Attempting to overcome his poor play in the first half, Brantley remained composed with 1:49 left until halftime and delivered a 21-yard strike to redshirt freshman wide receiver Quinton Dunbar. He was sandwiched on the play, and a helmet-to-helmet hit knocked him out for the remainder of the game.

Brissett took over for Brantley but failed to do anything with the Gators offense until Florida redshirt senior defensive tackle Jaye Howard recovered a fumble caused by redshirt freshman linebacker Michael Taylor with 4:32 remaining in the game.

Following a pass interference call on 1st and 10 from Florida State’s 21-yard-line, Brissett hit Dunbar in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. The late score allowed the Gators to avoid their first shutout since 1988.

Joining Brantley on the trainer’s table were redshirt senior RB Chris Rainey, sophomore DT Dominique Easley, sophomore LB Darrin Kitchens and redshirt sophomore guard Jon Halapio, all of whom were injured in action and did not return to the field.

Kitchens was injured on the opening kickoff of the second half and was carted to the locker rooms after laying motionless on the field for a number of minutes. He gave a thumbs up to the crowd on his way to the back.

Brantley finished his final game in The Swamp 9/15 for 104 yards and three interceptions. Rainey carried the ball 15 times for 42 yards, and senior RB Jeff Demps touched it just four times for -8 yards.

Dunbar finished with three receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown, and freshman tight end A.C. Leonoard led all Gators with 65 yards on the evening.

Florida’s stout defense held Florida State QB E.J. Manuel to six completions on 13 attempts for 65 yards and Freeman to 44 yards on 15 carries.

The Seminoles committed nine penalties for 85 yards and held the ball three minutes longer than the Gators did on Saturday.

Florida finished the regular season with a .500 record for the first time since 1979 (0-10-1). The Gators await a bowl invite but are expected to face Ohio State in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2, 2012 in Jacksonville, FL.

Redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley made all of the throws he was supposed to on Saturday, connecting with his pass catchers on 16-of-28 attempts for career-highs of 329 yards and four touchdowns. He did what offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has asked him to do all season – play within himself – and helped rally his team back from a tough early deficit.

“You got to give Furman a lot of credit. They came into here and played us hard and played us well. We just kept fighting. We knew things would go our way if we stayed calm and collected, and it did,” Brantley said. “This team has grown up a lot through these ups and downs, that’s the only think you really can do, learn from it and mature, and that’s what we have done.”

One of those players coming into his own is redshirt sophomore wide receiver Andre Debose, who caught three balls from Brantley for a career-high 151 yards and two touchdowns (of 80 and 64 yards, respectively).

“The two routes I ran today were go routes. The [defensive back] was a little bit too close, and I took full advantage of it and just beat him with speed. Johnny B had some great throws,” Debose said. “I was very surprised the way they played me the second time. Usually teams put a safety on top and try to prevent the deep ball from us. They really didn’t play it that way, and we took full advantage of it.”

Brantley also hit redshirt freshman WR Quinton Dunbar for a 29-yard touchdown to give Florida the lead at the end of the first half.

INJURY AND ABSENCE UPDATES

Redshirt sophomore tight end Jordan Reed, who caught four balls for 56 yards and a touchdown in the first half, left the game before halftime with an ankle injury and did not return. Muschamp said the early indication is that he will be able to play against Florida State on Saturday. Junior tackle Xavier Nixon also left the contest with an undisclosed injury, and his status is to be determined.

Redshirt junior Sam linebacker Lerentee McCray (shoulder) was held out, as was redshirt freshman tackle Chaz Green (ankle) and redshirt senior guard Dan Wenger (ankle). Redshirt freshman safety Joshua Shaw was not at the game after requesting to go home and visit his family due to his grandfather being ill.

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Muschamp on Debose: “When we’re able to gain single coverage outside, Andre’s the guy that can do some things vertically down the field. He really made two very nice plays on the ball in my opinion. He’s done that all season for us when given the opportunity. The thing I always challenge him on is mental intensity; it’s got to be an everyday thing. It’s not just a one day thing. That’s where Andre’s biggest challenge is right now. It’s an everyday thing to go out and play hard, concentrate and focus on being a really good player. He’s extremely talented, but if you don’t bring the other part it won’t always happen for you. “

» Muschamp said that being bowl eligible is important but what is even more important are the 15-18 extra practices the team will have. Because 70 percent of the roster is composed of underclassmen, getting the extra reps, snaps and opportunities will give the team a chance to pull together and become even more cohesive with the playbook.

