If two players were to be singled out for their respective performances on Saturday, Beal and Yeguete would undoubtedly get those honors. After struggling in the first half, Beal hit two big threes in the second half, took a ball coast-to-coast for an impressive lay-in and netted four free throws down the stretch to help Florida offensively.

“I was really proud of Brad,” Donovan said. “He didn’t shoot the ball particularly well … in the first half. He didn’t have a great first half and didn’t do a whole lot but then he knocked down a big three for us that gave us the lead. He had a great transition drive; he got fouled one time going to the rim. He made a lot of really good plays that really impacted the game. The last 10 minutes of the game he really made some big plays.”

Still trying to improve his offensive game, Yeguete factored in mostly on the defensive end. He was the main cog causing the Gators’ press to be successful and gave the team a major boost while on the court for 29 minutes.

“He was great. He was really good in the press, disruptive, steals, deflections. He really exerted a lot of energy. He was a difference maker in the press for us,” Donovan said. “The thing with him that he’s great at – and he’s probably the best guy since Brent Wright who was here up there – there’s a lot of decisions he has to make in the press of when to go trap, when not to go trap, understanding how the floor is starting to move and look. He’s got a really high IQ of understanding hat. When he’s in that mode there where he can kind of freelance around, he can cause some problems. He was really disruptive.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Donovan on deciding to start Young after five-straight games on the bench: “Patric is too critical to our team and too valuable that I just forced him right back into the starting lineup. And that was a great decision because he played three minutes in the first half with two fouls. [Smiling] I’m not so sure if that was a good decision or not. [...] It was nothing that he did or didn’t do.”

» Junior G Kenny Boynton on trying to end Kentucky’s home winning streak: “I’m very excited. We got the team to do it.”

The Commodores started the second half equally as hot, scoring nine-straight points including eight by Taylor to take a 43-40 lead. Young picked up his third foul quickly and Florida started the half 1-for-10 from the field, giving Vanderbilt room to make their run.

The Gators would not relent, battling to keep the game close before putting together an impressive 12-0 run including a pair of dagger treys from Beal to take a 58-49 lead. The Commodores fought back, keeping their deficit in the low single digits the rest of the way.

Up just four and trying to close out the contest, Florida took a seven-point lead with 1:03 to go thanks to a dagger three by Boynton, but Taylor answered immediately giving Vanderbilt yet another glimmer of hope. The Gators would hold on for the victory though, hitting all 14 of their second half free throws including four in the final 39 seconds.

Florida was nearly perfect from the line, netting a season-best 16-of-17 attempts. The Gators only shot 38.3 percent from the field but nailed 45.8 percent of their attempts from downtown. UF outrebounded VU 39-34 (14-10 offensively) and forced the Commodores to commit 17 turnovers thanks to a strong press in the second half.

Vanderbilt outscored Florida 26-16 in the paint, but the Gators used 18 points off the bench – 10 of them from Rosario on 4-of-8 shooting – to pull out the win.

Senior point guard Erving Walker joined the backcourt trio as the fourth Florida player with double-digit points, posting 11 on a paltry 3-of-11 shooting performance. His game-high five assists thrust him past Eddie Shannon (493) into No. 2 on UF’s all-time list, giving Walker 495 dimes for his career.

He also passed Ronnie Williams (3,898) for No. 4 on the Gators’ career minutes list (3,906) and tied Tony Miller (1,212) for eighth in field goal attempts with 11 on Saturday.

Sophomore F Will Yeguete, playing major minutes with Young and Murphy on the bench in foul trouble, grabbed team-highs of eight boards and three steals. He was pesky on defense throughout the game and the main cog in UF’s successful press.

Taylor added a game-high four steals to his total for Vanderbilt and was supported by G John Jenkins (15 points), C Festus Ezeli (11 pointss) and F Lance Goulbourne (game-high 11 rebounds).

Florida will look to continue their hot streak when they travel to face No. 1 Kentucky on Tuesday evening. The game will air live at 7 p.m. on ESPN and marks the third time this season the Gators will face a top-three ranked opponent.

