a bye week even though it's like a double-bye. You're just still coming off the bye week to get back into the game routine, get back into the same schedule, you know, and get ready to go."
Fortunately, Mullen said the Gators have not had any serious issues related to the COVID outbreak other than mostly mild symptoms. As for his health, the 48-year-old Mullen is starting to feel like himself again.
"I feel pretty good,'' he said. "Rested, for sure. My symptoms were pretty minor, thankfully."
As the Gators reacclimatize to practice and preparing for an opponent other than an invisible virus, the biggest mystery is what kind of team will show up Saturday night. The Gators opened the season with a win at Ole Miss and at home against South Carolina, climbing to as high as No. 3 in the national polls. However, while the offense cranked out the yards, the defense didn't offer much resistance in the win over the Rebels (613 yards allowed) or the loss against the Aggies.
Then the whole team got tackled by COVID-19.
Mullen is hopeful quarterback
Kyle Trask and the experienced offensive line doesn't skip a beat.
"I mean, we've got some veteran players,'' he said. "For those guys, just picking it back up and getting going. Fortunately, when you have some older, veteran guys, it helps. But we'll see. We're playing an excellent defense. You saw that. You're playing really one of the top defenses in the league, so that will probably be more of a challenge than anything else."
Defensively, Mullen said the Gators will "keep looking at different things" and that the time off helped in analyzing the unit's weaknesses.
"It gave you time to really kind of research it, spend some time on it and find ways to make sure our best 11 guys are out there on the field at all times and make sure we're putting guys in the best position to be successful,'' he said. "I think it gives you just that opportunity to kind of look at the roster, look where everybody is and making sure we've got the guys in the right position and doing the right things."
In a year unlike any other, this Gators season is already unlike any other.
How they respond to the two-week layoff come Saturday is anyone's guess. Johnson dissected where the Gators are in the most basic terms following Monday's practice.
They're glad to be back.
"2020 has been a very, very unique year, and no one's really been exempt from that, including a football program'' Johnson said. "We had two weeks off to reflect on the whole deal but, you know, luckily, we're all back and for the most part, everybody's recovered well and healthy and getting guys out on the field, getting the chance to do what they love and play football.
"For me personally, I enjoyed seeing everyone's faces for the first time in two weeks and just get the chance to get that personal interaction face-to-face."
In 2020, it's one practice at a time.
