Latest / A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators / UF's SECRET EXPOSED Texas & NOBODY Is Talking About It...
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome back to A Peek Inside Gator Football. Allie Peek here.
- 0:03Speaker 1: This video is brought to you by PrizePix. Don't forget,
- 0:06Speaker 1: new users can download the app, play a $ 5 lineup,
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- 0:12Speaker 1: get $ 150 in lineups instantly. All right, so I want
- 0:15Speaker 1: to take you back to the second quarter in Florida's
- 0:18Speaker 1: game against Texas. The Gators are in Austin playing the
- 0:22Speaker 1: seventh-ranked team in the country. They're coming off back-to-back embarrassing
- 0:26Speaker 1: losses to Missouri and South Carolina. Their starting quarterback, Aaron Filo,
- 0:31Speaker 1: is out with a shoulder injury. They're starting Tramell Jones
- 0:34Speaker 1: for the first time in his college career, and things
- 0:38Speaker 1: are not going particularly well. Texas has a 17-3 lead.
- 0:42Speaker 1: The Longhorns have already put 10 points on the board offensively,
- 0:45Speaker 1: and they just returned a punt 63 yards for another touchdown.
- 0:48Speaker 1: I want you to think about the situation that Florida
- 0:51Speaker 1: was in at that moment. This was a team that
- 0:53Speaker 1: had just been beaten 45, 17 by Missouri and 38,
- 0:57Speaker 1: 19 by South Carolina, a team that had been outscored
- 1:00Speaker 1: 83 to 36 in its previous two games. And now
- 1:04Speaker 1: it's down two touchdowns on the road against a top
- 1:07Speaker 1: 10 opponent. How many Florida fans were sitting there thinking,
- 1:11Speaker 1: here we go again. Well, I'll tell you what, it
- 1:14Speaker 1: would have been really easy for this team to fold.
- 1:17Speaker 1: It would have been easy for the defense to get frustrated,
- 1:20Speaker 1: for a young quarterback to start pressing, for the entire
- 1:23Speaker 1: thing to snowball into another ugly afternoon. But that's not
- 1:26Speaker 1: what happened. Instead, Florida responded. And the most important part
- 1:30Speaker 1: of that response came during a stretch of football that
- 1:32Speaker 1: coaches talk about constantly. The middle eight. The final four
- 1:36Speaker 1: minutes of the first half and the first four minutes
- 1:39Speaker 1: of the second half. It's a period where games can
- 1:41Speaker 1: completely change. And against Texas, Florida didn't just win the
- 1:45Speaker 1: middle eight. The Gators used that stretch and an extended
- 1:48Speaker 1: possession after halftime to completely change the direction of the game.
- 1:52Speaker 1: And when you really break down what happened, you learn
- 1:56Speaker 1: an awful lot about this football team, its coaching staff,
- 1:58Speaker 1: and the mentality that John Summerall is trying to establish
- 2:02Speaker 1: at Florida. First, let's talk about why coaches put so
- 2:06Speaker 1: much emphasis on the middle eight. If you're not familiar
- 2:08Speaker 1: with the concept, it's actually really simple. The final four
- 2:12Speaker 1: minutes of the first half and the opening four minutes
- 2:14Speaker 1: of the second half are two of the most important
- 2:16Speaker 1: stretches of a football game. And the reason is opportunity.
- 2:19Speaker 1: Depending on who gets the football to start the second half,
- 2:22Speaker 1: a team can potentially put together scoring possessions on either
- 2:25Speaker 1: side of halftime without the opponent getting a meaningful offensive
- 2:28Speaker 1: possession in between. And when that happens, you can turn
- 2:31Speaker 1: a relatively close game into a two or three score advantage.
- 2:35Speaker 1: Florida demonstrated this against Texas. So they took a game
- 2:38Speaker 1: that looks like it's really kind of getting away from
- 2:41Speaker 1: you and they completely reset it. But it requires a
- 2:44Speaker 1: few things. First, you have to understand the clock. You
- 2:47Speaker 1: have to execute in critical situations. You have to be
- 2:49Speaker 1: willing to take advantage of opportunities. And perhaps most importantly,
- 2:54Speaker 1: you can't allow the scoreboard to dictate your mentality. And
- 2:58Speaker 1: that's what made Florida's performance so impressive to me. When
- 3:01Speaker 1: Texas went ahead 17-3, there was absolutely no guarantee that
- 3:05Speaker 1: the Gators were going to get back into that football game.
