Florida Football Friday Final: Gators aim to maintain momentum at Tennessee, particularly on defense

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The Florida Gators have won two games in a row. If they win again Saturday, that’s called a winning streak. It has happened before. Though it actually hasn’t happened for Florida since 2020 — when that streak involves at least two Power Four opponents. That could change in Knoxville, Tennessee, this weekend as the Gators play the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers, their first of five games over the next six game weeks against top-13 SEC opponents.

Florida has history at its back having won six of the last seven and 18 of the last 20 meetings dating back to 2005. (That streak actually extends to 26-6 since 1993 or 31-8 since 1976, whichever you prefer.) Still, nothing that has happened since their last meeting would lead anyone to believe the Gators are expected to win this game. Las Vegas certainly does not believe that’s the case installing the Vols as a 20-point favorite only to see that line drop drastically to 14.5 points as of Friday afternoon.

There’s good reason for that shift. Florida bludgeoned UCF last week in a game that was more decisive than its score indicated, while Tennessee got embarrassed at Arkansas and has averaged just 19.5 points against SEC competition this season.

It is likely due for some relief in that regard against the Gators, which boasted one of the nation’s worst Power Four defenses before finding some confidence and momentum against the Knights. Florida held UCF to the ground limiting it to 4 of 14 on key downs with its only touchdown (and possession featuring significant yardage) coming on a heavily penalty-aided drive featuring questionable calls.

Gators head coach Billy Napier was pleased to see a defensive turnaround. He also knows one data point is not necessarily indicative of long-held problems being solved on that side of the ball.

“If we want to be a consistent contender here and have a championship-caliber team, we’re going to have to play championship-caliber defense,” he said succinctly.

Anyone who watched last Saturday’s game saw Florida play with a ferocity that was, frustratingly, long absent on the defensive side of the ball. There was increased energy, passion and pursuit. The fundamentals were largely on point. There were still a handful of critical missed tackles — on the aforementioned TD drive in particular — but if the effort last week was the start of the trend, the Gators are headed in the right direction. (The lingering question, of course, is why it took an off week in the middle of the season to change the defensive mindset.)

“We’ve recruited well,” Napier said of his defense. “The personnel — the height, length and speed over there — we’re developing experience. Some these guys got experience last year. I do think that we’re capable. … We anticipated having a chance to be pretty good on defense. Now, we haven’t performed like we would like, but I do think the open date was healthy, and I think this past Saturday we took a step in the right direction.”

If Florida hopes to continue its dominance of Tennessee, it will need to cut down on mistakes even further. Those have been an unfortunate tenet of Napier’s teams — namely poor plays on special teams, penalties on offense and a mix of miscues and missed assignments on defense.

“First way you win is don’t beat yourself,” Napier said, “and then you also have to go into the game in anticipation that you’re never going to play perfect. Always going to be momentum plays. You’re always going to make a handful of mistakes. Got to be tough-minded, and you got to be ready to respond to some of that adversity and play through it. There [are] a lot of ways to win. The best football teams minimize error, especially when the talent levels are very similar.”

The Gators are ranked No. 12 in the 247Sports team talent composite while the Vols are No. 17, for whatever that’s worth.

“Tennessee has a really good football team,” Napier said. “All three parts of their team present challenges. I have a ton of respect for how they play, the tempo on offense, but the physicality of the run game paired with the explosive plays and vertical plays and perimeter concepts can be very challenging. Defensively, they continue to get better. … Personnel and fundamentals, statistically, if you look at the numbers there, they’re at the top of our league in most categories. I do think they do a nice job in the kicking game. It’s evident they play really hard and sound in what they do and have been very productive.”

What’s particularly interesting about Saturday is its potential to serve as an inflection point for Napier. Everyone wrote Florida’s coach off as a dead man walking after the Week 1 loss to Miami and the Week 3 loss to Texas A&M. Weeks later, the Hurricanes are still undefeated and currently ranked No. 6 (aided by some immensely questionable ACC officiating decisions), while the Aggies shot up from unranked to No. 15 with their lone loss to Notre Dame.

If Napier wins at Neyland Stadium and somehow enters the Georgia game at 5-2, there’s no telling what might happen over the duration of the season. Indeed, this is an opportunity for the coach and his team to change the direction of their 2024 story.

“This is a big game,” Napier said. “Florida-Tennessee on the road and certainly a lot on the line. … We have to go about it the right way. When we have done it the right way, I think we’ve got a good result. Self-discipline in terms of the things we do off the field, our practice habits, the focus and intensity on the field, and then just continue to prepare all the way up until we kick that thing off. And look, it takes hundreds of people to do that. We get to play 11 at a time on game day.”

Tale of two halves

Offensively, Florida seemed unstoppable against UCF … until the halftime whistle sounded. The Gators led 24-3 at the break and were held scoreless over the latter 30 minutes of the contest. Napier did not sound worried about that breakdown citing circumstances for what happened after the break.

“We had three possessions in the second half,” he began. “First one: We had a false start penalty, we had a mental error on third down, we had to punt. The second possession we had second-and-1 holding sack in the fringe. I mean, inexcusable play. Ultimately, we shot ourselves in the foot. … Missed a field goal, had two penalties, and then obviously, yeah, for us to get sacked, to take a sack in the fringe is inexcusable. Got to do much better there.”