» Muschamp on freshman safety De’Ante Saunders and his second interception in as many games: “Pop’s got really good instincts on the ball. He’s got a very good feel for the game. He’s improved his tackling although he still has some work to do on that. He needs to get stronger – that’s part of the issue being a true freshman. He’s a guy that came in here mid-year, he’s highly intelligent and very smart. He picks things up very well. He can play corner, nickel, dime, safety – he can play every position we have. He’s got very good football instincts and that’s what makes him a very good player.“

» Muschamp on if Urban Meyer going to Ohio State would surprise him: “Yeah, it would. I think it would be great for college football. I think Urban is an outstanding football coach. He does it the right way. He did a phenomenal job at Bowling Green, Utah and obviously here at Florida. He’s just a first-class guy. With his deteriorating health there and his family – as important as that is to him – I wouldn’t think he would, but again that’s just my opinion.”

» Brantley on Debose: “He’s one of the fastest people on the team. As long as they give you the right coverage and you throw a decent ball to just give him a chance, he’s coming up with it more times than not.”

» Brantley on the team struggling to start: “All of us are recruited very highly. We want to play at our best each time. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. You get a little frustrated, but you just got to keep learning from it and moving on.”

» Debose on his consistency: “I would say my consistency is a lot better. There are still things I have to work on myself, but I would say overall my consistency is much better.”

» Debose on Muschamp motivating him: “Coach Champ, he just stays on me all the time. This week he’s been saying mental intensity and jamming that in my head.”

» Debose on what he has to improve: “My routes – it takes a lot for me to work on my routes. Coming in and out of my cuts and working off the jam, I have a lot of trouble when somebody comes up and tries to jam me.”

» Junior linebacker Jon Bostic on redshirt sophomore LB Jelani Jenkins’s pick-six: “He needed that. He made a great play on the ball. The quarterback threw it high; he picked it off and took it back”

» Bostic on teams running all over the defense: “That’s our main priority – stopping the run. They came out and gave us a couple new wrinkles. We made the adjustments and gave up one play [after that] and that’s about it.”

With their lead cut to eight, Furman looked to regain their two-score advantage. Stationed at UF’s 47-yard-line, QB Chris Forcier tossed the ball to TE Colin Anderson, who threw it 47 yards down the field to Sederrik Cunningham for a touchdown.

The Gators were reeling at the end of the first quarter but took it to the Paladins shortly after the second quarter began. Florida ended a seven-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard rushing score by freshman fullback Hunter Joyer, and Brantley hooked up with redshirt sophomore WR Andre Debose for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of UF’s next possession. A two-point conversion failed, leaving the Gators down 22-20.

Florida sophomore defensive tackle Dominique Easley blocked a punt on FU’s next drive, getting his team the ball back at their opponent’s 34-yard-line. Brantley responded with a 29-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman WR Quinton Dunbar, who tapped one foot down in the back of the end zone for the score.

UF had a chance to add a field goal at the end of the half, but Sturgis pushed a 40-yard attempt to the left and Florida kept its 27-22 lead at the break.

The teams traded field goals and punts to open the second half before swapping touchdowns to close the third quarter. The Gators had possession with 1:16 to play in the quarter, and Brantley again threw deep to Debose for a 64-yard touchdown. The Paladins responded immediately with a 77-yard rushing touchdown from running back Jerodis Williams on the first play of their ensuing possession.

Florida held just a five-point advantage into the fourth quarter but took their shots at Furman from that point forward. Sturgis nailed a 55-yard field goal to end the quarter’s first possession, and freshman safety De’Ante Saunders intercepted Forcier’s next pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to put the Gators ahead 47-32.

After another pair of punts, Florida got back on the board when redshirt sophomore Will linebacker Jelani Jenkins picked off Forcier and returned it 75 yards for the second pick-six of the game.

Though they were trailing 22-7 at the end of the first quarter, the Gators outscored the Paladins 47-10 through the final three quarters of the contest.

Debose had a career-high 151 yards and two touchdowns, and redshirt senior RB Chris Rainey led the rushing attack with 15 carries for 90 yards. Reed added four receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown, Dunbar had two catches for 54 yards and a score, and Thompson made two grabs for 45 yards.

