STARKVILLE — Turns out, the best cure for a football team in turmoil is to face Mississippi State’s defense.
Florida moved the ball at will for most of the first half, with the Gators’ quarterbacks completing 19 of 20 passes, and also averaged 6.4 yards per rushing attempt to take a three-score lead late in the half and defeat the Bulldogs, 45-28.
MSU’s much-maligned defense came up with a three-and-out the first time it was on the field, but after that, the Bulldogs had no answers for either Graham Mertz, who played the majority of the game, or true freshman DJ Lagway. Mertz threw three touchdown passes in the first half, taking advantage of soft coverage from the MSU secondary. Florida was also 4-for-5 on third down in the opening half as the Bulldogs continued to have a hard time getting off the field.
After the Gators’ opening touchdown, MSU (1-3, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) put together a nice response. Quarterback Blake Shapen found tight end Seydou Traore for a 25-yard pickup to set up a short touchdown run by Davon Booth. The Bulldogs then recovered a fumble near midfield but could not take advantage of it, as a holding penalty derailed their next drive.
Florida (2-2, 1-1) proceeded to score on its next three possessions to take control. The Gators used a two-play, 44-yard drive that followed a long punt return to go up two scores, then drove 91 yards on 10 plays in less than three minutes to take a 28-7 lead.
MSU managed to strike quickly before halftime. Shapen found freshman Mario Craver on a pair of downfield passes, and a 17-yard run by Booth set up Shapen’s 3-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper. The Bulldogs opened the second half with a defensive stop and then a touchdown pass from Shapen to Jordan Mosley, but that was as close as MSU would get.
Shapen headed to the locker room early in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury, with freshman Michael Van Buren relieving him behind center. A turnover on downs just shy of the goal line on the final drive with Shapen at quarterback ended any thought of a comeback.
Takeaways
1. This defense is truly porous. Nearly every time the Bulldogs had a chance to make a stop and get the ball back to their offense, they were unable to do so. Even on a third-and-long deep in Florida’s own territory, Lagway took off on a designed quarterback run and kept the drive alive.
In the third quarter, MSU lost its best defensive player, safety Isaac Smith, when he was knocked down on a blindside block. Smith was down for several minutes before walking off the field and heading to the locker room. The Bulldogs were already down Kalvin Dinkins and Kedrick Bingley-Jones up front, and now may lose Smith on the same day safety Corey Ellington made his season debut.
2. Penalties are just killer. After cornerback Kelley Jones recovered a fumble on the first play of the second quarter, left tackle Makylan Pounders was called for holding, which killed MSU’s chance to take advantage of excellent field position. In the third quarter, Jones was flagged for pass interference on a deep shot that fell incomplete, helping lead to a Gators touchdown. Florida’s first touchdown drive might not have happened if not for a roughing the passer penalty on Smith.
The Bulldogs had more than 100 yards worth of penalties last week against Toledo, and those discipline issues were not fixed Saturday, with eight penalties for 70 yards.
3. The running game offered a glimmer of hope. Granted, only MSU’s run defense was worse than the Gators’ among SEC teams entering Saturday. But Booth, Keyvone Lee and Johnnie Daniels, as well as Shapen himself, were all able to find some holes and pick up nice gains on the ground as the Bulldogs rushed for more than 200 yards as a team. MSU’s offensive line showed some signs of life as well, although with road games against Texas and Georgia on the horizon, it’s hard to imagine some of those positive developments being sustainable.
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