GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators 38-0 win over Towson on Saturday afternoon in the Swamp.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down how the Gators looked on Saturday and areas they improved in on Saturday.
Andrew and Nick also talk about the uniforms that were announced for the Auburn game, plus we look ahead to the Auburn game.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, no surprise. Maybe a little surprise that it was a shutout. I mean, a shutout is very hard to come by, and for the first time since 2012, the Gators have two shutouts now, as the Gators win 38-0.
Nick:                         Yeah. I mean, I wrote about it. It’s Florida’s second FCS opponent, but you can only play who’s on the schedule, and Dan Mullen didn’t make this schedule. The players didn’t make the schedule. You play who’s in front of you, and defense pitches another shutout. They’ve shutout both FCS teams they’ve played.
Andrew:                 Wasn’t pretty on defense in the first half though. Towson should have scored.
Nick:                         Oh yeah. They just shot themselves in the foot. They’re moving the ball up and down the field, and then you get an interception in the red zone. Then you have the fumble. Hasn’t been pretty for Florida’s defense early on in games, but, man, whatever Todd Grantham is doing in the locker room, Florida is just lights out in the second half.
Andrew:                 Did he go in there and call them all big and fat like Mike Leach did?
Nick:                         I don’t know, but God bless Mike Leach. That was a funny quote.
Andrew:                 Wonder how many fines are coming for the poor guy. Come on. Whatever. Yeah. The offense didn’t look good in the first half either, to be honest. 17-0 was the first half. I know we’ll all sit and look and say, it was 160 yards rushing for this team, but offensive line still played bad. Dan Mullen said that as much after the game, as he called out the offensive line. I get on Dan Mullen a lot for this offensive line, but the one thing that I’ll say is that he has no problem whatsoever letting them know publicly that you’re not doing your job.
Nick:                         I think that was probably the most exasperated that Coach was, at least publicly. I’m sure privately probably going in there and chewing them. Basically, just said it’s got to improve. The mental toughness for the offensive line and their preparation has to improve.
Andrew:                 Right.
Nick:                         This is a Towson team that was giving up 200 yards rushing against FCS opponents on average per game. So, we talked about that in our preview, and I thought, listen, if Florida can’t run against Towson, then scrap the run the rest of the year. Ran the ball okay.
Andrew:                 Better in the second half than the first half.
Nick:                         Yeah. But still, not what I would expected or would have wanted to see to make me feel good about the running game moving forward.
Andrew:                 Right.
Nick:                         But last year it took till the LSU game for Florida to figure it out.
Andrew:                 Right. I think it did work better when they put Gouraige at left guard and moved Brett over to right and went with that. Bleich was kind of, him and Delance were both what I call the bellsmen. They were both opening the door and saying, go ahead. One play in particular, Bleich he’s got a DT running through his face, and he just basically stiff arms him right into Lamical, and it’s a three-yard loss in the game. You can’t have it. The right side of that offensive line with Bleich and Delance out there together is just atrocious.
Nick:                         Yeah. I mean,