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Florida gets huge win over Tennessee

There’s no doubt about it, this is a huge win for Florida and Billy Napier.

The Tennessee Volunteers came into the Swamp ranked 11th in the country and 6.5 point favorites. I thought it was much more likely that Tennessee would run away with a blowout victory than it was that Florida would. Instead, the Gators were up 26-7 at the half and were able to shift into neutral from then on to hold on for a 13-point win.

This does a bunch of things for Billy Napier and the Florida program.

Most importantly, it means a 1-0 start in the SEC and pole position in the SEC East. We talk a lot about catching Georgia and Alabama, but none of that matters if you can’t beat Tennessee and Kentucky. Florida is now halfway there.

More big picture, Billy Napier can no longer be criticized for not beating one of Florida’s rivals. After going 0-4 against Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and FSU last year, this was critical to build some equity with a fan base that is now going to be able to celebrate in Gainesville rather than watch their rivals do so.

And even bigger picture, Florida now has the ability to take a breath. The back-end of the schedule is difficult, but the next four against Charlotte, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina are all winnable. If Napier and Co. can get that done, Florida could be heading into the Cocktail Party with a 6-1 record. That’s still a long way away, but it’s a possibility now.

But you can’t get to 6-1 until you get to 2-1, and Florida did a bunch of key things that got them the win over Tennessee.

Defense

Florida won this game in the first half, not just because they scored touchdowns on four straight drives, but because the defense only surrendered 122 yards and 30 yards rushing.

It was clear that Virginia had slowed down Tennessee QB Joe Milton by playing very few players in the box and forcing him to throw into tight windows downfield or settle for swing passes in front of the sticks. Virginia didn’t have the personnel to keep Tennessee from scoring that way, but Florida certainly did.

Here’s an example, where Tennessee has a third-and-6. Normally, I would expect Austin Armstrong to be aggressive and bring a blitz. Instead, he has two deep safeties and only one linebacker. Milton throws to the right place but makes an inaccurate throw and Florida gets off the field.

That only works though if you’re able to get pressure with the front-four.

Here’s an example, where Florida has a six-man box while Tennessee has eight men in between the tackles. Even at second-and-12, this is a formation where the Vols should probably run the ball. Instead, they keep both the tight end and the running back in and still can’t block Florida’s front-four.

Look at the linebackers in the middle when the ball is snapped. They bail almost immediately, meaning that had Tennessee run the ball, the front-four would have had to hold up. Not only do they hold up, but they get pressure on Milton before his receivers can even complete their routes. Both Tyreak Sapp (#94) and Princely Umanmielen (#1) won their individual battles to win the play.

The same thing happened on the Milton interception that really gave Florida the separation they needed in the second quarter.

Again, Florida only has five defenders in the box. Caleb Banks (#88) beat Tennessee guard Javontez Spraggins (#76) that would have been a sack if not for Spraggins holding him. What it does though is force Milton up into the pocket and the waiting arms of Desmond Watson (#21). Watson hit Milton right as he threw the ball and forced the pop-up for the interception.

The plays I’ve shown thus-far are physical wins. But the things that impressed me the most with the defense were the things that showed how dialed-in mentally the team was.

I saw this live and had to rewind to make sure. Shemar James (#6) shifts with Teradjja Mitchell (#20) and goes to top of the formation before Tennessee then shifts its wide receiver out in that same direction. Then the minute the ball is snapped, James runs to the outside of that receiver, forcing him back inside so his teammates can make the tackle.

First, this is clearly related to Florida’s film study. I can’t be certain that James knew they were going to motion the receiver and shifted before they did it, but it sure looks that way. But after the shift, his immediate reaction blew up the play and forced the Vols into a second-and-long.

And on a key third-down play on the opening drive of the second half, Florida showed that they had hit the film room.

You can’t tell me that safety Jordan Castell (#14) doesn’t know that Tennessee is going to run double slants with its two receivers to the wide side of the field. He immediately heads to the place where Milton is going to aim for the inside receiver, to the point where it would have been a pick-six had Milton thrown it inside.

That makes it a tougher throw to the outside, gives Jalen Kimber (#8) time to close, and would have been short of the first down even had the play been complete.

Kudos to Austin Armstrong and the team for its plan in this game. Tennessee came into this game averaging 49 points per game and left Gainesville with only 16. The Gators gave up 6.1 yards per play, so there’s still work to do, but considering what the Vols did last year to the Gators, this is a major building block for the unit.

Offense

Florida’s offense averaged 6.7 yards per play in the first half, and that was with only one explosive play. The reason they were able to keep drives going was because of their efficiency on third down (7 for 8) and most of that was because of Graham Mertz.

Florida’s average yards-to-gain on third downs in the first half was 7.3. Mertz was 5-5 for 45 yards (4 of 5 conversions) and converted another two on the ground. This was perhaps the most impressive of the bunch.

Tennessee defensive end Roman Harrison (#30) beats right tackle Damieon George (#76) right at the jump. Against Utah, this would have been a sack. But Mertz steps up into the pocket and drifts to his right to buy some time. Then he throws an absolute dime to Kahleil Jackson (#22) who makes a sensational catch.

But that’s why things slowed down in the second half. You can only rely on perfect throws and tapdancing on the sideline for so long. Eventually Tennessee tightened things up on defense and Florida went into a shell because a foot lower and that throw is an INT.

