CBS Sports had a hard time narrowing down the SEC’s top coordinator performances from Week 4, and the results showed it. With the league turning in a loaded Saturday slate, the outlet chose two honorees instead of one: Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker.
Faulkner got the nod after Florida’s offense kept humming in a 52-28 win over previously No. 4 Ole Miss.
The Gators’ victory pushed them up to No. 8 in Sunday’s new AP Poll, and the scoring output fit the moment. Florida dropped 52 points on the Rebels, with Faulkner guiding an attack that has been rolling since he arrived in Gainesville.
The numbers tell the story fast. Florida has put up 66, 52, 44 and 52 points in its first four games, and in the ABC game against Ole Miss, the Gators piled up 498 total yards. That kind of production made Faulkner an easy choice for one of CBS Sports’ SEC coordinators of the week.
On the other side of the ball, LSU earned its own statement win in primetime. After the Week 3 loss at Ole Miss, the Tigers answered with a 35-6 win over Texas A&M at Death Valley. The LSU defense smothered the Aggies, holding them to 197 total yards and forcing two interceptions.
That performance put Baker in the spotlight. CBS Sports recognized the LSU defensive coordinator as its other SEC coordinator of the week after the Tigers delivered a dominant bounce-back effort on Saturday night.
In Other News...
Former Florida QB Pledge Just Raised The Stakes For Mizzou Game
Austin Simmons path has already taken him from one SEC sideline to another, and now it brings a little extra intrigue to Missouris matchup with Florida this weekend. Simmons initially pledged to the Gators in 2023 as a class of 2025 prospect, then reclassified to 2023 and flipped to Ole Miss before eventually transferring to Missouri, where he has emerged as the Tigers starting quarterback.
For Florida, the connection is hard to miss. A player who once looked headed to Gainesville will be lining up against the Gators instead, adding a familiar face to a conference game that already carries plenty of weight. With Simmons now running Missouris offense, the meeting has a little more personal history attached to it than most late-season SEC showdowns. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Sumrall Already Has Georgia Fans Arguing Over Florida Practice Talk
Jon Sumralls Florida practices are already drawing attention well before the Gators and Georgia line up for their next meeting, and this time the buzz has more to do with terminology than tactics. Sumrall has been using Bloody Tuesday to describe the kind of intense, physical work he wants on the practice field, a label meant to signal how demanding those sessions are.
Some Georgia fans and media quickly tried to frame the phrase as a Kirby Smart hand-me-down, but the history stretches far beyond that rivalry. The wording has been around for years, including at Florida under Urban Meyer and even earlier with Penn State coach Hugo Bezdek in the 1920s, which only adds another layer to a matchup already loaded with enough history and side chatter to keep both fan bases engaged as the game gets closer. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas New Offensive Identity Puts Pressure On Buster Faulkner
Floridas offense has started to look like something sturdier and more convincing than the unit that spent earlier stretches searching for an identity, and the recent 52-28 win over Ole Miss only reinforced that shift. Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner pointed to the rushing game as the clearest sign of progress, with Jadan Baugh continuing to set the tone and Duke Clark emerging as another dependable option in the backfield.
Baugh leads the SEC in rushing yards and touchdowns, but the bigger takeaway for Florida is how the ground game has changed the way defenses have to play the Gators. Faulkner said the offense is showing it can adapt and impose its will, and that kind of flexibility will matter again as Florida turns its attention to Missouri, where the challenge is not just carrying over the same production but proving this new identity can hold up week after week. [Read more 🡒]