Offense B
First half: Boy, Anthony Richardson struggled when he was in. Emory Jones was solid as he threw for two touchdown passes. And the good news was that Florida did try some deep passes early. Offense generated 215 yards, which was a little low because the Gators could not get the ball back.
Second half: Emory Jones did have a pick on a deflected pass, but the Gators were able to put the game away with some big plays on offense including a 61-yard pass to Dameon Pierce and a 25-yard score to Jacob Copeland.
For the game: Florida scored 42 points despite only running 47 plays. The offense wasn’t always crisp, but it was effective. Florida finished the game with 479 yards and 298 passing and Dan Mullen was able to give Anthony Richardson some playing time.
Defense A-
First half: Even though Vanderbilt managed 200 yards and ran 49 plays, let’s try to not be hypocritical. You give up zero points in a half and that is never a bad thing. Florida got a couple of breaks, but the penalties were another example of a lack of discipline. And 5-of-11 on third down is not good.
Second half: Rashard Torrance made some really nice plays and Florida was awesome on field goal defense (I’m kidding). The Gators defense was better in the second half.
For the game: I’m not sure I have ever seen a game where a team ran 80 plays and failed to score a single point. Credit to a defense that played well in the red zone and got the break of three missed field goals, but it was still a winning performance.
Special teams A-
First half: Fortunately for the Gators, Vandy had a worse day with two missed field goals and that was from the guy who has won Vanderbilt’s first two games with field goals. Not sure what happened on Jeremy Crawshaw’s 22-yard punt that followed a 52-yard punt.
Second half: Ah, yes, the Gators ran a fake punt and Crawshaw got it done with a 28-yard run to set up a score. And late, he had a 69-yard punt. So, a good day for the Australian punter. Special teams had a good day.
For the game: After some of the issues of last week, it was good to see the special teams be a positive part of a win. It’s not always enough to just do the normal stuff.
Overall B+
Florida needed a game like this and while the Gators were not overly impressive, they got the job done. To allow a Vandy team to control the clock was not good, but it was almost insignificant in the end. The Gators needed to feel good about themselves heading into the LSU-Georgia trifecta.