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Offense: C+

This week it seemed Florida was its own worst enemy. Plenty of mistakes in great field position and ones nullifying scores. Like the would-be touchdown to Malik Davis. Davis strolled into the endzone untouched. But Xzavier Henderson screened off two Tennessee defenders downfield better than Rudy Gobert does on the court. And Florida couldn’t make up the 25 yards needed to move the chains resulting in a field goal attempt. Other miscues include Florida going three-and-out with the ball at the UT 30 or Jacob Copeland dropping a open drag route after Trask didn’t see it for several seconds. Let’s also not forget the severe inability to run the ball. Tennessee entered the contest at over 160 yards allowed per game on the ground. Florida ran for 19. That’s it. It’s probably what resulted in Kyle Trask’s stat line.

But that’s one of the positives of this game on offense: Trask posted 433 yards and four touchdowns on 35-for-49 passing. He’s a score away from tying Danny Wuerffel’s 1996 season record and he’ll likely break it by a good amount. He made a tremendous throw on the run to Copeland in the back of the endzone. Additionally, three receivers posted greater than five catches and four had greater than 50 yards. Nine different guys caught passes so it shows Trask is still spreading the ball around. Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney had some great, clutch catches including Pitts’s highlight reel grab on a back-shoulder throw. And, despite all the mistakes, Florida scored 31 points and looked unstoppable at times. I think the positives and negatives balance out to a slightly net positive grade.

Defense: B

I know the defense received a tremendous amount of flak this season. But I’ll say it. I don’t think they played that bad against Tennessee. Yes, still plenty of issues like not covering the flat, guys lost in coverage, not tackling Eric Gray on a TD, getting blocked into oblivion and allowing a 96-yard drive. However, outside of garbage time, the Vols’ second-longest drive was 29 yards. And that didn’t come until late in the third quarter. After Tennessee’s first touchdown the Volunteers went seven straight drives without points. The Gator defense forced four straight punts to start the second half! Another positive to point out is the Florida pass rush and defensive front. The Gators sacked Tennessee quarterbacks six times and forced multiple hurries or throwaways Saturday night. Zachary Carter, Amari Burney, Khris Bogle, Princely Umanmielen, Trey Dean and Ventrell Miller all posted one sack. Only 240 passing yards and 94 rushing yards allowed by Florida. They held the super sophomore Gray to under 50 yards after he rushed for 120+ in three of his last four games going in. Even the secondary made plays! Trey Dean defended a pass in addition to his sack and Kair Elam saved a first down on a clutch tackle in the open field with no help.

However, those two 90+ yard drives in garbage time can still be held against them I feel. Mainly because the 1s were still in there on them. But Florida played soft coverage and safe with the big lead. Either way it still shows up on the stat sheet. Overall though? A pretty good defensive performance by the Florida Gators.

Special Teams: A-

We go with the A- because Evan McPherson missed one of his two field goals. Florida punted four times with no return on any of them and two downed inside the 10. Jacob Finn also had two flip the field after Florida stalled out in its own territory, including a booming 50-yarder. Finn punted three times and Dan Mullen called a Trask pooch punt. It worked to perfection pinning Tennessee inside the 10. Kickoff coverage held Velus Jones Jr. to just over 17 yards a return with his longest only being 20 yards. Kadarius Toney didn’t return any kicks but also didn’t force any. Good game by the special teamers.

In conclusion:

This wasn’t a dominating performance I think people wanted. But it was more than enough to win a football game. We all know what the offense is capable of doing against anyone. The defense still has its cracks but seems to be turning it on as of late. Special teams also puts up a good performance considering its limited opportunities. Florida will go as far as the defense allows because we know there aren’t any questions about the offense. The Gators get one more game before their biggest of the season against Alabama. The way LSU’s been playing, Florida should give the fans plenty of fireworks to end the 2020 home schedule.