- 3:09Speaker 1: And yet Florida continued to play like it believed that
- 3:11Speaker 1: it could. Now, technically, Florida's turnaround started before those final
- 3:17Speaker 1: four minutes. And I think that is an important distinction.
- 3:20Speaker 1: After Texas returned the punt for a touchdown to make
- 3:23Speaker 1: it 17-3, Florida got the football back and put together
- 3:25Speaker 1: a 10-play drive that took five minutes off the clock. Now,
- 3:29Speaker 1: That drive didn't produce points. Florida did have to punt eventually,
- 3:33Speaker 1: but it did do something important. It stabilized the game.
- 3:37Speaker 1: Instead of going three and out and giving Texas another
- 3:40Speaker 1: immediate scoring opportunity, the Gators moved the football. They picked
- 3:44Speaker 1: up first downs, they stayed on the field, and they
- 3:46Speaker 1: forced Texas to play defense. And think about how important
- 3:50Speaker 1: that was for Tamel Jones. This was a quarterback making
- 3:53Speaker 1: his first career start. He'd just watched his team fall
- 3:56Speaker 1: behind by 14 points. And instead of asking him to
- 3:59Speaker 1: throw the ball all over the field and somehow erase
- 4:02Speaker 1: the deficit in one possession, Buster Faulkner continued to give
- 4:05Speaker 1: him manageable opportunities. The Gators ran the football. They took
- 4:10Speaker 1: what was available. They stayed patient. And I think that
- 4:12Speaker 1: helped Jones settle into the game a little bit. One
- 4:15Speaker 1: play I really liked came on fourth and one near midfield.
- 4:18Speaker 1: Florida had already picked up 13 yards on a third
- 4:21Speaker 1: and 14 scramble by Jones. Rather than punt, the Gators
- 4:24Speaker 1: kept the offense on the field. Jaden Baugh picked up
- 4:26Speaker 1: eight yards, first down. Now, again, Florida didn't finish that
- 4:30Speaker 1: possession with points, but it did send a message. The
- 4:32Speaker 1: Gators weren't going to play scared. They weren't going to
- 4:35Speaker 1: abandon what they wanted to do offensively, and they weren't
- 4:38Speaker 1: going to let an early deficit dictate everything. That mentality
- 4:42Speaker 1: would become even more important, I think, a few minutes later. Now,
- 4:45Speaker 1: let's get to what I think was probably the most
- 4:47Speaker 1: important defensive sequence of the entire game. Texas had the football,
- 4:51Speaker 1: leading 17-3. After Florida's punt, the Longhorns were backed up
- 4:55Speaker 1: at their own three-yard line. Texas was able to move
- 4:58Speaker 1: the football towards midfield. And with just over three minutes
- 5:01Speaker 1: remaining in the half, the Longhorns were threatening to put
- 5:03Speaker 1: together another possession that could have effectively buried Florida. But
- 5:07Speaker 1: then the Gators made a play. On first down, Florida
- 5:09Speaker 1: got pressure on Arch Manning and brought him down for
- 5:11Speaker 1: a six-yard loss. So now it's second and 16. Texas
- 5:14Speaker 1: throws an incomplete. Third and 16. Manning completed a short
- 5:18Speaker 1: pass to Jermaine Bishop. Initially, officials awarded Texas a first down,
- 5:23Speaker 1: but the play was reviewed. and Bishop was ruled short.
- 5:26Speaker 1: So now it's fourth and one at midfield, and Stark
- 5:29Speaker 1: decides to go for it. And now I understand why.
