10 Wins of Christmas: Ranking Florida’s 10 Victories, No. 8

No. 8.

This is day three in the Florida Gators' 10 wins of Christmas series. We’ve already listed the UT-Martin win at No. 10 and the Towson win at No. 9, so the FCS games are out of the way.

And for No. 8, it was the Mohamoud Diabate game. The freshman had already been getting snaps and contributing, but he truly arrived during the Vanderbilt game with three sacks. One of those sacks was a strip-sack that Jonathan Greenard picked up 80 yards and ran back for a touchdown.

The Commodores on that drive, as well as another, were close to at least scoring three points, but turnovers halted any of those dreams. So, on Nov. 9, exactly a week after suffering the most crushing defeat of the season against Georgia, the Gators slaughtered Vanderbilt. UF got its third and final home shutout in that game when the final whistle blew Florida was up 56-0.

This game was arguably Florida’s most dominant game of the entire season. The Commodores can often be pesky and tend to give the Gators problems, but certainly not this year.

Quarterback Kyle Trask was 25-for-37 on his way to 363 yards. While he did throw two interceptions, he made up for it with three touchdown passes and also a running score.

Another strong QB performance that day from the Gators was redshirt freshman Emory Jones. Jones registered very little passing, going only two-for-three, but of those two completions included a 37-yarder. He more importantly finished the day with three rushing touchdowns.

In many people’s eyes, this was an underlying theme of the game. Florida was up big in the second half against Vandy, but for some reason, coach Dan Mullen seemed hesitant to put Jones in and let him loose. In his very limited action, he was excellent. He got those three rushing touchdowns off of five carries for 34 yards.

Nevertheless, he played well, and so did Trask. So did Diabate and so did the entire team. Again, this was probably the most dominant performance of the entire season for the Gators. It was meaningful as well, since it came right after probably UF’s worst performance of the season against Georgia.

And it showed what type of program Mullen runs. It showed the attitude and it showed the mental toughness he always preaches. A team with a lack of mental toughness in this game comes out flat. After a tough loss to swallow in Jacksonville, a weaker-minded team would check out for Vanderbilt week.

And that is not to say the Gators would have lost. It would’ve been near impossible to lose with how atrocious Vanderbilt is. But to allow a few touchdowns against a talented running back in Ke’Shawn Vaughn? To have the offense sputter after Trask throws two interceptions? To allow that game to become just a 10-14-point game instead of a blowout?

All of that was incredibly possible, but Florida didn’t let it happen. The Gators came out, did not take a lesser opponent lightly, and just completely crushed the Commodores from the opening kickoff.

Mullen proved that his program would truly live up to that standard he always speaks of. His guys would not allow a stinging loss against Georgia to linger. He would not allow Georgia to beat them twice.

So, in the spirit of Christmas, the Vanderbilt game was that holiday thing you love that is only around during the holidays. Be it egg nog, be it pumpkin or pecan pie or candy or candy canes, it was a treat that you haven’t gotten to enjoy in a while.

The Gators were coming off of a brutal stretch of Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Georgia. It was a treat for Florida fans to watch their team dominate and beat up on somebody.