Gators' Mullen Implies Changes Coming on Defense, 'We’re Going To Evaluate'
Gators head coach Dan Mullen has apparently seen enough and will be evaluating the team's defense for any potential changes moving on to the LSU Tigers after a loss against the Texas A&M Aggies yesterday.
After two weeks of poor defense forcing games to be closer than they actually were, the Florida Gators were unable to overcome serious defensive struggles in route to a 41-38 loss to the Texas A&M Aggies, a team Florida was favored to win against by six points.
Against the Aggies, the Gators surrendered 543 yards, including 205 net rushing yards and 338 net passing yards. Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond posted his best game of the season, completing 25 out of 35 of his passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns.
“We’re going to reevaluate a lot of things defensively, where we’re at right now," Mullen said in postgame yesterday. "We’re going to evaluate some things with our personnel, where we’re at. Our ability to make plays, make sure we have all the right guys at the right position to put us in position to be able to make the plays we need to to get off the field."
While the Florida offense fumbled the football with 3:40 remaining in the game tied at 38, the defense ultimately cost the team a victory over the first ranked opponent they faced on the year. Mullen specifically focused in on the team's inability to get off the field on third downs yet another week.
"We can’t give up [12] of 15 conversions in a day and expect to win any game.”
Simply put, Mullen is right. The Gators cannot expect to win a football game while surrendering 12 out of 15 on third-down conversions. Last week, Florida gave up six of seven fourth-down conversions to the South Carolina Gamecocks. The issues on defense have been persistent, now.
Mullen isn't quite sure yet what changes can or should be made at the moment, but his hope is to get some depth back. Today, Florida was without several key defenders including defensive lineman Kyree Campbell who has yet to suit up this season, but also defensive end/linebacker Khris Bogle, who has become a fixture on the Florida defense.
"We’ll look at it. Hopefully, we get some depth back. Hopefully, Khris Bogle and Kyree will be available next week," said Mullen. "That would be two guys in the rotation on the defensive front for us that could help. But we’ll evaluate where we’re at and what we need to do moving forward.”
On the year, Florida is surrendering 471 yards-per-game on the year, while allowing 5.6 yards-per-play. It's currently allowing a third-down conversion rate of 48.39%, ranked No. 58 in the nation. None of those statistics are good, and it illustrates some of the serious issues the team has on defense.
Following the game Gators linebacker James Houston IV said even with a high-powered offense on the team, Florida doesn't expect to get scored on and knows they have to play better.
"Our philosophy is fast, physical and aggressive," Houston said postgame. "By doing that, we expect to be knocking quarterbacks out of the game and taking control of the game. The past few years the Gators have been a stronghold on defense. We're going to get back there, we just need some time. We gon' fix some stuff up in practice and we gon' come back next week."
Florida will look to make those changes this week heading back home to The Swamp - where Mullen wants to see 90,000 fans attend, next week.