Climbing his way up a number of all-time lists at Florida, Walker passed 1,200 career points Thursday and is just 15 points away from moving into No. 5 on the school’s scoring list. He is also three assists away from the No. 2 spot in that category, four three-pointers away from No. 3 on the list, 24 minutes away from No. 4 in court time and six trey attempts shy of No. 1 all-time at UF.

“It’s pretty amazing what he’s done at his size, a guy that came off the bench as a freshman and then moved into the starting position as a sophomore. In terms of his assists, three-point shooting, the scoring, it’s amazing a guy his size has been able to score at the level he’s been able to score at,” Donovan said.

“Any time you are able to score over 1,000 points in a career, that’s always a pretty good career offensively. I think he’ll go down as one of the better guards to play here just based on statistics and someone being here for four years.”

Walker has been concentrating on something other than scoring this season – taking care of the ball. His season-long assist/turnover ratio is 2.46, and he is first in the SEC in assists averaging 5.1 per game.

“He tries to do everything I ask him to do. We’ve talked about trying to lead the league in assists, and he’s right up there,” Donovan said. “He’s keeping his turnovers down. He’s starting to see and understand where his shots are coming from, when he needs to shoot and when he needs to pass. He’s getting better at it.”

A “GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT” IN RECRUITING?

Donovan was asked if there is a “gentlemen’s agreement” in college basketball when it comes to recruiting. In other words that a coach will not actively recruit a player committed to another school. A common practice in college football, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was accused of doing so by Wisconsin this week. He admitted as such and stated it was an aggressive action but not illegal and that many other schools do it as well. Below are Donovan’s thoughts:

“Yeah. I’ve always been amazed at football. There used to be a basketball coach – I’m not going to say his name – years ago he’s no longer coaching, when I first got in the business and a guy would commit, he would say, ‘Great now it’s down to two – me and you.’ I would say in basketball there is no question a gentlemen’s whatever. I will not recruit anybody who is committed. Never ever ever. That’s kind of a thing that goes on in basketball. And I have the right to recruit, but I think it’s kind of an unwritten or an unspoken law in basketball that once a guy is committed, that’s it.

“I have not done this but I know coaches will do this. If a guy is committed to a school and there is another school trying to change or break that commitment, the school he’s committed to will call up the coach and say, ‘What are you doing? This guy has made a decision. He’s already coming to our school.’ [...] I’ve always been amazed in football that a guy is verbally committed somewhere and he’s taking official visits to other places. That makes no sense to me. He shouldn’t commit anywhere if he’s not really sure. It just seems that’s what goes on.

“Al Horford is a perfect example. Al Horford committed to Michigan. I had a person very close to Al in the recruitment who said that he felt like he made a mistake and he would like to come to Florida. I said, ‘I’m not going to recruit him. The only way that I would recruit him is if he calls up the coach at Michigan and tells him that he has decided to open up his recruitment. But I’m not going to talk to you about Florida, and I’m not going to talk to you about anything. It’s got to be his decision.’ Al obviously did that. I’m not going to pick up the phone and talk to a kid that’s already committed somewhere and tell him why he shouldn’t go there and that he’s making a mistake there.

“There’s kids that decommit all the time. Austin Rivers decommited last year and he decided to open up his recruitment. [...] I don’t know if other schools were tampering with Austin or not or talking to him. It’s one of those things where I just don’t do that. I would say that most of college basketball coaches don’t do that once a guy is committed. That’s like an across the board consensus.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» On if he “ripped into the team” following their victory on Thursday: “I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that sometimes you’re better off watching the film. I would say most of the time my assessment just sitting there is accurate but there are times where you look at something and you think something was the problem and it’s not.”

» On the quick turnaround: “There’s no question the stretch that we have coming up is going to be very demanding, very tough playing against a lot of good teams. [...] What you have to do is put all of your focus and energy into what is in front of you right now. They’ll eventually all play themselves out.”

Muschamp first provided his general thoughts about Saturday’s victory.