Saunders registered Florida’s first interception return for a touchdown this season and caught his second pick in as many games. Jenkins nabbed his first interception of the season after dropping a number of balls early in the year.

Sturgis’s two field goals gave him 44 for his career, good for second all-time in school history behind Jeff Chandler (67).

The Gators posted more than 50 points in a game for the first time since registering 55 against Vanderbilt one year ago.

Despite the 22-point victory, Florida only outgained Furman 453-445. The Gators had 116 more yards in the air (329-213) but were outrushed 233-124 on the afternoon. UF committed six penalties for 60 yards in the contest, gave up two fourth-down conversions (on two attempts) and possessed the ball 13:24 less than FU (23:18-36:42).

Florida will conclude its regular season next Saturday by hosting rival Florida State in The Swamp. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will air live on ESPN2.

Photo Credit: Phil Sandlin/Associated Press

» Redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley on his ankle injury: “It hasn’t gotten any worse whatsoever. It keeps getting better every day and each week.”

» Brantley on bowl practices benefiting the younger players: “That’s huge. To be able to have that for the young guys practicing into January, that’s huge for them. I was a Gator before I came here, and I’m going to be a Gator when I leave. I want to be able to see the program just keep getting better and watch these guys be successful here.”

» Brantley on redshirt freshman wide receiver Quinton Dunbar: “Once we went back and watched the film from Saturday, we thought Quinton played as hard as anybody else really. He didn’t have any stats or anything but to see him blocking down field on a lot of plays, finishing the plays, he did a great job this past Saturday even though it didn’t show with him on the stats.”

» Reed on transitioning to tight end: “Definitely I got more comfortable playing tight end. I’m more comfortable in my role. [...] Running after the catch is kind of hard and difficult. It’s different than QB, when you see everything in front of you. When you catch the ball receiving, you have your back to the defense. It’s harder that way to run.”

» Reed on freshman TE A.C. Leonard: “He’s doing good. He’s getting better every day. His role is going to increase for the offense.”

» Evans on losing freshman cornerback Marcus Roberson: “I’d say he was playing pretty well for a freshman. Not too many guys come in and do the things that he did. He was playing pretty good.”

Muschamp is not using 2011 as an evaluation season per se but while the team is struggling to get into the W column on a consistent basis, he is noticing some qualities about the players that give him a sense of promise for the future.

“I see a lot of improvement regardless of the results,” he said Saturday. “In the big picture of things, we’ve made tremendous improvements. We play blocks much better up front at times. We do a better job in the run game against a quality defensive football team. [...] We ran the ball in the second half. Is there improvement? Yes. Is it what we want? No. Is it where it needs to be? No. Are we going to get there? Yes, it’s going to get there. You play three quality teams that you feel like you had opportunities to win the games. Is it frustrating? Yeah. But it’s frustrating to lose one when you don’t play very well, too.”

He went into further detail on Monday, discussing specifically the improvements he is seeing game-in and game-out. “We all look at the result at the end of the game and feel like nothing good is happening. That’s not the case. We have a lot of positive things happening, just not enough to get us over the hump to win those games,” Muschamp said.

“The effort. Guys are playing hard with great effort. Individually guys that are doing nice things, as a team doing nice things. We’re just very inconsistent. You can attribute it to a lot of different things, but the bottom line is that it’s inconsistent. I see things that are very promising as far as where we are and what we’re trying to do. It’s not what we want right now, but we’ll certainly get there.

“We improved our tackling defensively. Both linebackers have played extremely well this season. We’re a little inconsistent in some situations Saturday, but we’ve played blocks better up front. We’ve improved in the secondary. Jordan Reed is playing really well. A.C. Leonard is coming along and playing really well. The running backs have played well all season. I think John [Brantley] continues to play well, and I think we’ve got a bright future with Jacoby [Brissett] and Jeff Driskel. Matt Patchan is playing his best football, and Jon Halapio is playing very well. We’re not consistent enough across the board, but there are some guys who are playing good football. Jon Bostic is having an outstanding season.

“There’s a fine line in winning and losing. It’s a really fine line from being 5-5 and possibly 8-2. There’s really fine line, and it goes back to those 8-10-12 plays in a game – you got to make those plays. You got to put your guys in situations to be successful and that’s my job.”