- 5:31Speaker 1: Texas had been moving the football. The Longhorns had a
- 5:33Speaker 1: 14-point lead, and if they convert, they have an opportunity
- 5:36Speaker 1: to continue the drive and potentially put the game out
- 5:38Speaker 1: of reach before halftime. But Florida's defense was ready. Hollywood
- 5:43Speaker 1: Smothers takes the handoff, and Ty Jackson meets him in
- 5:45Speaker 1: the backfield. Loss of one yard. Turnover on downs. Florida's
- 5:50Speaker 1: Football at the Texas 49-yard line with two minutes and
- 5:54Speaker 1: 44 seconds remaining in the half. And I cannot emphasize
- 5:57Speaker 1: enough how important that stop was. If Texas converts and
- 6:00Speaker 1: continues to drive, who knows what happens? Maybe the Longhorns
- 6:03Speaker 1: get another field goal. Maybe they score a touchdown. Maybe
- 6:06Speaker 1: Florida goes into halftime trailing by three possessions. Instead, the
- 6:09Speaker 1: Gators get the football on the plus side of the field.
- 6:12Speaker 1: And suddenly, an opportunity opens up. But now they have
- 6:15Speaker 1: to take advantage of it. So Florida takes over at
- 6:18Speaker 1: the Texas 49, two minutes and 44 seconds remain, and
- 6:20Speaker 1: Buster Faulkner goes to work. Eric Singleton picks up eight
- 6:23Speaker 1: yards on the first play. Jaden Baugh runs for seven
- 6:26Speaker 1: in another first down, then another four yards. Nothing particularly spectacular,
- 6:30Speaker 1: just good, efficient football. But then Florida makes things more
- 6:34Speaker 1: difficult on itself. Incomplete pass. False start. Now it's third
- 6:38Speaker 1: and 11th. Jones completes a pass to Singleton, but it
- 6:41Speaker 1: loses a yard. So now it's fourth and 12. Texas
- 6:44Speaker 1: calls timeout with 56 seconds remaining. And here's where I
- 6:48Speaker 1: think the entire game changes. Because Florida could kick a
- 6:52Speaker 1: long field goal. It could punt and try to pin
- 6:54Speaker 1: Texas deep. Or it could take a chance. And John
- 6:58Speaker 1: Summerall kept his offense on the field, fourth and 12,
- 7:02Speaker 1: on the road, down 14 points, with a quarterback making
- 7:05Speaker 1: his first career start. That is not a conservative decision.
- 7:10Speaker 1: But it is certainly not a decision that he's taking lightly.
- 7:14Speaker 1: It is not a decision without risk. Tramell Jones drops back,
- 7:19Speaker 1: finds Dallas Wilson for 17 yards, first down. Florida stays alive.
- 7:24Speaker 1: And I think we need to appreciate just how big
- 7:26Speaker 1: that play was. If Florida doesn't convert, Texas gets the
- 7:29Speaker 1: ball back with an opportunity to run out the half.
- 7:31Speaker 1: The Gators go into the locker room down 17-3 instead
- 7:34Speaker 1: of what they went, which was Florida suddenly being inside
- 7:37Speaker 1: the Texas 20. On the very next play, Jones takes
- 7:40Speaker 1: off and scrambles for another 14. So now they're inside
- 7:42Speaker 1: the five. After a short loss on a ball carry,
- 7:45Speaker 1: Florida calls timeout. 23 seconds left. And Jones finds Lakota
- 7:49Speaker 1: Dupree for a seven-yard touchdown. Florida cuts the deficit from
- 7:53Speaker 1: 17 to 10 with just 18 seconds left in the half.
- 7:57Speaker 1: Nine plays, 49 yards, two minutes and 26 seconds. Just
- 8:01Speaker 1: like that, it's a one-possession football game. Texas is only
- 8:05Speaker 1: now up. Again, 17-10. Here's what I really loved about
- 8:09Speaker 1: that possession, though. It wasn't a lucky play. It wasn't
- 8:12Speaker 1: some blown coverage that allowed Florida to score from 70
- 8:15Speaker 1: yards out. The Gators had to execute. They had to
- 8:18Speaker 1: convert a fourth and 12. They had to manage the clock.
- 8:21Speaker 1: And they had to make plays in the red zone.
- 8:23Speaker 1: And their young quarterback remained composed. And that's the kind
- 8:27Speaker 1: of football Florida hasn't consistently played during its two losses.