“You go back and look at the game and we were balanced on offense. Being able to run the ball helped us with our play actions down the field. It slows the defensive linemen down a good bit up front. We converted on third down about 50 percent and had some big plays. We were able to get some chuck plays. Defensively we really needed to stop the run game and for the most part we did a decent job of that. We have to finish the game better and cover better – on the back end especially. We had some breakdowns [in the secondary] and obviously had some pass rush issues with Rodgers being able to scramble, create and extend plays. Those are the things we’ve really talked to the kids about.”

He also spoke about Florida’s next opponent on Nov. 12, South Carolina.

“They’re very balanced on offense – 188 yards rushing per game, 180 passing. Offensively Alshon Jeffrey is an outstanding wide receiver. A guy that is 6’4″ or 6’5″ with great ball skills down the field. He’s a tremendous match-up issue in all situations. [...] Defensively Ellis Johnson does a great job. [The unit has] 27 turnovers this year and is led by Melvin Ingram, a guy from a fake punt against Georgia to sacking the quarterback to playing the runs well inside is a really good athlete, a big guy that plays hard with a great motor. I’m really impressed watching him on film. Defense and special teams for them have scored seven touchdowns, so that’s impressive.”

Muschamp also commented on USC head coach Steve Spurrier:

I got great respect for Coach Spurrier, first of all as a player winning the Heisman Trophy here in 1966 and then the job he did as a head coach here for 12 years was outstanding. You look at the championship run and establishing the tradition of what Florida football is as far as winning championships. [...] I think he changed the SEC as far as the passing game is concerned. When he took over in 1990, the SEC was a running league. It was a ground-and-pound league. He came to Florida and did a great job in the throwing game, changing the perception of the SEC to an offensive league but still remained balanced in everything he did.”

PISTOL SET GIVES GATORS A RUN GAME

Between Brantley’s ankle injury and the numerous other problems the Gators have had running the ball, employing the pistol set on Saturday helped get the run game going again and keep the Commodores’ defense honest. In fact, Florida ran at a near two-to-one clip, though UF was also successful through the air.

Muschamp said Monday that employing the pistol helped in protection and opening up throwing seams down the field while also allowing the Gators to call play actions and run the ball inside. He said Florida plans to keep using the set because it assists in keeping defenses off balance.

Brantley is expected to be back under center at South Carolina but calling some runs from the pistol could still be smart in order to keep the turns he has to make on his ankle to a minimum. Muschamp also explained that UF’s pistol set is not the same as the pistol offense first run at Nevada and now UCLA.

“We were running from a set to be able to get to a downhill running game. What they run is a misdirection running game. It’s a different theory. What they run is a package; what we run is a set to be able to get to some downhill run game. What they do is a total package – they run a total offense that is called the pistol offense. We ran a set to get to our downhill running game. We ran it from a different set to enable John to run our downhill running game. We didn’t change what we were doing.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Muschamp on how the secondary needs to improve: “As far as playing the ball, we’re in situations and we’re in position. You got to play the football. When you’re in position to cover the receiver, you got to play the ball. We just need to finish some plays. [...] Those things are all correctable. Those are all things that we can work on. We’re going to spend a lot time today working on perimeter drill where we work on our eye control, covering and leveraging formations. They just need to improve, and I need to do a better job coaching from my spot.”

» Muschamp on how long he plans on coaching: “I love what I do. I’m very passionate about it. I enjoy coming to work every day regardless of the situation. I can’t picture myself not coaching.”

» Muschamp on if Spurrier called him when he took the Florida job: “I called him to tell him that our doors were always open unless we’re playing South Carolina.”

» Muschamp on redshirt junior DE Earl Okine: “He’s done a nice job. He’s done a better job preparing himself throughout the week as far as practice is concerned and that gives him other opportunities to play.”

» Muschamp on if he is seeing he team mature: “From a competitive standpoint and how we’re practicing, how we’re approaching things, as far as the team is concerned, I do think we’ve made some positive strides.”

» Muschamp on not walking on with the Gators: “Not that Florida missed anything [with me] as a player. I can tell you that.”

