Florida Gators X-Factor vs. Kentucky: Turnover Battle

The Florida Gators travel into enemy territory to take on the Kentucky Wildcats for their first true road test of the season Saturday at 6 p.m.

As always, AllGators presents one X-Factor that could ultimately decide the outcome for Florida. In week five, it is turnovers.

Both of these teams have been bit by the turnover bug early and often throughout the 2021 season.

Despite traveling into the hostile environment — one that the Gators have relied on late heroics to escape upset losses in their past two trips — Kentucky has struggled to put away opponents in the early portion of the season.

Mostly due to turnovers.

Currently ranking dead last in the NCAA in turnover margin at -9, Kentucky had squandered valuable possessions early on this year. Losing six fumbles on the season — putting 12 balls on the ground total — and throwing five interceptions, the Wildcats have been abysmal at taking care of the football.

Limiting the careless mistakes has been a point of emphasis from head coach Marks Stoops for his team this week.

“We need to clean up the turnovers, the fumbles in particular,” Stoops said in a press conference on Monday. “We will work extremely hard on that this week. I believe it is something that we can get corrected, and we will.”

However, 11 turnovers through four games is a difficult task to expect an overnight fix.

As a result, Florida’s defense will have an adequate opportunity to set the offense up with short fields to work with. They need to take advantage of those chances they are given.

Step one: Make the play defensively.

Step two: Capitalize offensively.

But those alone aren’t enough.

It can be considered an unsustainable practice for Florida to expect Kentucky to bail them out with unwarranted errors throughout the night.

This creates a necessity for Florida to take care of the ball themselves. It starts — like many other things — with starting quarterback Emory Jones.

Struggling to begin the year — throwing four interceptions in the first two games — Jones has established confidence in himself that bodes well for the Gators' offensive attack.

Turning in his first non-turnover performance of the year against Tennessee, Florida’s first-year starter under center has shown vast improvement from the start of the season.

Expediting the comfortability process has been head coach and offensive play-caller Dan Mullen.

Known for playing time the strengths of his personnel offensively, Mullen made significant adjustments from week one to week four. The biggest change has come by rolling Jones out of the pocket by design.

Allowing the dual-threat quarterback to use his legs to create separation from the big men in the middle, Mullen has adapted in the passing game to ensure maximum efficiency from his quarterback when needed.

This has helped Jones see the field better and ultimately resulted in fewer forced passes down the field, limiting overall turnovers.

All in all, Florida needs that strong production from their passer on Saturday. However, what they really need is a zero in the turnover column.

It’s hard enough to win on the road in the SEC. There is no room for self-inflicted wounds. As a result, the team that leaves having won the turnover battle in Lexington, Kentucky, has the best shot to be the one that exits victorious.

Stay tuned to AllGators for continuous coverage of Florida Gators football, basketball and recruiting. Follow along on social media at @SI_AllGators on Twitter and Florida Gators on Sports Illustrated on Facebook.