Five Thoughts from the Gators win over Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas. — The Florida Gators started slow during an 11 am local kickoff time but turned on the gas in the second half of a 41-24 win over Texas A&M. Here are five thoughts from the Gators’ takeover of Kyle Field.

Road game Richardson

So much for a home field advantage. When Anthony Richardson plays on the road he relishes the villain role.

In two true road games this season, the quarterback has completed 56.9% of his pass attempts (41-72) for 654 yards. He has four touchdowns to just one interception. He’s also added 24 carries for 140 yards and four more scores.

At home, Richardson is completing 57.1% of his pass attempts (72-126) with six interceptions to four touchdowns.

“I feel like when everybody’s against you it puts a little chip on your shoulder. It forces you to play a little harder. You’ve got a lot of people counting you out. You’ve got to shut them up and play ball.”

Gators needed this

“In All Kinds of Weather, we all stick together” was being tested. Florida was just 4-4 on the season and hadn’t won a conference road game since December 5, 2020. I’m not saying fans were giving up but a little sunshine would be much appreciated.

The team also needed this. It was a tumultuous week in Gainesville. Brenton Cox was dismissed by Billy Napier on Sunday. Kamar Wilcoxson quit later in the week.

The Gators’ preseason goals are gone. They needed to rally around each other. They were served up a Texas A&M team that battered, bruised, and suffering from the flu. No matter how you get it, a win feels good. The locker room was raucous. Anthony Richardson called it a “block party.”

It was a release of emotions from a tough season and an even tougher week. The players needed this win.

Defensive adjustments at halftime

The Aggies’ offense has struggled to the point that the talk in College Station is Jimbo Fisher will need to give up playcalling duties.

For 30 minutes on Saturday the Gators’ defense looked like the elixor Fisher’s offense needed to turn things around. A&M scored on three of its four possessions in the first half and took a 24-20 lead into the lockerroom.

“A little bit of tough love,” senior linebacker Ventrell Miller said of the message sent in the locker room at halftime.

Tough love worked.

The Gators opened the second half with back-to-back three-and-outs. They allowed the Aggies to gain just 106 yards in the second half and held A&M to just one conversion on eight third downs while pitching a shutout.

Improvement needed in the “middle eight”

The middle eight refers to the four minutes before halftime and the four immediately succeeding halftime. It can be a critical time in a game for momentum. A study done in 2019 showed that, at the FBS level, teams that won the “middle 8” won the game 76% of the time.

Florida has been awful in the middle eight this season.

On the season the Gators are -30 in this critical point of the game. Saturday’s game was a wash, but this is an area where the team needs to improve.

Utah: +4

Kentucky: -7

USF: +4

Vols: -14

EWU: +7

Mizzou: -10

LSU: -14

UGA: -7

A&M: 0

Getting a bowl game is critical

For a program in transition, which is clearly very much where the Gators are right now, they need a bowl game.

It won’t be a sexy game. Probably something in the days leading up to Christmas or shortly after. The game isn’t what will matter. The 15 bowl practices are critical for Napier’s program. There is going to be a large number of players hitting the transfer portal after this season. Not just at Florida, it has become the new normal for college football.

With that in mind, getting those extra practices go a long way in seeing what you have in some younger players that maybe didn’t have opportunities in the fall. You can find out a lot about what you have coming back, what they can do, where your weaknesses lie and how to recruit both high school and the portal to fix that.

The Gators need just one more win in their next three games to make that happen.