Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida-LSU game always delivers something memorable, and depending on your ilk, the next couple of days are usually sweet or sour.

Gators fans are the ones who spent their Sunday spitting vinegar courtesy of Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels, whose performance will go down as one of the best against a UF defense.

"He makes grown-ass men look like little kids,'' former UF receiver Chris Doering said on the SEC Network's postgame show. "You can't tackle this guy. He's got tremendous distribution of the football. His accuracy is awesome. He knows where to go with it."

Daniels entered Saturday night's 52-35 victory over the Gators at Tiger Stadium already in the conversation as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He departed as the favorite.

Daniels became the first player in FBS history to throw for at least 350 yards and rush for 200 or more in a single game, setting a Southeastern Conference record for total offense (606 yards) in a regular-season game. Daniels completed 17 of 26 passes for 372 yards and three touchdowns, and he rushed for 234 yards and touchdowns of 85 and 51 yards.

Daniels turned Death Valley into his personal playground against a Gators defense without answers. The only trouble he encountered was questions about how he did what he did.

"You know, some things, I can't explain what I do," Daniels told reporters afterward. "I just be in the moment, honestly."

While Daniels definitely earned the headlines following LSU's fifth consecutive win over the Gators, not everyone wanted to celebrate his ascension to Heisman favorite.

The loss was Florida's third consecutive and raised more doubts about whether the Gators (5-5, 3-4) would win another game this season with matchups at No. 11 Missouri (8-2) and a home date against No. 4 Florida State (10-0) remaining.

"We're going to continue to work hard to improve, both as a staff and at the player level,'' UF head coach Billy Napier said. "We have work to do. For us to go where we want to go here as an organization, as a program, as a team, every single part of our organization is going to have to work their tail off.

"We have to be relentless in finding an edge, relentless in seeking improvement."



The defense tops the current list.

LSU rumbled to 701 total yards, the most ever against a UF defense that has regressed as the season has progressed. The Gators have allowed 173 points (43.3) and 2,133 yards (533.3) over their last four games.

Napier pointed to several factors in the defensive struggles: communication, alignment, eye discipline, leverage, fundamentals and technique, and situation awareness. Those are coaching terms and certainly apply.

"The unit's performance is a reflection of a lot of people, not one guy,'' Napier said. "We have played well at times and been very inconsistent at times. There's a lot list of things that contribute. We're working on it. I know that's no anyone wants to hear."

And while Napier nor first-year defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong will say it, there is another prominent factor for those familiar with UF defenses of the past: the unit lacks the experience and talent required to be a top-tier SEC defense.

Freshmen have accounted for nearly 30 percent of the defensive snaps this season, and the unit desperately needs playmakers compared to the offense, which features quarterback Graham Mertz, running backs Montrell Johnson Jr. and Trevor Etienne, and receivers Ricky Pearsall and Eugene Wilson III.

The Gators continue to operate with a revamped group with leftovers from the Dan Mullen era and newcomers Napier and his staff have added through recruiting and the transfer portal.

Napier defended the defense's effort Saturday from an investment and energy standpoint.

"We were ready to mix it up from the jump,'' he said. "We put it on the line. There are no moral victories here, but I do have to compliment our kids for their competitive spirit. We came to play. I didn't expect anything less. I knew they would be ready to compete.

"We tried lots of different things. I felt like if we could slow them down a little bit, we would have a chance. We knew that was going to be part of the equation. If you're going to win, you're going to have to find ways to slow [Daniels] down a little bit. And we didn't." Linebacker Derek Wingo, whose playing time has increased since the injury to starter Shemar James, said the execution wasn't consistent enough to stop Daniels from taking over the game and seemingly make a big play every time the Gators flirted with momentum.

"We probably should have maybe played a little bit more of a quarterback run," Wingo said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of executing the blitzes and some of the things we had set up for them, but obviously, when we got back and watch this film, there's a lot of things we need to correct."

Florida needs one more win to become bowl-eligible and will have to play better defensively at Missouri and against FSU to make it come to fruition. The most potent elixirs to heal what currently ails the UF defense won't arrive until the next recruiting and transfer classes.

The Gators need an injection of talent, plain and simple. Still, they have no thoughts of laying down and calling it a season.

"Nobody's giving up,'' Etienne said on Saturday's postgame radio show. "We haven't been getting the results we want, but everybody is working hard."

Mertz is doing his part, playing at a high level and serving as the team leader with over 40 career starts.

"Our goal is to win every game. If that's not your goal, then you shouldn't play this sport,'' Mertz said. "We're going to do everything we can to go out the next two weeks and do our best to win. That's what's on our minds."

The Gators are not alone.