Despite well-documented issues with Napier’s play calling and struggles Florida has faced leveling up against tougher defensive competition, its offensive production has largely not been much of an issue during his tenure. Sure, it would be nice if the Gators scored more points, but the larger aforementioned problem has been a defense that gives up far too many points and struggles to get off the field.

The quarterbacking duo of redshirt senior Graham Mertz and freshman DJ Lagway has not impeded Florida’s offensive production as one might expect. However, the Gators have yet to roll out the tandem against an opponent of this caliber … and that test comes Saturday even as Napier sees continued improvement from Lagway in his first run of college football.

“He’ll continue to get better. The more he plays, the more he prepares in anticipation of playing, that’s the compound effect here,” Napier explained. “You’re preparing knowing you’re going out there knowing the team is counting on you. We’re hitting a little bit of a rhythm there where both those guys are playing well. … Ultimately, both those guys got a chance to be pretty good. Got to continue to play well around them. But we’re getting pretty good play from both guys right now.”

Napier seemed to largely keep his every-third-series plan in place for Lagway last week against UCF. Whether there will be any adjustments to that end will not be known until after kickoff.

Special teams (+ standouts)

There are two Florida players who will almost assuredly garner midseason All-America honors from whatever publications release those: redshirt junior center Jake Slaughter and senior punter Jeremy Crawshaw. (Senior cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. should as well, but there’s greater competition at his position.)

Slaughter presently ranked tied for fourth nationally with a 90.2 pass blocking metric. He’s only allowed one pressure (no sacks) and committed one penalty while playing 300 snaps through five games this season. Napier was effusive of his praise for the big man who some wondered about entering the season.

“He’s an anchor right now for our team and the offense for sure,” the coach said. “Just his energy, daily approach. He sets the tone, him and Mertz. We got some really good — a good dynamic on offense right now in terms of what it’s like to go in the unit meeting, the meeting rooms, practice field. We got a lot of the mature guys that are tough, durable, prepare the right way. That’s rubbing off on some of the young guys.”

Leadership is seemingly coming from the specialists room — surprising as that may be to some. Crawshaw has been arguably the best punter in the nation this season averaging 45.7 yards on 17 boots, though the yardage does not tell the whole story, which includes placement, drops inside the 10-yard line and hangtime. The Gators ranked 8th nationally in punt return defense allowing just 2 total yards this season.

“He’s elite. If he’s not the best punter in the country, I would like to see who is,” Napier said of Crawshaw. “And look, Jeremy is not only extremely talented — I’ve watched him improve just the way he’s developed just this year, the finer details. This guy grinds.

“The specialist meeting room is right beside the quarterback meeting room, and that guy is in there early. He stays late. He’s an attention-to-detail guy. The thing you can appreciate about him is he’s a leader on the team. He is a voice. Team meetings, leadership groups, he speaks up. He has the ability to affect the other players. He’s a great competitor. Goes back to he was a really athlete before making the decision to transition to American football. That’s a heck of a story.”

Indeed, Crawshaw was discovered at a football training camp in Australia. His first time playing live American football came in 2020 for Florida, and he became the starter the following season.

The Gators are actually playing well across the board on special teams. In fact, it is the area in which the team has improved the most going from one of the worst in the nation to one of the best across a single offseason. Some of that can be attributed to personnel change on the coaching side, but really — as much as Napier may not want to admit it — an NCAA rule change allowing analysts on the sidelines for games has been just as important a factor.

Perhaps it is a couple years too late, but Napier nevertheless addressed this week how integral the performance of this unit can be to team success.

“Specialists can be the difference. Nobody wants to talk about it until you don’t have one,” he said. “We happen to have three of the absolute best in the country. All three of our specialists are alphas. They’re in the mix. Rocco [Underwood] is making big plays on punt coverage. Trey [Smack] has a voice in our locker room. He’s a guy that can bring some presence. These guys are in the fold, and they bring a lot to the table — not just six, eight, 10 plays they play on game day but throughout the week.”

Injury updates

Florida has the chance to return key personnel this week at Tennessee. Sophomore wide receiver Eugene Wilson III (knee) is fully off the injury report and expected to play a full complement of snaps. Meanwhile, redshirt seniors defensive lineman Joey Slackman (knee) and defensive back Asa Turner (shoulder) — both starters to open the season — are listed as questionable after being out since Week 1 and Week 2, respectively. That could be a huge boon to a defense that would certainly be thrilled to have additional reinforcements. Sophomore DB Bryce Thornton (undisclosed) carries the same designation.

On the other end, redshirt junior offensive lineman Austin Barber (undisclosed) popped up on the list as questionable, while sophomore running back Treyaun Webb (undisclosed) and sophomore DB Ja’Keem Jackson (undisclosed), who made some key plays against UCF, are both out for the game.

Additional updates will come Friday night (updated here) and Saturday before kickoff.

Notes & quotes

Napier on freshman running back Jadan Baugh: “Baugh is a good, young player. He’s got to play without the ball. … How you play without the ball typically, to me, reflects how much you care about your teammates. But also, I think it’s part of playing the position. Receiver is the same way. How you block as a receiver is very much like the running back position.”

Napier on Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava: “He’s a unicorn. … He’s a big, athletic — he’s ripping balls in the outside third, 15, 20 yards deep. He’s throwing it. All the vertical shots, he’s got a big-time arm. He’s accurate. He can escape, extend [plays]. Just a young player who is getting experience, and he’ll continue to get better. There is a lot of hype around him, and I think on the tape you can see why.”