- 8:31Speaker 1: But against Texas, they delivered. Guys, I want to take
- 8:36Speaker 1: a quick break from this video to give some love
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- 9:15Speaker 1: you were spending anyway. That's a huge savings. We appreciate
- 9:18Speaker 1: our partners over at Alumni Hall and thank them for
- 9:20Speaker 1: all their support. All right, let's head back to the video. Okay, so,
- 9:27Speaker 1: you know, it's the midway point, okay? Florida delivered at
- 9:31Speaker 1: the end of going into halftime, but now they're coming
- 9:35Speaker 1: out of halftime. And here's where the game gets even
- 9:38Speaker 1: better for me. Because Florida wasn't just going into halftime
- 9:41Speaker 1: having cut the deficit to seven points. The Gators were
- 9:44Speaker 1: also getting the football to start the second half. Texas
- 9:46Speaker 1: had just watched a comfortable 14-point league shrink to seven.
- 9:50Speaker 1: Florida had momentum. And now John Summerall had the opportunity
- 9:53Speaker 1: to go into the locker room and tell his football
- 9:55Speaker 1: team something pretty simple. Guys, we're right where we need
- 9:57Speaker 1: to be. We've weathered the storm. We've taken. their best shot.
- 10:01Speaker 1: And now we have the football to start the second half.
- 10:03Speaker 1: I think the mentality in those two locker rooms had
- 10:06Speaker 1: to be completely different from what it had been just
- 10:09Speaker 1: a few minutes earlier. Texas had been in control. Florida
- 10:12Speaker 1: had looked like a team on the verge of another
- 10:13Speaker 1: embarrassing loss. Think about had those teams gone into the
- 10:17Speaker 1: locker room 17-3. What a different conversation that would have
- 10:21Speaker 1: been going on in each place. But now the Gators
- 10:24Speaker 1: had the opportunity to tie it. Here's the thing, though.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Getting the football to start the second half doesn't guarantee anything.
- 10:29Speaker 1: You still have to execute. And Florida did that on
- 10:32Speaker 1: the opening possession. And honestly, what they did was one
- 10:35Speaker 1: of the most impressive offensive drives, I think, of the
- 10:38Speaker 1: entire season. Florida took the opening kickoff. London Montgomery returns
- 10:43Speaker 1: it to the 31-yard line. Tramell Jones and the offense
- 10:46Speaker 1: take the field. Now think about the assignment. You have
- 10:48Speaker 1: a backup quarterback making his first start. You're facing one
- 10:51Speaker 1: of the better defensive fronts in college football. You're trailing
- 10:54Speaker 1: seven points, and you have an opportunity to tie the game.
- 10:57Speaker 1: What does Buster Faulkner do? Well, he doesn't panic. He
- 11:00Speaker 1: doesn't get overly aggressive. He doesn't ask Jones to go
- 11:03Speaker 1: out there and make some miraculous throw downfield. No. Instead,
- 11:07Speaker 1: Florida begins methodically moving the football. Jones misses on the
- 11:10Speaker 1: first play. Bob picks up four yards. Now it's third
- 11:13Speaker 1: and six. This is a critical moment. If Florida goes
- 11:16Speaker 1: three and out to start the second half, all of
- 11:18Speaker 1: that momentum from the touchdown before halftime could disappear. But
- 11:21Speaker 1: Jones connects with Bailey Stockton for 14 yards, first down.
- 11:25Speaker 1: And Florida keeps moving. Now, I'm not going to go
- 11:27Speaker 1: through every single snap of this possession, but I want
- 11:30Speaker 1: you to appreciate the bigger picture. Florida runs 15 plays, 15.
- 11:34Speaker 1: The Gators travel 69 yards, and they hold the football
- 11:37Speaker 1: for eight minutes and three seconds. Eight minutes. That's more
- 11:40Speaker 1: than half of the third quarter on a single possession.
- 11:43Speaker 1: And remember, Florida isn't an offense that's throwing the ball
- 11:47Speaker 1: 40 yards downfield or generating huge chunk plays. It's running
- 11:51Speaker 1: the football. It's completing short passes. It's converting third downs.
