Florida Gators QB Graham Mertz 'focused on the team' not career-high in passing after loss

SALT LAKE CITY — Graham Mertz threw for 333 yards in his Florida Gators debut and that was a career-high by quite a bit. But because his team lost 24-11 to No. 14 Utah on Thursday night, the Wisconsin transfer didn’t seem to care about his own numbers.

“Obviously, I’m more focused on the team right now,” Mertz said.

Entering Florida’s season opener, many fans and media had douts about Mertz, who had run hot and cold during his three seasons as the starting quarterback for the Badgers. He exited that program having never lived up to his hype as a touted 4-star recruit and finished his time in Madison, Wis., with 39 touchdown passes — but also 27 interceptions.

Before Thursday night, Mertz had a career-best of 299 passing yards.

Mertz completed 70 percent of his passes against the Utes

He completed 31 of 44 passes (70 percent) against the Utes, with one touchdown and one interception. It is unclear who the blame should be assigned to on the pick, which went though Ricky Pearsall’s hands.  Overall, Mertz was solid — and that was despite facing a good bit of pressure most of the game.

“Mertz got beat up a little bit and we need to keep him clean in the future,” Gators coach Billy Napier said. 

While Mertz’s final numbers looked good, there was a reason he passed so much. The Gators rushed for only 13 total yards (that includes sack yardage) and fell behind 24-3. To have any chance of making a game of it, they had to throw and throw a lot, which is what they did.

One fair question to ask is this: Did Mertz make enough plays before the Utes got their big lead?

Regardless of that, there certainly seemed to be more positives than negatives in Mertz’s showing. For the most part, the fifth-year senior had a good command of the offense.

Billy Napier praised Graham Mertz for his play

“You know, I was pleased with Graham (Mertz),” Napier said. “I think there were a handful of plays that he would like to have back and a few early that were a little inaccurate at times but he made a lot of plays, too. It’s the first game he’s ever thrown for 300-plus. For the most part out there, the guy was doing what we want him to do. The ball was going where we wanted it to go. Oftentimes the quarterback gets too much credit, too much blame. When you really dig into it, it’s going to be about the players around him. There’s no question when you play a game against really good competition there’s going to be plays that need to be better.”

For Mertz, one frustrating aspect Thursday had to be the numerous mental mistakes made by the offensive line, many of which resulted in drive-killing penalties that proved to be costly.

“I think that whenever you’re in an away environment, it kind of ramps up the possibilities of controllable things that pop up, whether that’s communication things, a quick change of structure in our formation, a false start.,” Mertz said. “There’s a lot of stuff that when we go out there in an away environment, that we have to hold each other accountable to, and that will be a point of emphasis.”

Florida’s offensive line struggled with is run blocking and penalties

Not being able to establish the running game was another issue — and part of the reason Florida fell behind and had to rely almost solely on Mertz’s arm in the second half. A rebuilt offensive line struggled to block and what was expected to be a vaunted rushing attack was anything but. 

“(Not being able to run the ball) definitely made it hard at times, but I think that playmakers we have across the board, any team that tries to make us one-dimensional will struggle,” Mertz said. “I think that we just got so much speed around the board, we can get the ball in quick screens and turn to a run play. Obviously we’d like to be more balanced whenever we’re playing a football game, so I know that will be a point of emphasis going forward, and it really will free up our offense to go out and compete as a whole.” 

While hurt by the loss, Mertz made one thing clear after Thursday’s game: He was proud to be a Gator. At the same time, he was adamant the fact he leaves Salt Lake City with his first 300-yard game was nothing to celebrate.

“I was just doing my job. That’s what it should be every week,” Graham Mertz said. “I hold myself to the standard where it’s my job to help the offense move the ball. I try to simplify things, that’s just how my brain works, and that is me doing my job. So, now it is holding myself accountable to that and, obviously, the interception hurts that. So, look at that to figure out what I can do better to take care of the ball. That’s a long answer to your question.”