» Muschamp on the strides redshirt senior DT Jaye Howard has made: “I think Jaye has played really well. I thought he played well Saturday. He’s a guy that we really challenged him as far as playing hard every snap, giving great effort all the time. Jaye is very talented. He’s strong. He’s a very good athlete. He can bend his lower body, play blocks. A lot of Jaye needs to play hard all the time and do it all the time and be a guy that really shines. I’ve been really proud of his performance and how he’s played this year. I think he’s been very consistent this year.”

» Muschamp on how sophomore safety Matt Elam has stepped up: “He is communicating very well. He was not a very vocal player when I came in here from a standpoint of communicating. He was more worried about getting himself lined up and with what he was doing. He’s got a better understanding of what we’re doing schematically to understand what the other safety needs to do, what the nickel needs to do. He’s got very good playmaking skills and ability. He’s got natural instincts as a football player. He sees the play before it happens a lot. He anticipates the route breaking off. He anticipates where the runner is going to break. He anticipates where the ball is going.”

» Muschamp on freshman fullback Hunter Joyer: “Wow. He’s had an outstanding year. He’s going to be a heck of a football player for us. He’s smart, understands football. He gets it. It’s important to him. He’s very intelligent and tough. He’s a guy who we like giving the ball too as he gets a lot of positive yards after contact. He’s a really good blocker and picks up the game very well. I think he’s had an outstanding freshman season. He’s basically been the starter for us all year.”

» Muschamp on if he watched Alabama-LSU: “I got through about halftime and then fell asleep [out of exhaustion].”

Florida’s defense was strong most of the game but with a 13-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Gators began playing soft. When UF went up 12 with just minutes to play, the secondary played even softer and allowed Vandy to drive 80 yards on five plays in 57 seconds, giving them an opportunity to try an onside kick and perhaps wind up winning the game. Muschamp was quite displeased with what he saw from that unit at the end of the game.

“When you get put in those situations – i.e. a two score game with 2:13 to go – you still play coverage. We were calling coverages we had been calling and had success with the whole game. Our guys felt like – just don’t get beat deep. That’s not what you can do in these situations,” he said. “It’s a great learning experience. Believe me, Monday morning at 6:00 a.m., we’re going to learn that you can’t play that way at the end of a game. You’ve got to continue to play the game.

“A lot of what I saw is very correctable, in my opinion. Any time you give up some yardage passing – it’s kind of like a sack on offense – everybody wants to point a finger on the offensive lineman. Fourth-and-12 we lose contain[ment] on the quarterback and he holds the ball for three days. That’s the defensive line’s issue. We’ve got to get a lot of things straightened out, some of our underneath coverage. The big emphasis this week, in my opinion going in, was to stop the run game and stop the quarterback runs. I felt like, for the most part, we did a decent job of that.”

He touched on the subject again later, saying that the mistakes that players in the secondary made were mostly due to youth and inexperience – not discipline.

“It has to do with exposure to the situation. To understand it’s a two score game that doesn’t mean it’s a pass skeleton. We still are trying to compete to get the ball off people and make plays,” Muschamp said. “I was thoroughly disappointed with how we [played]; we’re not coaching them to play soft. You let them just throw the ball down the field? That’s not what we’re trying to do.”

“We couldn’t cover a bucket of water on the last drive,” Muschamp joked.

DISCIPLINE ON PENALTIES IMPROVED BUT JUST A SMALL STEP

The most penalized team in the country heading into Saturday’s game, the Gators continued to search for ways to become more disciplined each week. Florida committed just three penalties against Vanderbilt, down from their near double-digit average per game this season.

“It’s been emphasized every week. It’s like all results – you can go out and beat your chest this week and say you must have done a good job coaching penalties. When I was at Texas two years ago, we led the country in turnovers. We don’t coach turnovers any different than we coach today,” Muschamp said.

“Was I a better coach coaching turnovers two years ago than I am now? I don’t think so. We just had some balls bounce our ways a couple times, we got a couple tipped passes, they put the ball on the ground a couple of times. We’ve emphasized discipline in our program. We talk about it all the time. We talk about focusing a little better. We talk about taking a guy out if he jumps offisdes or lines up offsides in situations. We’ve tried to do that in some situations. We’ve explored all of the options. Over a period of time hopefully it’s helped. This is one game. I’m not ready for one game to be ready to waive the flag that we’re disciplined now. We need to work on it day in and day out because we haven’t been consistent all year.”

ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS

Below are a number of questions that have been Tweeted, e-mailed or left in the comment section regarding the game with Muschamp’s respective response.

What has been the problem with the running game recently and how were you able to rectify that this week?
Muschamp said that the team only has 9-10 healthy scholarship offensive linemen active right now. Combining that with a number of injured running backs and it has been tough for the Gators to improve in that area each week. He also touted the newly installed pistol offense (QB in shotgun, RB lined up behind him) as a big help. “Being able to get in the pistol and run the ball a little bit downhill helped our team in this football game. Being able to create some of that downhill running game instead of all the lateral running game, which is sometimes tough in our league.”

Were you going to go for it on the fourth down play that Vanderbilt wound up jumping offsides on?
“We were going to go for it. We were going to win the game.”

Why has the offense been stalling in the second half?
“As much as anything, we didn’t get some stops defensively – that threw us out of our rhythm offensively. You affect each other, whether we think we do or not. [...] You complement each other in every game. I think we had some critical, critical times in the game where we could have made some stops defensively and we didn’t. We got to keep our guys in a rhythm offensively.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Muschamp on the five-point win: “We made it interesting there at the end; we shouldn’t have.”

» Muschamp on the offense stepping up this week: “Our game plan offensively was really good – to get to the line of scrimmage, see the pressures, bring the receiver in, block the edges, change the run game from one side to the other. We were very effective in doing that. You have to credit our offensive staff and Charlie; I thought they did a really good job with that.”

» Muschamp on the downfield passing opening up: “There’s no question – I’ve said it in our game against LSU and obviously in our game against Auburn – we struggle for a number of reasons to be able to throw the ball vertically down the field. When people in this league are able to outnumber you, you can’t get a hat-on-a-hat sometimes in the run game and you have a hard time running it. We’ve faced that. When John’s in there and you have the extra dimension of seeing coverage, taking it to the right spot, getting it to the right people, timing of the passing game, the timing of the offense, getting us in and out of the right protections, seeing the pressure coming off the edge, check the protection. We’re able to do a lot more of that because of a fifth-year senior and a guy who has played a lot of football for us. There is no question that John is a huge part of that.”

» Muschamp on removing redshirt sophomore center Jonotthan Harrison from the game in place of redshirt junior center Sam Robey: “We just need to be more consistent with our snaps, and we’ve had issues throughout the year so I felt like we needed to make the change. [...] We’ve had some inconsistencies before in practice. Our decisions are pretty calculated.”

» Muschamp on freshman QB Jacoby Brissett coming in: “I’ve said it all along – not just Jacoby, Jeff Driskel as well – we have the utmost confidence in both of those players that they’re going to be outstanding players.”

» Muschamp on Demps returning: “Every time he’s been healthy for us this year he’s been very productive. [...] He works hard every day, gives you everything he’s got. That’s what being a student-athlete is all about.”

» Muschamp said that over 20 former captains visited this past weekend for a special dinner and to celebrate homecoming.

» Muschamp on not ending a long home winning streak against Vanderbilt: “I don’t think a game in 1945 had anything to do with a game today.”

» Muschamp on if he wavered about trying the 55-yard field goal: “When you get to that 37-38 yard line, I’m kicking a field goal. There’s not a whole lot of kickers in the country you can say that about. [...] In normal situations you might have to get to the 25 to attempt a field goal. When you’re able to have a guy like Caleb, it certainly helps your football team.”

» Redshirt junior defensive end Earl Okine on seeing the field and playing well: “It took me a while to keep progressing. Every week and every day it’s been a grind. Coach Muschamp and Coach Dan Quinn have been pushing me the entire season, and that’s why I’m improving.”

» Okine on the mood of the locker room after the game: “Ecstatic. Ecstatic. Everybody was very happy, relieved, all of the above positive emotions.”

