UF Football Takes Care of Business in Home Opener

The Toledo Rockets were not given much of a shot at winning going into the Swamp against the #10 ranked Florida Gators.  In my first Gator football game, I watched UF beat a team that they were supposed to beat.  They did not rout the Rockets like many were hoping, but it was a solid home opener nonetheless.  There are some good and bad things that I took away from this first week of Gator football.

I'll start off with the good.  The Gator defense stepped up when it was backed up into its own red zone and held Toledo to a pair of field goals.  They also had an interception which helped set up a Gator touchdown.  Offensively, the Gators ran the ball real well. Replacing the heralded Mike Gillislee, Red Shirt Sophomore Mack Brown shined in his debut with a 2 touchdown, 114 rushing yard performance.  When UF did have to punt, the special teams unit took care of business and did not allow any explosive returns from Toledo. 

Now here is the bad.  I am not a fan of quarterback Jeff Driskel.  Yes, he did complete a majority of his passes, but only one of them was for a touchdown.  He fumbled the ball twice and one of those resulted in a turnover.  I just do not see him as a good quarterback. In my opinion, he should have signed with the Red Sox in the draft because football is not the sport for him.  Hopefully the Gators can rely on their running game and defense and not have to rely on Driskel in an important situation.  UF also got sloppy in the fourth quarter with a couple of holding penalties that negated some big plays.  Against a team so overmatched however, the Gators can get away with these mistakes.

Fortunately, I saw more good than bad and believe the Gators football squad can do big things this year.  I will be heading down to Miami to watch the Gators do battle with the Miami Hurricanes at 12 pm next weekend on September 7.  We will see how the Gators fare against a team who has not been able to fill their stadium since the Orange Bowl was knocked down.  One piece of history I will mention is that the last time the Gators went down to Miami, they blew a 33-10 lead and lost 38-33.  But let's keep in mind this was when Miami had tons of NFL caliber talent on their team.  It is a totally different Miami squad now and I will not be surprised if the Gators go into Miami and leave with a victory. 

*Stats accredited to Gatorzone.com