Nick Saban likes what he’s seeing from Florida’s offense, and he made sure to point the finger at the man shaping it.
Appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show” before this week’s matchup with Mizzou, Saban praised Gators offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner for helping build a harder-edged identity on that side of the ball.
“I have been very impressed with Florida, especially on offense,” Saban said. “These guys are scoring a lot of points.
They got a lot of weapons. They got a great runner and really good receiving corps.
I think Buster Faulkner is one of those guys that in his culture, is creating toughness. You do that in practice.”
That message lines up with what Florida has shown on the field. The Gators put up 52 points in a win over Ole Miss a few weeks ago and have emerged as one of the best offenses in college football this season. Much of that has come with star running back Jadan Baugh setting the tone.
Baugh has rushed for 600 yards and 11 touchdowns, numbers that rank second and first in the country, respectively. Florida is also second in the SEC in rushing yards, and the ground game has helped the Gators wear teams down late.
Faulkner brought a similar style with him from Georgia Tech, where he served as offensive coordinator last season. The Yellow Jackets were a physical team too, built around one of the country’s top rushing attacks.
Florida’s next test comes Saturday against Missouri, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
In Other News...
Jon Sumrall Just Made Floridas Secondary Concern Even Bigger
Floridas defense left the Missouri game with more questions than answers, and the secondary is right at the center of it. The Gators gave up five touchdowns on drives that began with a punt or kickoff, a jarring jump for a unit that was supposed to have enough talent in the back end to hold up better than that. Instead, explosive plays kept putting the defense in bad spots, and the overall result made the problems look bigger than a single busted coverage or one rough quarter.
Jon Sumrall did not try to dress it up afterward, saying there are multiple issues in the secondary and no simple fix waiting to clean them up. His message was blunt enough to make the concern feel even more real: Florida needs players to win their one-on-one battles. For a defense built with highly rated talent, that is a tough place to be, and it leaves the Gators staring at a problem that goes beyond scheme and into execution. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas Ranking Hit Looks Bad But One Result May Save Them
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There is still a chance the Gators avoid a deeper slide, though, because the committee of voters has a few other results to weigh, including Pittsburgh staying unbeaten and teams such as UCLA, Kentucky and Boise State adding their own wrinkles to the picture. Mississippi State and Alabama are part of the same crowded conversation too, which is what makes Floridas place in the next poll so uncertain until the new rankings are revealed. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Sumrall Just Challenged Florida's Maturity After Its First Loss
Floridas first loss of the 2026 season landed hard, and Jon Sumrall did not soften the blow afterward. The No. 8 Gators were thumped by No. 25 Missouri, 45-17, in a game that exposed problems on both sides of the ball, with the head coach pointing directly to defensive breakdowns and an offense that never got its ground game going.
Sumralls criticism went beyond scheme and execution, getting at the bigger-picture issue of maturity after a defeat that had been building for the wrong reasons. With South Carolina, Texas and Georgia next on the schedule, Florida does not have much time to let the sting linger, and the response in the coming weeks will say plenty about how this team handles its first real setback. [Read more 🡒]