Junior cornerback Kaiir Elam wants his teammates to be as fired up this week against Tennessee as they were last week facing No. 1 Alabama.
Gators Look to Bounce Back, Build vs. Volunteers
Monday, September 20, 2021 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The top-ranked, reigning national champion and mighty Alabama Crimson Tide left town Saturday knowing they'd been in a heckuva ballgame and, no doubt, satisfied to have made just enough plays to escape an environment that was the loudest and most hostile in the country that afternoon.
The host Florida Gators, meanwhile, left their home stadium collectively kicking themselves about the little things — a better throw here, better tackling there, a made point-after, one less pass-interference penalty — that could have been the difference in a 31-29 defeat in a game, to a man, they went into viewing as a measuring stick that would illustrate how far (or close) they were to being in Bama's class.
In the hours that passed that night and into Sunday, the Gators were lauded aplenty for their effort, by both printed, electronic and social media. UF coach Dan Mullen toed that fine moral victory line in his postgame remarks, and was pleased with the demeanor he was greeted with when the team convened Monday morning.
"Our guys expected to win the game, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, they're pretty disappointed that we didn't," Mullen said. "There wasn't much praise or happiness or smiles [Monday] morning in the team meeting, I can tell you that much because we didn't win the game. There's some positive things that we can take out of it, and there are things that we have to get corrected, and it's making sure we embrace that, 'Let's not lose what we did really well.' Let's actually build off of what we did well and do it even better."
After the upcoming week of practice, the next tool-sharpening opportunity comes Saturday night when the 11th-ranked Gators (2-1, 0-1) get Tennessee (2-1, 0-0) in their Southeastern Conference East Division opener at the "Swamp." UF has won 15 of the last 16 meetings, dating to the 2005 season, including four in a row.
If some of the more vocal leaders in the locker room have their way — like junior cornerback Kaiir Elam, for example — UF will be in a foul mood for the Volunteers. Elam wasn't crazy about some of the external happy talk after Alabama and made it clear both on social media earlier Monday morning and with the real media in a Zoom later in the afternoon.
Losing NOT acceptable, especially in the Swamp! I have to step it up as a leader but I still love this team over Anybody Every Saturday. #Win
"I just really wanted to make a statement to not only Gator Nation, but my team that a loss is unacceptable," Elam said of his tweet. "I just didn't feel good about us just being proud of that. I just felt like we just need to focus on winning. That's all I want to do."
And now, with one in the league loss column, winning is what the Gators have to do if their aspirations of seeing the Crimson Tide again is to come to fruition.
In the meantime, UF appears to be on the way to forging an identity as a team with some punch in the trenches on both sides of the ball after tagging the Tide for 439 yards of offense, including a whopping 246 on the ground, the most surrendered by an Alabama defense in seven years. Defensively, the Gators allowed just 331 yards, but will focus on being more stout on third down (Bama converted 7 of 13) and look to clean up some penalties (7 for 67 yards, but four on third down) that helped extend what became Alabama scoring drives at pivotal sequences of the game.
Through three games, Florida rates second in the SEC and eighth nationally in total offense (552.7 yards per game), but No. 1 in rushing the football at 335.7 per game. Defensively, the Gators are giving up 324.7 yards per game (11th in league) and rank next-to-last in the SEC in passing yards allowed (227.3).
Tennessee has wins of 38-6 over Bowling Green and 56-0 sandwiched around a 41-34 loss to Pittsburgh, the only Power-5 opponent the Vols have faced to date. They have yet to be on the road under new Coach Josh Heupel, by way of UCF, with an offense that is at 422.0 yards per game (9th in SEC), but a defense that is fourth in the conference and 17th overall in allowing just 265.0 yards per game. That unit is giving up just 54.3 per game on the ground, which is fifth nationally, but the Vols have not faced a rushing attack the likes of the Gators, who hope to be at full strength come kickoff this weekend.
What does that mean?
Everyone knows what that means.
"He'll probably do a little more in practice this week," Mullen said.
He, of course, is sophomore backup quarterback Anthony Richardson, who despite missing the Alabama game with a sore hamstring still ranks fifth in the SEC in rushing after barreling for 275 yards and touchdowns of 73 and 80 yards (and averaging 25.0 per carry) in Florida's first two games. Mullen allowed the 6-foot-4, 236-pound Richardson, who's also completed six of 11 passes this season for 192 yards and two touchdowns, could have played against the Tide, but only in an emergency and at significant longterm risk.
"There's a big difference between, 'I'm cleared to play in the game, I'm not going to be 100 percent, but I can't make the injury worse,' and, 'I'm cleared to play in the game, I'm not 100 percent, and this one-to-two week injury could turn into a six-week injury.' Those are always big differences," the UF coach explained, adding that a Friday MRI on Richardson's hamstring turned out better than expected. "We wanted to be pretty precautious. In meeting with the medical staff, there was a pretty solid feeling [that] if he didn't play in the game [then] we're ahead of where we were that he would be 100 percent by this Saturday."
Emory Jones (5) passed for 195 yards, rushed for 76 and led four long touchdown drives against the Tide. (Photo: Isabella Marley/UAA Communications)
With Richardson sidelined, Emory Jones had his finest game. Though he threw a first-quarter interception under duress that set up a Bama touchdown, Jones went on to pass for 193 yards, rush for another 76, and led touchdown drives of 79, 75, 99 and 75, including three straight spanning the third and fourth quarters to help UF storm from an early 21-3 deficit and be in position to win the game.
"I just tried to keep the team going and get us back in the game," Jones said. "As a team we learned just how much fight we have and that we got a lot of confidence from that game. We're going to move on from that loss and move forward to the next game."
Maybe with his QB sidekick.
One other element both Mullen and all Gators would love to have back for the Tennessee game — and every other date in the "Swamp" the rest of the year — is the type of energy the fans provided in helping will their team back in the game. Yes, obviously, Bama in the house helped generate the fevered atmosphere, but UF diehards understand Florida Field used to be pit every time the home team ran through that tunnel.
"Keep that going. It does nothing but help," Mullen pleaded. "Helps the current team, helps the program long term and I certainly hope everybody enjoys being in there and feeling that energy and excitement and being a part of that game-day environment. I'll sing. If they want to give me a mic pregame, I'll go sing or do a little dance routine, whatever we need if it'll help people come."