BOWL ELIGIBILITY NOT A CARROT TO BE DANGLED

As a coach who expects much from his players, Muschamp said he has never considered and certainly is not now using bowl eligibility as any type of motivator for his team going into the Furman game.

“For me it’s about playing better. It’s about coaching better. If you do that, things will take care of themselves,” he said. “We’ve had our opportunities in the last four weeks to do that. We haven’t exactly closed it out. I don’t know that bowl eligibility should be a motivating factor for you as a competitor.

“When you step on the field, you compete. You can do it every day in practice, you can do it every day in meetings, and you do it every day during game day regardless of who is lined up on the other side. That’s the mental attitude you want to have as a competitor. It’s to go out and compete. You don’t need to be motivated by external factors, in my opinion.”

One positive result of becoming bowl eligible, something that the Gators will be on Saturday after their likely victory over the Paladins, is that Florida will get nearly three additional weeks of practice before playing in the game. Those can be used not only to prepare for the upcoming opponent but to set the tone for spring practice in 2012.

“They’re very important,” Muschamp said of the additional practices. “You got a great opportunity to scrimmage your young players. Our young players have been scrimmaging all year. It’s an opportunity to go out and rep, get better, familiarize with your scheme a little more, get guys turns and reps in what they’re doing. There’s no question – generally you try to get 4-5 fundamental practices and then 4-5 practices on your opponent. And then you break for Christmas, come back to the bowl site and get 4-5 more practices. It’s in essence another spring ball. There is no question it is very beneficial for your program.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» On what adjustments he made at halftime: “Execute. Execute.”

» On playing a tough SEC slate of games: “We have two really good teams in our league in Alabama and LSU. The rest of us you could throw us in a sack and shake us up.”

» On his players fumbling the ball: “We just got to play different guys.”

» On deciding to kick the field goals and not go for touchdowns on fourth down: “The game is all about points. Neither offense was doing a whole lot. It was all about getting points early in the game to me. Get as many points as you can, don’t squelch opportunities in the red zone, which we did. You got to score touchdowns in there.”

» On Brantley’s mental makeup: “John’s a guy that, I’ll tell you, I’m very impressed with him as a person and what he’s all about. He’s all about the right things.”

» On the wide receivers not getting separation: “We got to play better. We got to coach better.”

» On the offensive and defensive lines: “Not very good. Real simple. We’re not deep enough. We don’t have enough numbers. It’s real simple. Just look at the roster. We’ve got good talent. We don’t have enough numbers.”

» On if it will take long to develop depth on the lines: “We’ll recruit well up front. I feel very excited about where we are from that standpoint. We’ll continue to improve and gain depth as far as the recruiting is concerned and do a better job coaching the guys here on campus.”

» On if the 5-5 season has affected recruiting: “None.”

» On why redshirt freshman wide receiver Quinton Dunbar has not done more this year: “Given his opportunities, he has played well. A little bit is Andre has made some big plays for us, especially in the middle of the season as we’ve moved forward. They play the same position in most situations, so Andre [Debose]’s made a little bit more vertical plays down the field. Very pleased with Quinton recognized this morning for his effort on the field, his blocking in the game. I look for him to continue getting some opportunities.”

» On if Florida is getting enough out of the freshman class: “I’d have to individually think through in my head. Both quarterbacks are going to be outstanding; I’m pleased with where both of them are. Offensively right now A.C. Leonard has really come on. It really put him behind when he had the knee injury there in camp he missed a lot of time. For a freshman that’s very difficult when you miss that many turns and that many reps. I’m very pleased with the secondary players that have played extremely well for us. Graham Stewart has done some nice things at linebacker. Chris Johnson on special teams has been outstanding, Louchiez Purifoy. For a freshman class, there are a bunch of them playing and probably only three guys who will be redshirted in the class.”

» On why penalty numbers being down overall: “We’ve emphasized it as much as we can go over it. We have crowd noise at every practice. We hard count on defense probably once every 2-3 snaps. In critical situations we talk about it. We text the players about it. We’re exhausting every measure we can of jumping offsides and having false starts offensively. We’re going to continue to do a better job because we’re not doing a good job obviously. We’ve been doing that all along. That’s something that we’ve practiced and we do. That’s just what we do. [...] We’ve talked about it. We text them. We had a t-shirt made [that reads] ‘hard count.’ We’ve done everything. We’re exhausting all measures.”

