Gators coach Dan Mullen and quarterback Emory Jones during Saturday's 34-7 loss to Georgia at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville. (Photo: Anissa Dimilta/UAA Communications)
Mullen Vows to Fix What Ails Gators
Saturday, October 30, 2021 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When his sunny day spoiled was over, Dan Mullen jogged to midfield for the customary postgame exchange with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. Following their brief encounter, Mullen broke free from the pack, strolled around the field alone for a few seconds as a pair of photographers aimed their cameras toward him, and then beelined toward the Gators' locker room.
Nearing the exit, Mullen paused a couple of times, glanced back at a second consecutive loss, and disappeared into the tunnel leading to the Gators' locker room.
He had seen enough.
"I'm certainly not pleased with where we are. I know our players are certainly not pleased with where we are," Mullen said shortly after a passionate talk to the team. "I know the Gator Nation, I know it's not pleased with where we are, with the standards and the expectations within this program."
Mad Dan, Competitive Dan, Driven Dan. Whatever you want to call that version of Florida's head coach, a vocal portion of the fan base had been searching for him since this season took a left turn. He made an appearance following his third loss in four seasons to the Bulldogs.
Offensive lineman Josh Braun helps quarterback Anthony Richardson up on Saturday in Florida's 34-7 loss to Georgia. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
It's the Mullen we first saw in his return to Florida following a late-season loss to Missouri in 2018 that dropped the Gators to 6-3. A frustrated Mullen said then that he wanted to "kick your ass" whether it was thumb wrestling or running stadium steps. Fans loved it. The media ate it up. The team responded.
The Gators won their final four games, including a victory over Michigan in the Peach Bowl, to finish Mullen's first season with 10 wins. Florida faces a similar scenario in Mullen's fourth season.
The Gators (4-4, 2-4), ranked in the top 10 just a few weeks ago, lost for the third time in four games Saturday to a Georgia (8-0, 6-0) team that turned a close game late in the first half into a 24-0 halftime lead and never looked back, aided by three costly turnovers by UF quarterback Anthony Richardson. Many Gators fans left early in the second half, convinced their team was toast and that a better time waited outside TIAA Bank Field.
Running back Dameon Pierce described it as the "agony of loss," a slight tweak to Jim McKay's famous opening on "ABC's Wide of World of Sports." Still, Pierce's point was made. He was a freshman in 2018 when the Gators prevented a disappointing stretch from wrecking their season. He's a senior now and knows what is coming from Mullen and what must be done by the Gators if they are going to avoid sinking further down the SEC East standings.
"The message was clear and crisp: This is not over,'' Pierce said. "We still have football games left to play. We're going to have to get better. And like I said, Monday, we're going to have to get ready for Dan.
"Coach Mullen is going to have a lot to say before practice, during practice and after practice. We're going to get chewed out. You best believe we're getting chewed out. He's gonna be on us, and he's gonna expect the best from us. He's not going to take his foot off the gas with us."
The Gators showed up to play Saturday and trailed just 3-0 late in the first half when a Richardson fumble and two interceptions – one of them tipped and one returned for a touchdown – silenced the orange-and-blue side.
Mullen turned to Richardson after the redshirt freshman's performance in the loss at LSU two weeks ago sparked the team. Richardson left the game with an undisclosed injury after halftime and Emory Jones, the starting quarterback in the season's first seven games, finished the game.
The quarterback issue, an oversized headline all season for the Gators, seems a subhead at this point. Yes, the Gators need better quarterback play from both Richardson and Jones, less turnovers, more takeaways, crisper tackling, and they need to get healthy – starting defensive tackle Daquan Newkirk, offensive lineman Ethan White and receiver Trent Whittemore missed Saturday's game – and most of all, they need something to feel good after a month of dark clouds and putdowns on social media.
"We're not where we want to be,'' Mullen said. "But in this final third of the season, that's on me to get this fixed and the approach that I take and the mindset that we play with, that's on me to get it fixed. And you know, I certainly plan on doing that, of changing this, where we're at right now, and creating some positive energy for us and some confidence for us, and the expectations to feed off of each other. And I'm gonna work and I'm gonna make sure I get that right."
Instead of arm wrestling or running stadium steps, Mullen's metaphor of choice Saturday was a rope. The Gators need to grip it and hold on with every rep they have left.
"Here's the deal. The rope's slipping right now. Rope slips and then we kind of let a lot of it go, and against good teams you can't do that," he said. "You got to immediately – offense, defense, the entire team – everybody's got to grasp on, you know what I mean? You hold on, you dig your heels in and you start pulling in the other direction.
"A negative attitude or dropping the rope certainly doesn't fix anything. And obviously, I'll tell every fan, listen. This is not where I want to be right now. And I'm sure at 4 and 4, nobody, that's where they want to be. But we still got one-third of this season left, and we'll see. We'll see what we define ourselves by at the end of the season."