- 11:54Speaker 1: It's staying ahead of the chains. And it's making Texas
- 11:56Speaker 1: defend every yard of the field. Then, after more than
- 11:59Speaker 1: eight minutes, Jones finds Dupree again. Eight-yard touchdown. Florida ties
- 12:02Speaker 1: the game at 17. And I think that touchdown was
- 12:05Speaker 1: absolutely devastating for Texas. At one point in the second quarter,
- 12:09Speaker 1: the Longhorns had a 17-3 lead. They had the crowd
- 12:12Speaker 1: behind them. They had all the momentum. They were playing
- 12:14Speaker 1: a Florida team that had been struggling for two weeks.
- 12:17Speaker 1: And now, after two consecutive Florida touchdown possessions surrounding halftime,
- 12:21Speaker 1: the game's tied. And Texas hadn't even run an offensive
- 12:23Speaker 1: play in the second half. That's how you completely change
- 12:26Speaker 1: the momentum of a football game. And while the opening
- 12:29Speaker 1: drive extended beyond the traditional four-minute window on either side,
- 12:33Speaker 1: the middle eight, I think it demonstrates exactly why coaches
- 12:36Speaker 1: place so much emphasis on those possessions. Florida didn't score
- 12:40Speaker 1: 14 unanswered points alone. It just, it controlled the clock.
- 12:45Speaker 1: It controlled the tempo and it forced Texas to stand
- 12:47Speaker 1: on the sidelines and watch. Now I want to talk
- 12:51Speaker 1: specifically about Tramiel Jones for a minute. I think this
- 12:54Speaker 1: middle eight stretch tells us a lot about him and
- 12:56Speaker 1: way more about him than his final passing statistics do.
- 12:59Speaker 1: He finished the game with 155 yards left. Two touchdowns,
- 13:03Speaker 1: no interceptions. And I think if you're looking at those numbers,
- 13:05Speaker 1: you might think, all right, that's a pretty ordinary performance.
- 13:09Speaker 1: But I think the circumstances tell a different story. Here's
- 13:12Speaker 1: a young quarterback making his first career start on the
- 13:14Speaker 1: road against the seventh-ranked team in the country. His team
- 13:17Speaker 1: is trailing 17-3. And during the most important stretch of
- 13:20Speaker 1: the game, he helped engineer two touchdown drives. He converts
- 13:23Speaker 1: a fourth and 12. He scrambles for a huge first
- 13:26Speaker 1: down in the red zone. He delivers two touchdown passes
- 13:28Speaker 1: to Lakota Dupree. And he helps keep Texas' offense off
- 13:32Speaker 1: the field for more than eight minutes to start the
- 13:34Speaker 1: second half. It's incredibly impressive. And it shows something that
- 13:37Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily show up on the stat sheet, and that's composure.
- 13:41Speaker 1: Jones didn't seem overwhelmed by the situation at all. He
- 13:43Speaker 1: didn't look like a quarterback who was trying to make
- 13:45Speaker 1: every play himself. He understood what Florida needed, and he executed. Now,
- 13:49Speaker 1: was every throw perfect? No. Were there missed opportunities? Sure.
- 13:53Speaker 1: But I think he showed a level of maturity that
- 13:55Speaker 1: deserves recognition. And I also think Buster Faulkner deserves all
- 13:58Speaker 1: the credit for understanding how to call the game around
- 14:00Speaker 1: his young quarterback. He didn't ask Jones to be Aaron Philo.