Florida committed 12 penalties for 90 yards on Saturday, their second-highest total of the year. And that’s not counting lost yardage on plays that were called back. It was also the fourth time in 2011 that the Gators had nine or more penalties called against them in a single game. Florida kept two (in particular) LSU drives alive due to their penalties and even had consecutive offside calls on a possession that ended in a touchdown for the Tigers. The Gators also had a great run by senior running back Chris Rainey negated due to a holding call well behind the play.

“There’s aggressive penalties that are judgment situations and then there are penalties that shouldn’t happen. We got a 30-yard run in the first quarter and we’re blocking 20 yards behind the ball. That’s not very smart,” Muschamp said. “It’s something that’s been talked about 100 times and it needs to be talked about 200. We’re going to talk about it 200 times this week because that’s not very smart. We’re going to talk about it 205-12-15, something like that, to see if we can do a little better.”

Another area that UF proved to be undisciplined was in tackling. For the second straight game, Florida had the opportunity to wrap up runs and short passes on the first level but failed by taking bad angles and using their arms instead of their bodies and legs. Muschamp was obviously none-too-pleased with that fact after the game.

“Tackling is ‘want to’ to me,” he said. “You either want to do it or you don’t. I’ll find guys who want to tackle.”

BRISSETT PROVES HE CAN HANG

It is a rough situation to start a freshman QB against a SEC opponent, especially when that opponent is LSU, the game is at Tiger Stadium, and the signal caller has never taken a collegiate snap before. With all that being said, Brissett performed admirably on Saturday, finishing 8/14 for 94 yards with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Andre Debose. He also threw two interceptions in the game – one down the middle of the field that should not have been thrown and another to Debose in the end zone that Tigers cornerback Tyrann Mathieu made a great play on.

Brissett worked well off the play action, had decent vision down field, stepped up in the pocket on occasion, showed he could be mobile and proved that he indeed has a big arm. “I thought he was solid under the circumstances against a good football team defensively,” Muschamp said. “I think he’s going to be a really good football player for us. We’ve got to play better around him in some spots and create some more situations in the run game.”

The Gators tried to do that by giving sophomore Trey Burton multiple snaps at the quarterback position. Burton mostly handed the ball off and was used more than anything because Brissett had a limited package of plays that he was prepared for heading into the game.

“[We did that] just to take the pressure off of Jacoby. We felt like we had a package for him that we could execute and execute well,” Muschamp said. “I thought, for the most part, [Burton] did a nice job. I was very pleased with that. Trey’s package, we got the ball moving in the second half with that package and it was effective for us.”

THE DEFENSE IS OFFENSIVE

With a questionable offense heading into the season and a defense that was one of the best in the country against the run heading into last week’s game against Alabama, Florida looked to have at least one area of their team completely figured out. Wrong.

The Gators have allowed their last two opponents to rush for 226 and 238 yards, respectively, which equates to an average of 5.04 yards per carry. Muschamp is obviously aware of this and continues to say it will be a point of emphasis in practice this week.

“I thought we would play better than we did in the last two ball games. Again, we’ve got to come up with some ways to stop the run game better than we’re doing at this point, and that’s been disappointing because I did think we would play the fronts better,” he said. “We’re not tackling well when we’ve got the ball on the perimeter in some spots. It’s just a collective effort. It’s not one area.”

One reason he gave for why UF may be failing in this area is its lack of depth up front. “We’re really playing three or four guys inside and three guys at end,” Muschamp said. “We just got to do a better job of getting off the field earlier in the game in those situations.”

PLAYMAKERS PROVE THEY SHOULD GET MORE LOOKS

Debose was put on the spot this week to replicate his performance from last Saturday and he did just that with a mirror image 65-yard touchdown reception. He did not catch another ball in this week’s game but was open on occasion and had an early jump on Mathieu on a ball that was eventually intercepted.

Seeing increased playing time for the injured Demps, junior RB Mike Gillislee again proved that he can be effective with the ball in his hands. Gillislee carried the rock nine times for a team-high 56 yards and was integral on Florida’s sole scoring drive in the first half. “Mike was very effective in the game,” Muschamp said afterward. “He runs hard; he runs with his pads down. He does a nice job in the run game. He’s done a better job with protections. He’s got to continue working on catching the ball out of the backfield.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Florida has been outscored 79-21 over their last two games. The Gators’ 41-11 loss Saturday was their worst since the 1996 Fiesta Bowl (62-24 to Nebraska), and the team has not fallen so badly in consecutive games since dropping back-to-back decisions to Auburn (40-7) and Georgia (49-7) in 1971.

