A week after seeing Georgia snatch a win right out of their hands with a late fourth-quarter touchdown, many questioned how much left Florida had in the emotional tank after putting so much into winning a week ago. Gator Nation got its answer and a whole lot more Saturday night, when the Kentucky Wildcats sent Florida packing with a 38-7 loss.
For the first time all year, the Gators were dominated in a game from start to finish. It started right from the jump, as both sides of the ball came out flat, leading to a Kentucky first-half knockout punch. Kentucky blitzed Florida with 24 first-half points and carried a 17-point lead heading into the half.
A big reason for that was the Wildcats’ four turnovers forced, including three interceptions from quarterback DJ Lagway, who watched the rest of the game from the sidelines after being benched at halftime.
Lagway’s nightmare season continued at Kroger Field, where the second-year quarterback was pulled from the game for the first time in his career because of poor performance. After two quarters of play, Lagway finished 11-of-19 for 83 yards, a touchdown, and three interceptions.
Not only that, but the same issues plaguing him all year were back again – poor mechanics, forcing throws, overthrowing receivers and turning the ball over. The three interceptions officially put Lagway in first place for most picks thrown (12) in the FBS.
“Well that was my decision,” Gators Interim coach Billy Gonzales said on the benching. “I think we had a rough first half, and I thought it might be good for him just to gather and look at it from a coach’s point and a coach’s point from the sideline.”
He also joined fellow preseason Heisman Trophy candidate Garrett Nussmeier of LSU, who was benched Saturday during the Tigers’ 20-9 loss to Alabama. Nussmeier went 18-of-21 for 121 yards before seeing his night come to a close in the third quarter following season-long issues within LSU’s offense.
Taking over for Lagway was freshman backup quarterback Tremell Jones Jr., who surprised everyone when he earned the backup role at the beginning of the year against LIU – playing the whole second half in that one and going 12-of-18 for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
Jones did all he could during his mop-up role against the Wildcats, going 9-of-17 for 60 yards. His stats did not exactly jump off the page, but it was the correct move. Florida needed a spark of any sort and Gonzales decided that a quarterback change could provide that. With three games remaining in this disappointing season, Florida has to win out if it wants to play in a bowl game, but the bigger story becomes who will be the starting quarterback.
Gonzales did not make any commitments to either Jones or Lagway as to who will be starting under center for the Gators next week against No. 7 Ole Miss.
“We’ll take a look at the film and obviously, we think he’s a very talented young man, but we’ll take a look at everything and move forward once we get back home,” Gonzales said.
Apart from the quarterback situation, the underlying story from this game was the Gators’ defense hitting its breaking point. All year, the defense has been depended on to keep Florida in these ballgames, and for the most part has. But things could not have gone worse for this unit, allowing the 80th-ranked scoring offense and 87th-ranked total offense to hit Florida over the head with a sledgehammer.
The defense came out flat, and frankly, disinterested, which allowed Kentucky to set the tone early on at the line of scrimmage, pushing Florida’s front seven backwards all game. Kentucky rushed for 233 yards on 44 attempts, including four runs of 10 yards or more, highlighted by Dante Dowdell’s 65-yard rushing touchdown. Tackling was another issue at all three levels of the defense, which extended plays and allowed Wildcat rushers and pass-catchers to gain extra yards.
The success on the ground made things much easier on the freshman quarterback, Cutter Boley, who bounced back after a rough performance against Auburn with one of his more efficient performances this season. Boley went 18-of-23 for 168 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Boley did a nice job at spreading the ball out to his playmakers; 10 different guys caught passes from him, with Kendrick Law leading the way on six catches for 44 yards.
The Gators’ defense did not get much support again from the offense, which did contribute to the 24 points, but the second half was turnover-free football and just a good ol’ butt whipping. Kentucky started the third quarter with a nearly 7:30 minute, 13-play, 75-yard death march that resulted in a final blow being dealt to make it 31-7. Florida’s defense had no answers after that, giving up Dowdell’s touchdown run on the ensuing drive.
“It’s really shocking, honestly. It’s really embarrassing, and I did not know we were going to come out and play like that. I’m really blindsided just like everybody else is,” Gators linebacker Myles Graham said. “So, we got to look in the mirror, and we got to do better. That’s completely unacceptable, and that’s not the Gator standard. We really have to shake back and just do better all around, man.”
Furthermore, Florida failed to get off the field enough times during this one on third and fourth down. It continues to hurt this team in critical moments of football games and Saturday showed that again. UK finished 7-of-15 on third down and 2-for-3 on fourth down. Both fourthdown conversionscoming on the same drive that resulted in a touchdown late in the first half.
Graham knows the importance of getting those stops, but also knows that stuff like that can put the finishing touches on a faltering defense like Florida’s, which cannot happen.
“We’re definitely not going to splinter, we’re not going to point the finger at each other. We’re not going to deflate, we’re still going to come out and try to play our ball, but that wasn’t acceptable,” Graham said. “That wasn’t up to our standard.”
Not only did the battle in the trenches get beaten defensively, but offensively too. The underperforming offensive line failed to establish any sort of run push for running back Jadan Baugh, who came into this one needing to have a big game. The Kentucky front met Baugh each time, either at the line of scrimmage or behind it, which set Florida behind the sticks and then off the field. Baugh only rushed the ball 17 times for 64 yards (averaging 3.8 yards per carry).
“I think early, like I said, we struggled with some of the movements up front, some of the backer plugs and little pressures they had brought,” Gators center Jake Slaughter said. “I think it’s hard when you don’t start fast to have faith. We went out there and 12 [Baugh] and we didn’t execute enough. That’s ultimately what it came down to, the execution wasn’t good enough.”
Baugh not only led Florida on the ground, but through the air as well. He was the Gators’ most productive pass-catcher, with five receptions for 27 yards and one touchdown.
Florida did not have a single receiver with over 30 yards, including J. Michael Sturdivant, who continued to be a ghost on the field. He finished with three catches for 29 yards. Vernell Brown III gave it a go after missing last week and had one catch for 22 yards. Aidan Mizell is running cardio out there at this point, finishing with two catches for 10 yards, and Mr. Reliable tight end Hayden Hansen also caught two passes for 10 yards.
Facing a 3-6 record, with almost all hopes of a bowl game gone, Florida somehow has to find a way to respond on the road again next week at Ole Miss.
“Just keep our head down and grind,” Graham said. “We can’t change what’s in the past. So, we just got to look forward and try to come out with the win next week.”
