Dan Mullen evaluates offensive line after Florida coaching changes

Dan Mullen was on thin ice at Florida, as the Gators entered Saturday’s contest with Samford with an abysmal 4-5 record. After a blowout loss to South Carolina last week, Mullen fired both his defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, and his offensive line coach, John Hevesy.

The Florida Gators ended up winning on Saturday, improving their record to 5-5 after executing a come-from-behind, 70-52 victory over Samford, but the win only told half the story. In recent weeks, while the firings transpired, Florida lost a couple commits and had recruits tweeting at one another not to consider Mullen’s program. And after all that, Mullen followed it up by losing the first half of the game to Samford, only to double down on the questionable coaching in both his postgame press conference and in his team’s celebration of a lousy victory.

Without Hevesy, Mullen’s longtime assistant of over 20 years (their relationship dates back to Mullen’s days at Bowling Green), the Gators’ offensive line still did an adequate job, according to Mullen.

“I thought Mike did a really good job this week of [coaching the offensive line]. They were running all kinds of movements, which we knew they were going to do. They weren’t going to just stand there and go toe-to-toe with us all day,” Mullen said, complimenting the offensive line. “At times, we missed a couple of things here and there, but I think overall, I think we were pretty solid. We talked about how we needed to move them up front and we ran for 253. I probably would have liked to have a little more than that. But the other big part of it, too, was protecting the quarterback.”

To Mullen’s credit, Florida did a nice job of protecting the quarterback. Although Samford forced four quarterback hurries, Emory Jones was not sacked once on Saturday. But still, even with an offensive outburst, the outlook in Gainesville turned grim after the win.

Mullen, Florida receive criticism after win

With all that’s transpired in the past few months, Mullen continues to receive plenty of criticism from fans and media alike. He hears all of it, but as he clarified after the Samford win, it doesn’t bother him — because at the end of the day, he’s his own biggest critic.

“The criticism — the criticism is the criticism. You know, no one is going to be harder on me than me,” Mullen said after Florida beat Samford. “I want to win. I love the Gators. And I love winning. I love competing, I think you guys know that. I’m a competitor, and I want to win. And there’s nobody that’s more disappointed in the team — not just in the wins and losses. There’s nobody more disappointed when we don’t perform and live up to the Gator standard and the expectation than me. And I know a lot of people think that, but I’ve got to tell you, last week’s game (a 40-17 loss to South Carolina) — that was disappointing. I was disappointed in our performance and how we were.”

Mullen’s team did muster an unbelievable 70-point performance, thanks to 717 yards of total offense; quarterback Emory Jones threw for 464 yards and six touchdowns, completing 28 of his 34 pass attempts, while running for 86 more yards and another touchdown. The Gators offense was incredible — but the defense was downright embarrassing. Mullen’s Gators let Samford break all sorts of records on Saturday, including the highest-ever point total for an FCS team against a Power Five opponent. The Bulldogs even held a 42-35 halftime lead, the most points Florida has ever allowed in a single half.

Florida gave up 530 yards of total offense, including 400 passing yards to Samford quarterback Liam Welch. In addition to Welch, wideout Montrell Washington was the offensive star for Samford. He had three scores: a one-yard touchdown run, a 23-yard touchdown catch and a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He finished with 10 receptions for 124 yards.

“So, the criticism is the criticism, and you know what? My self-criticism is probably a lot worse,” Mullen continued. “Mine was probably enough on that and I didn’t need to look at anybody else’s.”