The biggest question coming into Florida’s tilt with Vanderbilt was whether the Gators would let the loss against Georgia bite them again this week.
For the first half it looked like they might.
But then they pushed down the gas pedal, averaging 24.0 yards per play in a 28-point third quarter that turned an interesting game into a complete laughter. The only tension left in the fourth quarter was wondering why Kyle Trask was still playing with the Gators up 49 points.
The win moves Florida to 8-2 overall (5-2 SEC) and keeps its slim hopes of capturing the SEC East alive. But for a team that had some trouble pulling away from average Miami, Kentucky and South Carolina teams, seeing the Gators blitz an overmatched opponent was a welcome sight.
The Gators did what they were supposed to do. If they do that two more times this season, they’ll have equaled their 10-win total from last season.
Defense
Anytime you only give up only 18 yards in a half as the Gators did in the first half, it’s an impressive feat. Then Florida only gave up 110 yards in the second half.
The most visible star of the defensive performance was undoubtedly true freshman Mohamoud Diabate, who had three sacks and dropped the dagger that put any remaining hopes for Vanderbilt to sleep.
It’s not often that you get an unblocked shot at a QB from the blind side. But Diabate made it count, causing the fumble that Greenard returned for a 35-0 lead.
Diabate wasn’t the only young player to make his presence felt. In fact, that’s what I think Gators fans should take the most from this performance. Sophomore James Houston had eight tackles after having just 22 all season. Lloyd Summerall, Andrew Chatfield, Jaydon Hill, Kaiir Elam and Chester Kimbrough all got major playing time.
That’s going to pay off down the road, especially if C.J. Henderson and Marco Wilson don’t stick around for another year.
I know it can be hard to discern a whole lot against such an overmatched opponent. After all, Vanderbilt QB Deuce Wallace likely would’ve struggled to hit receivers consistently if they were running wide open.
But Ke’Shawn Vaughn is a great player who Florida made look average. In fact, Vaughn got so frustrated that he incurred a personal foul penalty after being stuffed on a third-down attempt. Last year’s Florida defense is better than this year’s, but Vaughn averaged eight yards per carry before an injury knocked him out in last year’s game.
This year, the Gators never let him get going. With that weapon gone for the Commodores, they didn’t have a chance.
Offense
After a few below average performances, Kyle Trask played pretty well against Vanderbilt.
He was asked to throw the ball 37 times, 29 in the first half. He did throw two interceptions, but it looks like the first came on a route miscommunication between him and tight end Kyle Pitts and the second came on a back shoulder throw that nine times out of ten ends in a touchdown or a pass interference penalty.
Once he started hitting big plays in the second half, the Florida offense really started humming. For the game, he accumulated a yards above replacement (YAR) of 2.10, an elite level. He averaged 18.6 yards per attempt in the second half and had passes of 66 (Grimes) and 38 (Cleveland) yards to lead touchdown drives to salt the game away early in the third quarter.
But it wasn’t the passing of Trask that excited me in this one.
This has been missing from the offense pretty much since Feleipe Franks went down with an ankle injury. Franks was excellent at running the QB lead in short yardage situations and getting the first down.
We’ve been waiting all year for Emory Jones to come in and fake a run but throw a deep pass. Well, Mullen went the other way, pulling Jones to put Trask in on a third-and-short and run the ball.
It’s not that the Gators got the first down on this play. It’s that they were willing to run the QB to get it, which was a really valuable part of the offense in 2018.
Trask is not the runner that Franks is, but he hasn’t been the willing runner that Mullen espouses recently. Certainly that might have to do with the knee injury he sustained against Auburn. But Trask had -53 yards rushing on the year but ran for 25 against Vanderbilt.
If he keeps that up, the offense is going to score a lot of points.
The other thing I think should get Gators fans excited (again, the caveat that this is Vanderbilt) was the play of the offensive line, particularly Ethan White.
White made his first start against the Commodores and acquitted himself quite well. There were certainly some areas for improvement, but it was the first time this season that I’ve seen real push from the right guard position.
Here, White (#77) drives Vanderbilt defensive lineman Cameron Tidd (#90) straight back at the snap. He’s helped by right tackle Jean Delance (#56), but the physicality with which White made this block is something that is noticeable on multiple plays in the game.
In his post-game press conference, Mullen said his initial impression was that he was happy with White and left guard Richard Gouriage because there weren’t any glaring mistakes. I think he’s going to be pretty happy with them after giving the film a closer look too.
Takeaway
It’s just Vanderbilt.
All analysis needs to keep that fact in mind. The Commodores are now 2-7 on the year, and came into the game with a terrible offense and defense to match its record.
But Vanderbilt had zero explosive (20+ yard) plays in the entire game. Florida wasn’t even able to accomplish that against FCS opponents UT-Martin and Towson.
And Kyle Trask just threw for more yardage than any Gators QB since Tim Tebow put the final touches on his career against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.
The Gators scored more than 40 points three times from 2015-2017 under the McElwain/Nussmeier regime. They just did it for the eighth time under Mullen.
That’s not a lot of comfort for fans who watched Georgia struggle with Missouri and wondered what might have been.
But Vanderbilt is a bottom-tier program in the SEC East. Florida is supposed to dominate bottom-tier programs. Yet, Florida only beat the Commodores 9-7, 13-6 and 38-24 under McElwain. 56-0 against a bad team doesn’t say a whole lot except that the days of needing a last second Austin Hardin field goal to win games you should win are in the past.
And that’s pretty neat.