Paul Finebaum takes Dan Mullen, choice of quarterback to task

Florida’s Week 5 loss to Kentucky is a big blow to its hopes of making a run in the SEC this season. Kentucky came away with the 20-13 victory, although Florida had a chance inside Kentucky’s five-yard line in the final minute of the game. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum blames Florida’s loss on head coach Dan Mullen, citing bad play calling in key situations.

Finebaum also went on to wonder if Mullen has the right quarterback leading Florida’s offense. Emory Jones completed 23 of his 31 passes in the loss for 203 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He also had 63 yards rushing.

“After the game, I was just blown away by Dan Mullen,” Finebaum said on Sunday. “He tried to argue, someone asked about, ‘it looked like your offense was sputtering.’ He gave the stat line, like 383 to 222. Like, who cares? A special teams play and an inability to score on the goal line cost them. And I’m beginning to wonder if he’s got the right quarterback in there. Emory Jones is a good quarterback, but Anthony Richardson is dynamic. It’s twice now that we’ve seen Dan Mullen in the moment of truth come up with a terrible play, both times probably in a position to put themselves into overtime.”

Finebaum believes Florida’s SEC hopes are likely over

Alabama and Georgia are solidified at the top of the SEC, and neither team is showing any signs of letting up down the stretch. Now with two losses, Florida is likely out of contention in terms of making the SEC Championship game.

“Florida is essentially out of it,” Finebaum said. “I don’t see any way that Georgia is losing twice. … That was just a devastating loss for Florida. And for all of the times that we’ve collectively said that there isn’t a better play caller in American than Dan Mullen, well we’ve seen it twice now. Two-point conversion and chance on the goal line, both times he’s come up zero.”

While Finebaum blamed Florida’s loss on Mullen, Mullen cited a number of mistakes that piled up in the game. Florida had false starts and a couple of bad misses in key moments, which Mullen believes led to the loss.

“In the SEC, you can’t make the mistakes that we made tonight and win a game,” Mullen said. “It’s a good football team, top-25 team, playing a top-25 team on the road in the SEC. Great crowd. Mark Stoops has built up the program. They are a top-25 team here, year in and year out. You have to give them credit you know, they have great energy, their guys played hard, made plays. They aren’t going to make all the mistakes we made when you’re playing an SEC team.”

Florida dropped down to No. 20 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. Next up for the Gators is a home matchup against Vanderbilt.