- 14:03Speaker 1: He didn't ask Jones to throw for 350 yards. He
- 14:06Speaker 1: asked Jones to operate the offense, protect the football, and
- 14:09Speaker 1: make plays when it mattered. And that is exactly what
- 14:12Speaker 1: Jones did. Now, as much as we need to credit
- 14:15Speaker 1: the offense for what happened around halftime, I don't want
- 14:17Speaker 1: to overlook what the defense did. Florida's defense made that
- 14:20Speaker 1: entire comeback possible. Remember, Texas scored 10 points on its
- 14:23Speaker 1: first two possessions. And then the Longhorns didn't score another
- 14:26Speaker 1: offensive point until the fourth quarter. Florida's defense gave up
- 14:29Speaker 1: just 272 yards for the entire game, and Texas ran
- 14:33Speaker 1: only 50 plays. The Longhorns converted just two of their
- 14:36Speaker 1: 10 third-down opportunities. But most important was how the defense
- 14:41Speaker 1: complemented what Florida was doing offensively. The Gators tied the
- 14:44Speaker 1: game at 17. The defense forced Texas to punt. Florida
- 14:47Speaker 1: couldn't do much with its next possession. But then the
- 14:50Speaker 1: defense forced another punt, and now Buster Faulkner and the
- 14:52Speaker 1: offense have another opportunity. This time, Florida put together a
- 14:56Speaker 1: 14-play drive that took six minutes and 31 seconds off
- 14:58Speaker 1: the clock. Patrick Durkin kicked a 28-yard field goal. Florida
- 15:01Speaker 1: took a 20-17 lead. Think about what had just happened.
- 15:05Speaker 1: The Gators now had scored 17 unanswered points. They had
- 15:07Speaker 1: gone from trailing by 14 to leading by three, and
- 15:10Speaker 1: Texas had barely been able to get its offense on
- 15:12Speaker 1: the field. Later in the fourth quarter, the Gators' defense
- 15:15Speaker 1: forced another turnover on downs, and the Gators capitalized again.
- 15:18Speaker 1: Jaden Baugh scored on an 11-yard touchdown run. Florida now
- 15:22Speaker 1: led 27-17, that's 24 unanswered points, against the seventh-ranked team
- 15:26Speaker 1: in the country on the road after trailing 17-3. And
- 15:30Speaker 1: it all started with that response before halftime. Now, here
- 15:34Speaker 1: is the bigger picture, because I do think this game
- 15:36Speaker 1: tells us something about John Summerall and specifically what he's
- 15:39Speaker 1: trying to establish at Florida. Throughout the offseason and throughout
- 15:42Speaker 1: the first half of the season, Summerall has talked about
- 15:44Speaker 1: toughness and discipline and playing complementary football and responding to adversity,
- 15:49Speaker 1: and about being able to win games in different ways. Well,
- 15:52Speaker 1: against Texas, we finally saw what that can look like.
- 15:55Speaker 1: Florida didn't win because it was more explosive offensively. The
- 15:58Speaker 1: Gators averaged only 3.9 yards per play. Texas actually averaged 5.4
- 16:02Speaker 1: yards per play, so let that sink in. Texas gained
- 16:05Speaker 1: more yards per offensive step, but Florida ran 31 more plays.
- 16:09Speaker 1: The Gators held the ball for more than 38 minutes.
- 16:11Speaker 1: They converted eight third downs, and when the game presented opportunities,
- 16:15Speaker 1: they capitalized. That's situational football. That's complementary football. And that's
- 16:19Speaker 1: how you win games when you're not necessarily playing your
- 16:22Speaker 1: best football offensively. But there's another part of this that
- 16:25Speaker 1: I think is even more important. Florida didn't quit. And
- 16:28Speaker 1: after what we saw against Missouri and South Carolina, that matters.
- 16:32Speaker 1: Against Missouri, the Gators allowed the game to get away
- 16:33Speaker 1: from them. And against South Carolina, mistakes and missed opportunities
- 16:36Speaker 1: continued to pile up. But against Texas, Florida responded to adversity.
- 16:40Speaker 1: It didn't panic. It didn't abandon the game plan. And
- 16:42Speaker 1: it didn't allow one bad play or even a 14-point deficit.
- 16:46Speaker 1: to dictate the rest of the afternoon. That is a
- 16:48Speaker 1: significant development for a football team in its first year
- 16:51Speaker 1: under a new coach, particularly after what we watched against
- 16:55Speaker 1: Missouri and South Carolina. And guys, let me tell you something.
- 16:59Speaker 1: Florida won the middle eight against FAU, against Campbell, against Auburn,
- 17:05Speaker 1: against Ole Miss. Florida lost the middle eight against Missouri
- 17:11Speaker 1: and against South Carolina. The middle eight is a really
- 17:14Speaker 1: good indicator of about how this game is going to
- 17:18Speaker 1: turn out for the Gators each and every Saturday. Now,
- 17:21Speaker 1: I don't want to make too much out of this
- 17:23Speaker 1: one football game. Florida still has some very real problems.