» Demps on getting back out on the field: “It was definitely a good feeling. The offensive line did a great job of opening holes all game, and the wide receivers did a great job on the perimeter blocking.”

» Demps on having just a few games left in his final year: “I’m going to play my last three games here and give it all I got. I enjoyed the whole ride. It’s been tough but anybody can win. When you lose it’s how you face adversity.”

» Demps on the team being close: “We’re definitely a tight group. Throughout the whole offseason, the summer and the spring, I wasn’t around much but when I was there were leaders stepping up all over the place. That really bonded everybody. Even though we’re having a tough season like we are, we have each other’s back. We were there when we started and we’re going to be there at the end.”

» Sophomore safety Matt Elam on the significance of the win: “We got our confidence back. After losing the whole month, a win is a great feeling.”

» Elam on correcting the penalties: “I know there’s been a lot of stuff about us being young and undisciplined. Coach Muschamp is very hard on that, trying to make us more disciplined.”

» Elam on if the win was a relief: “It was a relief we got our win. We got another win, man. It’s been a long time. We ain’t sing the fight song in a long time. It was a great feeling.”

» Elam if the team matured over the losing streak: “We learned. Everybody stuck together. We stuck together and we continued to fight. Everybody went out and practiced hard.”

» Elam on how the secondary will play in 2012: “No, we won’t have those problems.”

» Gillislee on seeing the field again:“I had to just continue doing what I was doing, get back healthy to 100 percent and go out there and produce. Our rushing yards were low the past few games, so we knew we had to go out there and prove a point that we could run the ball.”

» Brantley on picking up a win: “The month of October was rough for us. To get this first win – the first game of November against a good Vanderbilt team – was huge because we’ve got some good teams ahead of us.”

» Brantley on the pistol offense: “It’s easier to establish a downhill run game in that formation. We did a great job all week preparing. The o-line did a great job blocking. You noticed today that Gillislee and Jeff ran hard.”

» Brantley on the penalties being cut down: “It felt really good. We focused on that and focused on our mental discipline all week and it paid off.”

» Brantley on having just three regular season games left: “We had our captains dinner last night. They just kept stressing that we have three more times to run out of the tunnel. That set home on us. We’ve got to cherish these moments, go out there and play our hardest.”

Florida drove down the field on their first possession and threatened to score early. A pass from freshman quarterback Jacoby Brissett to redshirt sophomore tight end Omarius Hines went for 37 yards near Vanderbilt’s goal line, but Hines fumbled it before crossing and turned it over.

UF still managed to score 17 points in the first half. Brissett ran a touchdown in from a yard out, Demps carried a ball five yards for a score, and redshirt junior kicker Caleb Sturgis connected on a 55-yard attempt with six seconds left in the half after missing a 49-yard try in the first quarter.

Commodores’ signal caller Jordan Rodgers was impressive all game long, finishing 19/28 for 297 yards, a pair of touchdowns and a rushing score. His first came midway through the third quarter on a 26-yard pass to wide receiver Jordan Matthews, which cut the Gators’ lead to 10.

Sturgis hit a 40-yard field goal near the end of the third, but Vanderbilt responded with a 14-play, 60-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard rushing touchdown for Rodgers, leaving Florida ahead just 20-14 with 10:54 to play.

After consecutive punts, the Gators got the ball back at their own six looking for a way to close out the game. An offsides by the Commodores on fourth down kept Florida’s drive alive, as did a pass interference call three plays later. Demps carried the ball seven times on the eight-play, 94-yard drive and ended it with a 52-yard rushing touchdown.

UF’s two-point conversion attempt failed, and VU capitalized immediately by driving 80 yards in just five plays, the last of which was a 10-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to WR Chris Boyd.

Redshirt sophomore tight end Jordan Reed recovered the ensuing onside kick, and the Gators held onto the lead by running the clock out from there.

The most penalized team in the country heading into the game, Florida committed just three on Saturday. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, was flagged 12 times for 106 yards and kept a few UF drives alive with their miscues.

Junior RB Mike Gillislee saw some time in the run game for the Gators, carrying the ball nine times for 39 yards. Sophomore RB Trey Burton got going in the first half, earning 41 receiving yards on three receptions.