» On failing to properly cover the fake punt: “We had two guys assigned for the punt that didn’t do their job. We’ll move on with that. That’s coaching. We had two guys assigned to do their job that didn’t do it. They did what they wanted to do. And those guys aren’t going to play in our program anymore, guys that do what they want to do when they want to do it. It’s undisciplined football and that’s my fault and nobody else’s.

» On if he took any positives away from the game: “Not a whole lot. Not a whole lot.”

» On running the fake punt early in the first half: “We came here to win the game. And I felt like in that situation we were backed up. Worst thing we could do was punt again into the wind. The ball’s going to be at midfield. We had a hard time with the wind in the first quarter, so I felt like we had to get the first down. The fake punt we felt like was there. We hit it tighter than we wanted to. We felt like it was there, and I would call it again.”

» On deciding to kick the field goal in the first half: “We needed points at that time. It was a three-score game and we needed points. I didn’t want to come out without points.”

» On how he will handle consecutive losses against top -three opponents: “A loss is a loss regardless of how it looks. We just got to look at the film, evaluate where we are as a football team and that’s what we’re going to do to move forward with the guys that are willing to do the things we need to do to be successful. That’s what we plan on doing. We got a bunch of guys in that locker room who are hurting right now, as well as us, and we just need to get better.”

Considering redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley has been ruled out for Saturday’s game, freshman Jeff Driskel is by far the most likely player to take his spot in the huddle. In addition to Driskel himself needing to get his head in the game and mature quickly, the support of his teammates is going to be important going forward.

If comments that Debose and redshirt sophomore guard Jon Halapio made on Tuesday are any indication, Driskel is not lacking in that department. “We have the ultimate confidence in Driskel. I feel like he can get the job done,” Deobse said. “His whole attitude has changed since the time he has been here until this point. He’s a whole different person. He let us know that he doesn’t consider himself a freshman.”

Though Debose said that redshirt freshman Tyler Murphy and freshman Jacoby Brissett are also getting reps in practice, he thinks Driskel brings something special to the table. “He has a strong arm, and when things are going bad, he can always get away with his legs. That’s one thing he can bring to the offense that Johnny B couldn’t,” he said. “He can keep a lot of plays alive a lot longer, so the scramble rules play into effect.”

Halapio said Driskel is “confident in the huddle” and though “he’s young, he’ll get it right this week.” He continued, “Obviously he’s a young quarterback, but I have full faith in him and we fully support whoever will be playing that quarterback position on Saturday.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Debose on how hurt he was two weeks ago: “I had sprung [sprained] my ankle, and I feel like I’m 100 percent now. It was pretty bad. I couldn’t walk for a while. With our training staff, they helped me get back as fast as possible. It was pretty bad. I was walking on crutches after the game and had a boot for a couple days after that. I was just determined to get back.”

» Debose on why the offense struggled moving the ball against Alabama: “We really couldn’t get a run game started. That had a lot to do with it. Once you’re one-dimensional, the defense can kind of pin your ears back and it’s kind of hard.”

» Debose on how he gets along with redshirt freshman WR Quinton Dunbar: “Our relationship is great. I’m always pushing him and he’s always pushing me. When he was on the field, I just always tried to tell him little advice on what he can do to get better. He does the same for me. It’s a friendly competition. We’re never putting each other down or anything like that.”

» Debose on how the team can be more successful this week: “I would definitely say we have to get our run game started. Our whole offense is kind of based on our run game. Once we get our run game started, I feel like our team will open up.”

» Redshirt freshman tackle Chaz Green on the team’s performance vs. Alabama: “We obviously struggled and need to do better. Everybody will take that upon himself to get better. We got to do better on protection of course. We don’t like to give up any sacks. That’s something that we pride ourselves on. We got to get better in that area and we got to get better in our run blocking.”

» Green on the offensive line not creating holes to run the ball: “It was rough because that’s what we pride ourselves on. It was rough but, like I said, we just got to look at film and correct it. We got to make sure we correct our technique and make sure we get it back to where it [was].”

» Halapio on not playing well against Alabama: “We feel like it’s just motivation. We’re going to go out there and play to our best abilities. It’s motivation for this week to get better, go up to Louisiana and handle [our] business.”