- 17:27Speaker 1: The offense needs to create more explosive plays. The offensive
- 17:30Speaker 1: line has to become more consistent. They were better on
- 17:32Speaker 1: Saturday than the previous two weeks. The defense needs to
- 17:35Speaker 1: prove it can play this way every single week. They
- 17:37Speaker 1: were much improved. But I do think what happened against
- 17:40Speaker 1: Texas gives Florida a blueprint moving forward. This team doesn't
- 17:44Speaker 1: necessarily have to win every game by putting up 50 points.
- 17:46Speaker 1: It doesn't have to rely on the quarterback making spectacular plays.
- 17:50Speaker 1: It can win by controlling possession, by converting manageable third downs,
- 17:54Speaker 1: by playing aggressive, disciplined defense, and by taking advantage of
- 17:57Speaker 1: critical moments. But here's the challenge. That kind of football
- 18:00Speaker 1: requires consistency. You can't commit unnecessary penalties. You can't miss assignments.
- 18:05Speaker 1: And you can't allow opponents to convert third and long.
- 18:09Speaker 1: And you can't waste opportunities when the game gives them
- 18:11Speaker 1: to you. Again, against Texas, Florida wasn't perfect in those areas,
- 18:15Speaker 1: but when it mattered most, the Gators made the plays
- 18:17Speaker 1: they needed to make. And that was the difference between
- 18:20Speaker 1: this game and the previous two. So when I look
- 18:23Speaker 1: back at Florida's 17-24 win over Texas, I am not
- 18:26Speaker 1: necessarily going to remember the longest run or the biggest
- 18:30Speaker 1: hit or even the final strip sack that sealed the victory.
- 18:32Speaker 1: I don't know. That's kind of seared in my brain.
- 18:34Speaker 1: I might never forget that one. But I am going
- 18:36Speaker 1: to remember what happened when Florida was down 17-3 because
- 18:39Speaker 1: that was the moment when this football team had a choice.
- 18:42Speaker 1: It could allow the game to get away from it,
- 18:44Speaker 1: or it could fight back. And Florida chose to fight.
- 18:47Speaker 1: The defense made a critical fourth down stop. Tramell Jones
- 18:49Speaker 1: converted on fourth and 12. Wakata Dupree caught a touchdown
- 18:52Speaker 1: pass just before halftime. And then the Gators came out
- 18:55Speaker 1: of the locker room and put together an eight-minute touchdown
- 18:57Speaker 1: drive that completely took Texas out of its rhythm. It
- 19:00Speaker 1: wasn't luck. That was execution. That was patience. That was
- 19:03Speaker 1: good coaching. And that was a football team finally showing
- 19:06Speaker 1: the kind of mental toughness that John Summerall has been demanding.
- 19:09Speaker 1: Florida didn't just dominate the middle eight against Texas. The
- 19:12Speaker 1: Gators used the middle eight to control the entire afternoon.
- 19:17Speaker 1: And I think that's a really encouraging sign heading into
- 19:19Speaker 1: the bye week because as important as the win was,
- 19:22Speaker 1: the way Florida won might ultimately tell us even more
- 19:26Speaker 1: about where this program is headed. Guys, I cannot underscore
- 19:31Speaker 1: how important this has been in previous games for the
- 19:35Speaker 1: Gators where they found success. This is the recipe. The
- 19:39Speaker 1: recipe is to win, dominate the middle eight. I appreciate
- 19:45Speaker 1: all of you guys for tuning in and a big
- 19:47Speaker 1: thank you to prize picks for all their support as well.
- 19:49Speaker 1: Don't forget new users can download the app, play a
- 19:52Speaker 1: $ 5 lineup and use our code. It's HMA right down
- 19:54Speaker 1: there at the bottom of the screen. And if you win,
- 19:56Speaker 1: you'll get $ 150 in lineups instantly. Thank you so much
- 19:59Speaker 1: to prize picks and guys, I appreciate you so much.
- 20:02Speaker 1: Go Gators.