Florida got some good quarterbacking from redshirt senior John Brantley, who was 16/24 for 173 yards. Brantley played his best in the first half but injured his shoulder in the fourth quarter and was removed for the game.

The Gators held Commodores star RB Zac Stacy to 49 yards on 13 carries but gave up nine receptions for 170 yards and a touchdown to Matthews.

Florida possessed the ball three more minutes than Vanderbilt and gained just 33 more yards than their opponent. Hines’s fumble was the only turnover of the game.

Saturday’s win was the Gators’ first victory since Sept. 24. Florida had not played at home since losing to Alabama on Oct. 1 and will hop on the road again next Saturday to take on South Carolina. The game time and channel has yet to be announced.

Photo Credit: John Raoux/Associated Press

FLORIDA
» Probable/Questionable: Redshirt senior running back Chris Rainey (ankle), redshirt junior Sam linebacker Lerentee McCray (shoulder), redshirt junior kicker Caleb Sturgis (leg), junior RB Mike Gillislee (ankle), sophomore CB Cody Riggs (wrist)
» Inactive: Redshirt junior cornerback Jeremy Brown (knee)

PLAYERS TO KEEP AN EYE ON

FLORIDA
» Redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley (#12)…who has completed 57.4 percent of his passes (78-of-136) this season for 1,187 yards and six touchdowns but also threw three interceptions including one returned for a score. Brantley had missed 10 quarters of action after injuring his ankle against Alabama but returned with limited health and mobility last week against Georgia.
» Redshirt senior RB Chris Rainey (#1)…who has 831 yards of total offense this season with five touchdowns (including a punt block return). Rainey is averaging 4.9 yards per carry and 15.3 yards per reception and leads Florida in rushing and receiving this season. He became the first player in school history to have a rushing, receiving and return touchdown in the same game, achieved the school and SEC record for career punt blocks (five), and is the active leader in that category nationally. He also rushed for 100 yards or more in three-straight games, the first UF player to do so since Fred Taylor last accomplished that feat 14 years ago.
» Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Andre Debose (#4)…who jumped to second on the Gators’ receiving list with mirror image 65-yard touchdowns against Alabama and LSU. Fans have been waiting for Debose to emerge for some time, and his 247 receiving yards are the second-best on the team through its first eight games. Additionally, his 24.7 yards per catch is the highest average in the SEC and second nationally.
» Redshirt sophomore tight end Jordan Reed (#11)…who had four receptions for a career-high 69 yards last week against Georgia. He also caught just the second receiving touchdown of his career Saturday – his first this season.
» Sophomore safety Matt Elam (#22)…who is the most valuable member of Florida’s secondary in only his second year. He is tied for second on the team in tackles (48) and at one point created turnovers in three-straight games (fumble-INT-INT). His 12 tackles against LSU three weeks ago marked a career high, and his 3.5 tackles for loss this season is fourth-best on the team.
» Defensive tackles sophomore Dominique Easley (#2) and redshirt senior Jaye Howard (#6)…who have solidified the interior of one of the Gators’ strongest units. Howard is the team’s most experienced player on defense (25 starts), while Easley may be its most dynamic off the snap, with a first-step raved about by teammates and coaches alike. Howard and Easley have combined for 9.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks through the first eight games.
» Linebackers junior Jon Bostic (#52) and redshirt sophomore will linebacker Jelani Jenkins (#3)…who are 1-3 on the team in tackles. Bostic (60) and Jenkins (46) have each excelled in different areas for Florida. The former has six tackles for a loss and three sacks while the latter has one sack and five pass breakups on the year.
» Redshirt junior kicker Caleb Sturigs (#19)…who has returned for Florida after missing eight games one year ago with an injured back. He is 15-for-16 in field goal attempts on the season (long: 51) and is perfect with 19 extra points, leading the Gators with 64 points scored this season. Sturgis holds the national lead with 15 field goals made but missed last week’s game with a leg injury.

