Florida’s trip to Kentucky comes with a simple message from inside the program: handle it like work.
After being outscored 50-15 over the past two weeks and stumbling through consecutive losses to Georgia and Oklahoma, the Gators are trying to steady themselves on the road against a Kentucky team that is coming off its first loss since Sept. 12. With Florida’s second-to-last road game on deck, offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and defensive coordinator Brad White laid out what they want to see as the Gators try to get back on track.
Faulkner pointed to third-down issues and missed opportunities in situational football as the biggest reasons the offense has lost its rhythm since September. Even so, he said he still believes the group can straighten itself out.
“They understand that this is going to be a process, it’s day by day,” Faulkner said. “That’s the message right now, just worry about today.
Get better every day. Find something to get better at.
Take ownership. We’re in this thing all together and it’s our job to get it back on track.”
Florida’s offense has been working through the growing pains that come with two relatively inexperienced college quarterbacks in Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. The Gators have stuck with both, and Faulkner has continued to back them, even with the learning curve showing up in the numbers. Philo and Jones have combined for 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season.
Faulkner said he believes in giving quarterbacks time to develop and in teaching them how to respond when things go sideways.
“There’s been a lot of quarterbacks be really, really successful and it doesn’t go their way earlier in their career,” Faulkner said. “The reason that they’re successful is because they are mentally tough and they’re able to bounce back and understand that you’ve got to make the most of every opportunity.”
The run game, though, has given Florida something to build on. After the Gators struggled badly to move the ball on the ground against Georgia - averaging fewer than 2 yards per carry - Jadan Baugh and Duke Clark both got rolling against Oklahoma, each averaging more than 4 yards per carry. Faulkner said he likes what both backs have brought, and he singled out Clark for the explosiveness and “some juice” he adds to the backfield.
“When we handed the ball off, other than situational stuff, it was a solid run performance,” Faulkner said. “I do think we ran the ball better last week than we did the week before.”
White’s week carries a different layer of familiarity. Kentucky is the place where he spent the 2018-25 seasons as defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach, helping the Wildcats reach six bowl games while his defense ranked in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense at 22.1 points and total defense at 344.1 yards over that seven-year span. Still, he brushed aside any extra meaning attached to the return.
“It’s a business trip,” White said. “Going back with that in mind, [it’s] no different than any other away game, and I’m dialed in, ready to rock and roll.”
White also pointed to Florida’s second-half defense, which held Oklahoma to 10 points after allowing just 3 second-half points against Georgia in Atlanta. He said the answer isn’t complicated.
“Obviously it's nothing magical other than just being dialed in and understanding the importance and starting with the first drive of the second half,” White said. “Whenever you take the field, that first drive of the second half is just as important as the first drive of the game.”
Even with those adjustments, Florida still found itself on the wrong end of a marathon possession against the Sooners. John Mateer led a 20-play drive that stretched into the fourth quarter and ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna III. The drive lasted 12:45 on the clock and 22 minutes in real time, with Oklahoma running the ball 13 times on the series and going 89 yards.
“If you want to get off the field, you have to earn your way off the field,” White said.
Kentucky’s offense presents another challenge. The Wildcats have scored more than 30 points in six games this season and are averaging 29.89 points per game, which ranks 10th in the SEC. Florida, meanwhile, is allowing 27.56 points per game, the third-worst mark in the conference.
For White, the focus remains on getting the defense to a higher level, even if the execution still isn’t where it needs to be.
“The execution is still not anywhere close to where it needs to be, but the effort, the confidence level, their ability, their ability to play at a much higher level has increased over the last several weeks,” White said.
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