The Good, Bad, and Ugly From the Florida Gators' Regular Season Finale
Who would have thought the Gators would be sitting at 8-2 entering SEC Championship week just 24 hours ago?
When it mattered the most, Florida came out flat with no energy and simply laid an egg in their last game of the regular season against their SEC West rival, the LSU Tigers. Sprinkle in a little 2020 magic and viola, the LSU Tigers walked into the Swamp as 23 point underdogs with only 54 scholarship players, and somehow came out victorious.
The thing is, that is par for the course for this insane rivalry.
So, for the last time of the 2020 regular season, let’s break down the good, bad, and ugly of Florida vs LSU.
Good: Three players stood out amid struggles across the team
There was not much good to take away from tonight, but wide receiver Jacob Copeland was one of the few bright spots on the team tonight as he thrived against LSU’s man coverage.
Quarterback Kyle Trask found Copeland five times for 123 yards throughout the night, including a beautiful touchdown in which Copeland beat an LSU defender inside, allowing Trask to tie Danny Wuerffel's UF single-season record of 39 passing TDs. Copeland is finally starting to use his frame and strength to his advantage, allowing him to finally produce the way everyone expected he would after signing as a top recruit.
Copeland has had a drop problem throughout the year, but did not record a drop on Saturday. The redshirt sophomore showed off his potential moving into the SEC Championship
Another positive in the 37-34 loss was WR Kadarius Toney, as once again bailed out the UF offense by extending multiple drives throughout the night. Toney continues to boost his stock for the upcoming NFL Draft, posting one of his best games in a UF uniform, finishing with nine catches for 182 yards and a touchdown.
The Mobile, Alabama native produced the best night of any of the seniors and went out fighting until the very last second, amazing everyone watching with his incredible talent of making defenders look silly with his elusiveness.
Linebacker Ventrell Miller also had a respectable game, putting up 16 total tackles (10 solo), two for loss, and one sack. The Polk county product was flying all over the field, stuffing the run and playing the flat with success. Although Miller struggled at times in coverage along with the entire defense, he played fairly well and had one of his best games this year.
Bad: Florida's red zone offense and turnover deficit
Florida left at least 15 points on the board after not converting three times in the red zone. On the first drive of the first quarter, Florida failed to put any points on the board after getting stuffed at the one-yard line. Two more drives resulted in field goals, leaving a total of eight possible points on the board.
The play calling all night was abysmal, but it was especially bad in the red zone. There was no flow, rhyme, or reason to the play-calling. For example, on the first drive failure, Dan Mullen inserted finesse/pass-catching back Malik Davis over his bruising power back in Dameon Pierce on fourth and goal at the one-yard line. Davis failed to reach the end zone, resulting in a turnover on downs.
Florida also settled for a field goal in the red zone after three goal-to-go incompletions from Trask, the drive after he threw a red zone interception, his second pick of the night, and in as many drives.
Turnovers were also a major concern for the Gators, as they lost the turnover battle 3-0, all three of which came from Trask. The redshirt senior ended his night with two interceptions, a pick-six while and the second one being devastating, fluke turnover in which an LSU batted the ball back in bounds for an interception that should have been an incomplete pass.
Despite nailing two field goals on the night, kicker Evan McPherson failed to come up with the game-tying field goal from 51 yards out while a wave of fog covered the Swamp. Blaming McPherson for the miss is tough as he should have never been in that predicament, but maybe he isn’t as clutch as everyone may have thought previously.
Ugly: An utter lack of discipline
The lack of discipline from veterans on the field cost the Gators both their games this season. Cornerback Marco Wilson throwing a shoe after getting an excellent stop with under three minutes remaining resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a fresh set of downs for LSU, ultimately allowing kicker Cade York to nail a 57-yard field goal through an immense fog. As mentioned earlier, McPherson had a chance to even the game as the clock ticked zero, but missed wide left and LSU stormed the field.
That type of mishap coming from your own team captain and a redshirt junior is astonishing, especially when the game is on the line and considering Wilson has been picked on throughout the course of the season.
A nonchalant attitude has been an issue throughout the season, and it is obvious that change will not come regardless of the outcome. Florida far too often has come out flat and seemingly unmotivated to improve, on defense specifically as the unit still struggles to line up before the snap. It has finally caught up to the Gators, resulting in one of the most embarrassing losses in school history.
The team got complacent and overlooked a hungry LSU team that simply bested UF because they wanted it more, and that is why this loss is inexcusable. Florida had no fight or desire to hang with the Tigers, and it cost them their chance to play for a playoff spot next week in Atlanta.