VANDERBILT
» QB Jordan Rodgers (#11)…who has started the last four games for the Commodores after beginning the season as a backup. Rodgers, the brother of Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, has rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns in his last three games. He’s 25/54 passing against Vanderbilt’s last two opponents as well, tossing a pair of touchdowns and two interceptions.
» RB Zac Stacy (#2)…who leads the Commodores in rushing with 97 carries for 707 yards (7.3 average) with six rushing touchdowns this season. Stacy is eighth nationally in yards per carry and the No. 4 rusher in the SEC.
» Defensive linemen Tim Fugger (#42) and Rob Lohr (#84)…who are leading Vanderbilt defensively by combining for 21.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
» DB Casey Hayward (#19)…who is tied for fourth nationally with five interceptions and is the SEC’s active leader with 13 picks. Hayward is one of 15 semifinalists for the Thrope Award given annually to the nation’s top defensive back.

Considering Florida is last in the nation in penalties, it is quite obvious that the Gators have a major discipline problem at this point in the season. Muschamp was asked about this development on Wednesday and went on to explain that he is also frustrated with the miscues but is certainly not ignoring them and how detrimental they are to the team.

“I divide penalties into a couple different areas, but you got discipline issues and you got guys who can’t stay onside and jump offsides on defense. Those are discipline issues. If you hit a guy late that’s an aggressive penalties but that sot mimes can be looked at, in my opinion, as a discipline issue,” he said. “Aggressive penalties sometimes are judgment calls, and those are the ones you’re kind of at the mercy of if they throw the flag or not. Certainly we’ve been on our end of those shares. We got to be a better disciplined football team. Those are the procedural issues and again we had them last week against Georgia. Charlie Weis was in the box and we had some issues as far as getting the play down at times, misalignment at times.

“There’s multiple issues but it goes back to focus and discipline and it comes back on my shoulders. I got to do a better job of making sure that we are where we’re supposed to be, the communication is what it’s supposed to be, because those can’t be tolerated and put us in a very ought situation. There’s a lot of reasons for it, but all they are is excuses in my opinion. I just got to do a better job.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» On his thoughts going into the game: “We had a couple good days of preparation here as we get ready for a Vanderbilt team that is really playing well. James Franklin has done a great job with his football team. They’re well-coached, play hard, multiple on offense, press you on defense, really attack you there in special teams. They pose a lot of issues and have played extremely well this year.”

» On how he compares Alabama and LSU: “They’re very similar teams. They’re big, physical teams. They’re both very physical on both lines of scrimmage. They run the ball like you need to in this league. That’s why they are where they are and the rest of us right now this year are trying to catch up. They both play really good defense, but they play well as an entire team from a standpoint of ball possession offensively and defensively taking advantage of opportunities when they have them. They’re very similar makeups as far as when you look at their rosters.”

» On what he thinks the Alabama-LSU game comes down to: “Both lines of scrimmage – this one is going to be won up front. That’s the matchup I’d be interested in watching. Both of them have very good defensive fronts. Both of them are very physical on the offensive lines. They have talented backs. Again, you come down to turnovers obviously in the game, but who is able to consistently run the ball and play well up front [will win]. Certainly neither team can get into a one-dimensional game against the front they’re going to face. I do know that. I think the line of scrimmage matchup is the one I’d be interested in watching.”

» On the biggest challenge he’s faced as a first-year head coach: “More than anything time management as far as just I’m very involved in the defense and special teams and recruiting. Being able to manage my time being the head coach, making some of the appearances and things you’ve got to do – planning practice and doing other things you got to do. I’m not a CEO guy. I’m in the meeting rooms. I’m part of what we’re doing scheme-wise and those facets. Managing that and also understanding that being the head coach, you got some other responsibilities as well not just being involved in the scheme standpoint of your side of the ball.”

» On what he thinks of Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin: “He’s a guy that I’ve been impressed with – just bright, intelligent, smart and energetic. You are what you put on tape. When you turn on the tape and your guys play hard, they play fast, they play physical. They’re well coached – that’s what you are. It’s impressive to watch the job that he’s doing, and we’ve got our work cut out for us Saturday.”