Mertz was really accurate in the first half (17-20) but he wasn’t particularly efficient. He only threw for 146 yards (7.3 yards per attempt) in the half but made the key plays when he had to. Sometimes that’s enough.

And sometimes, it really helps to have Trevor Etienne in your backfield.

Etienne was magical on Saturday night. Montrell Johnson is a really, really good player. But Etienne is a special player who has a bunch of special abilities.

When Florida’s offensive line zone blocks, Etienne hits the hole hard and can usually break a big play.

On this play, left tackle Austin Barber (#58) gets out on his toes and misses his block on Harrison (#30). Lesser backs don’t hit the hole as hard and get tackled by Harrison. But Etienne feels Harrison and almost imperceptibly squeezes back towards his center (Kingsley Eguakun, #65). That allows him to squirt through the line and if not for a shoestring tackle by safety Jaylen McCollough (#2), Etienne would have taken this one to the house as well.

But the place where Etienne really shines is when the Gators pull a guard or tight end.

On this play, Florida pulls tight end Hayden Hansen (#89) into the hole. Instead of hitting the hole full-tilt like he did when Florida zone blocked, Etienne waits, even putting his hand on Hansen’s back as he decides which way to cut. He reads linebacker Aaron Beasley (#6) and cuts back when Beasley dives to the outside. The results is a 14-yard run.

He did the exact same thing on his long TD drive, but this time breaking the run to the outside rather than cutting back to the inside.

You can see where I’ve paused the clip that Etienne has his hand on right tackle Damieon George’s hip (#76) as he pulls across the formation. From there it’s just instinct, balance and speed as he cuts back inside away from the safety and maintains his footing as he bounces off and then outruns defensive back Kamal Hadden (#5).

And here’s my favorite run of the night.

The offensive line is zone blocking, but Tennessee brings its safety on a run blitz (white arrow). Etienne sees it almost immediately and cuts before the safety can get there for the tackle. But that’s not the most impressive thing Etienne does, as he then jukes defensive back Kamal Hadden (#5) and then gets back to top speed quickly enough that neither linebacker Aaron Beasley (#6) or defensive lineman James Pearce (#27) can catch him until he’s 16-yards downfield.

“Feed #2, Feed #7” has become a mantra for this website thanks to my colleague Nick Knudsen, and I agree with it wholeheartedly. But after watching Etienne dominate in this game, perhaps it’s time to make it “Feed #7, Feed #2.”

That’s the kind of thing you think after the Gators rush for 183 yards and Etienne rushed for 172.

Heupel

Josh Heupel is within his rights to call his last timeout with 9 seconds left. But he also then has to accept the consequences of his actions when that decision turns into a fight.

That’s exactly what happened as Tennessee DL Omari Thomas (#21) hit Mertz as he took a knee with six seconds left. Austin Barber immediately came to Mertz’s aid, shoving Thomas. And then things got out of hand with DL Omarr Norman-Lott (#55) throwing a punch into a group of Gators and Gators guard Micah Mazzccua squaring off in a full-on fistfight with Kamal Hadden.

I can’t envision a scenario where Mazzccua isn’t suspended next week. You can’t have players squaring off setting up like boxers and throwing punches without some sort of consequence. At least it’ll be against Charlotte.

But in a perfect world, Heupel would face consequences as well.

His team was down 13 points and already heading off the field when he made the timeout call. Had he done it after Etienne opened up the drive with a 19-yard run with 2:22 left or after they stopped Etienne for a 4-yard loss on the next play it would have been annoying but understandable. Calling it with 9 seconds left was just stupid and petulant.

At some point in the future, somebody is going to have a chance to run up the score against Heupel or perhaps – Urban Meyer style – call some timeouts at the end of a win to prolong his misery. I hope they do just that.

Takeaway

It’s apparent that the narrative that the Tennessee program had surpassed the Florida program were greatly exaggerated. It was easy to think that after the opening loss to Utah and the Gators loss to Tennessee last year. And I have to raise my hand as guilty as I picked the Vols to win this game.

Florida’s defense played great, holding the Volunteers to just 16 points. The offense was able to be ultra-efficient on third down. The Gators were able to cash in red zone trips for touchdowns rather than consistently settling for field goals. And the Swamp was alive in the special way that it is when the Gators are rolling.

There are still concerns.

Mertz wound up averaging just 6.9 yards per attempt. Florida either didn’t trust him or his injuries kept him from throwing the ball much at all in the second half. You aren’t going to win consistently when your QB isn’t pushing the ball down the field at all.

Special teams are a disaster. Jeremy Crawshaw had a 21-yard punt versus Utah and a 24-yard punt against Tennessee. Adam Mihalek missed a field goal against the Utes and missed a field goal and a PAT against the Vols. Combine that with the illegal substitution (two #3s on the field at the same time) on a punt against Utah and the lack of any big plays on special teams for the Gators, and it’s been a tough few weeks for those units.

But none of that should keep fans from celebrating the win on Saturday night. Florida now sits atop the SEC after one game and has room to improve significantly. After the Utah game, I stated that “operational excellence” was the value proposition that Billy Napier promised when he came to Gainesville, and everywhere except special teams, we saw that against Tennessee.

The path to a 7 or 8 win season seemed shut after the Utah game, but now seems wide open after the win over the Vols. After the opener, I said that the time for talking was over and it was time to show it on the field.

Napier and his team certainly did that on Saturday night against the Vols.