5 takeaways as the Gators fall to Missouri to drop their 6th game
Florida delivered yet another uninspired performance against Missouri on Saturday, though this one played out a lot differently than the last few games have. After getting torched by South Carolina and Samford, the Gators defense actually had a relatively solid game against the Tigers, at least in the first half. But the offense couldn’t score, and the end result was the same as every FBS game UF has played over the last month.
The Gators fell 24-23 in overtime to Mizzou to fall to 5-6 (2-6 SEC) on the season, and they will have to knock off a Florida State team that is playing much better next week if they hope to return to a bowl game this year.
A mostly defensive game that went to halftime with the Tigers up 9-6, Missouri held two separate three-point leads in the second half and had a chance to win it in regulation. Kicker Harrison Mevis missed a 46-yard field goal with the game tied at 16 and only 1:04 remaining.
Florida, which didn’t have any timeouts, chose to play for overtime, a choice that ultimately came back to bite it. It got the ball first and scored a touchdown on a Philly special pass from Trent Whittemore to quarterback Emory Jones, but it allowed a quick Missouri answer.
Instead of tying the game with an extra point, the Tigers decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion. Quarterback Connor Bazelak found Daniel Parker in the end zone on a screen pass, and that was that.
Once again, the Gators dropped a game they should have won, and coach Dan Mullen could be in serious trouble. Here are the takeaways.
Another streak snapped
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In Mullen’s first year, he ended Florida’s 31-game winning streak against the Kentucky Wildcats. In his fourth year, he ended another streak that dated back to 1986.
This is the first time since that year that a Gators team has only won two games in conference play. That squad, led by coach Galen Hall, was facing NCAA sanctions and still beat two ranked teams that year in Auburn and Georgia.
This team has no such excuses or high notes. It’s the first time the program has finished 2-6 in SEC play since the league expanded to eight games in 1992, a mark that even Ron Zook, Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain never achieved.
This has been a season filled with frustrating moments, and this game was perhaps rock bottom, as the offense was completely inept. An embarrassing finish in the SEC will only make the questions facing the administration even tougher.
What's the long-term strategy at quarterback?
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After setting the school record for all-purpose yards in a single game against Samford last week, it’s understandable why Mullen decided to give Jones the nod this week (despite fans clamoring for Anthony Richardson, who returned from injury).
Jones was fine in this game, throwing for 261 yards on 20-for-32 passing, and while he didn’t have any touchdowns (aside from his catch), he also didn’t throw any interceptions. But what is a little hard to understand is why, even as Jones and the offense struggled to score, Richardson didn’t see any reps, even in select packages as he did earlier in the season.
It raises the question: What is Mullen’s plan for the quarterback situation? While it may be true that Jones gives you the best chance to win right now, he’s just not where he needs to be as an upperclassman. Richardson is younger and has flashed much more potential. Assuming he has a good spring, he should enter the 2022 season as the starter.
But if that’s the case, then it makes his usage this season very puzzling. Jones’ problems are obvious to anyone who isn’t too stubborn to see them, and yet Richardson continues to not get those opportunities.
In the era of the transfer portal, it wouldn’t exactly be far-fetched for Richardson to consider other options, though he’s a Gainesville native who grew up a Florida fan. This team hasn’t been contending for anything for a while now, and Mullen hasn’t been willing to give the likely future at the position a chance other than in what was an inevitably bad performance against the behemoth that is Georgia’s defense.
It’s hard to understand why.
The defense came to play
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Florida’s defense has been disastrous throughout the second half of the season, and firing defensive coordinator Todd Grantham after the South Carolina game didn’t seem to help things, as the team gave up 42 points in the first half alone against FCS Samford last week.
Interim Christian Robinson did a much better job this week, both in terms of motivation and game-planning. The effort was actually there for the first time in nearly a month, and the team held Missouri running back Tyler Badie mostly in check. The SEC’s leading rusher found a good bit of success, taking 27 carries for 146 yards in a touchdown, but the Gators held him in check early, and it was far from the monster outing some feared would occur.
Bazelak couldn’t do much through the air, going 15 of 26 for 165 yards and a touchdown, and the Tigers were held under 300 yards of offense. Bazelak was sacked four times, with Brenton Cox Jr., Antonio Valentino and Zachary Carter each notching solo sacks (Carter and Khris Bogle also split one).
The defense was far from perfect, but it also wasn’t the reason the Gators lost on Saturday night.
I still feel bad for Dameon Pierce
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
I wrote last week about how the lack of carries for Pierce is inexplicable. After he was handed the ball just seven times against a Missouri defense that entered the game ranked second to last in the FBS against the run, I only have more questions.
Yes, Pierce didn’t do much with the opportunities he had in this game (he had seven yards on those seven carries, though he did score a touchdown). But that doesn’t change the fact that he has the talent to play on Sundays and this game plan didn’t give him the chance to get in the groove.
Most of the production on the ground came from Jones doing it himself, while Malik Davis — who started — and Nay’Quan Wright didn’t have much success themselves.
Pierce is the highest-graded running back in college football this season, per Pro Football Focus, and he’s tied for fourth in the SEC with 10 rushing touchdowns with fewer carries than any other player in the top 10.
I don’t know what more Pierce needed to do to see the field in his final season, but it seems like a decision this staff may regret when he gets to the next level.
What are we doing here?
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Mullen fired Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy two weeks ago in what was a clear attempt to demonstrate he was willing to make changes to keep his job. But those changes haven’t seemed to provide whatever spark he was hoping to see, and the team is struggling just as much as it was before they were made.
With elite jobs already open in USC and LSU and a number of quality intermediate-level jobs like Washington and Virginia Tech also open, one has to wonder what athletic director Scott Stricklin is waiting for. If he wants to have a chance at landing any of the most coveted options, he needs to start the process sooner rather than later.
I’m not a huge fan of publicly calling for a coach’s job, but at this point, Mullen’s tenure at UF coming to an end this season just feels like an inevitability. It’s starting to look very unlikely this team even reaches a bowl game, and after notching the worst SEC finish in program history, whatever highs Mullen took this program to feel like a distant memory.
It’s become clear that Mullen isn’t the guy to win national titles at Florida. I’m not sure what Stricklin needed to see in this one to reassure him that Mullen was the guy, but I feel comfortable assuming he didn’t see it. Regardless of what happens next week against a Seminoles team that also needs a win to reach bowl eligibility, there isn’t much Mullen can do to make that case. At least not this season.
With how far this team has fallen and the continued struggles when it comes to recruiting, it’s hard to imagine next year plays out much differently if Mullen returns. To reference the oft-used quote from former Gators AD Jeremy Foley, “What should be done eventually must be done immediately.”
The Dan Mullen era in Gainesville is over. It’s now just a question of timing.
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