Florida’s defense showed some fight Saturday, but Oklahoma still found a way to keep the Gators under pressure for long stretches and leave them with a 23-point night that didn’t tell the whole story.
The Sooners leaned on possession and patience from the start, and Florida never really found a clean answer for a game plan directed by Jason Witten, who was calling plays in college for the first time ever after Oklahoma fired its offensive coordinator last week. The first possession covered 10 plays and ended in a field goal, which was manageable enough for Florida.
The next two drives were a different problem entirely. Oklahoma put together a 15-play march that ended with former Gator Hayden Hansen catching a walk-in touchdown after some razzle-dazzle. That came despite the fact that Oklahoma entered the game with the 2nd worst red zone TD rate in the country.
Florida did respond with a touchdown of its own, and Oklahoma followed with another field goal to take a 13-7 lead into halftime.
There was a stretch after the break when the Gators looked like they might settle in. Florida forced three straight punts to open the half, and the defense had done enough to give the offense a chance to shift the game. But the offense never met the moment, and Oklahoma eventually put together the drive that buried Florida’s hopes.
That possession lasted 20 plays and ended with another red zone touchdown. It also included a 1st and 20 that Oklahoma converted to keep the series alive. By the end, the Sooners had run the clock, controlled the tempo and delivered the kind of drive Florida couldn’t stop.
It was, by the numbers, the first 20-play drive to end in a touchdown that Florida has allowed in at least the past 20 years.
After the game, Sumrall was asked about the possession and said Florida didn’t seem to recognize what Oklahoma was trying to do:
“And situationally, I go back to we didn't have a real good awareness or feel for what that looked like and how they were going to call it, that it was really already a four-minute drill in their mind, which means they're trying to run the clock out to some degree, where they weren't looking for explosives right there.
They were just looking to kind of keep getting enough yards to convert and nothing down the field as much. But situationally, there's a couple things that I'd like to do differently as a coach there. And I have to be better, and our staff has to be better for our guys on defense next time.“
There’s some truth in that, but Oklahoma also kept winning the physical moments at the line, falling forward and squeezing out extra yards when Florida needed a stop. Whether that came down to toughness, desire or strength, Sumrall was the one left sorting it out.
So yes, Florida’s defense has improved. It showed that much on Saturday. But giving up three drives of 10 plays or more to a coordinator making his first-ever play-calling appearance in college is still a rough look.
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