Florida football: 5 takeaways from Gators’ 24-20 win over Miami

Florida football fans breathed an overwhelming sigh of relief after the clock ran out Saturday night at Camping World Stadium. A week 0 win over the Hurricanes in a game that neither team really deserved the victory.

You could say it was ugly.

But, that might be a classic understatement.

After countless mistakes for both teams, penalties and a back-and-forth that made the game more exciting than it really was, Florida football eeked out a 24-20 win over Miami in Orlando to open the season with a win, and a win over a rival.

Just because the scoreboard reflected a win for the Gators, there is still plenty to pick apart from the game.

With that, here are our five takeaways from the season-opener:

What were they thinking?

Despite going 17-of-27 for 254 yards and two touchdowns, it was Feleipe Franks‘ pass right into the hands of Romeo Finley after the Gator defense gifted Florida the ball back on a phenomenal stop late in the fourth quarter.

As you can see, Florida has the lead with 4 minutes, 30 seconds to go and they fail to run the football? C’mon guys.

I know there was plenty of time on the clock, but play the field-position battle, if nothing else. The last thing you should do is throw the football in traffic like that.

"“Obviously, things don’t go our way that we expect them to go,” Franks said, according to ESPN. “I didn’t go out there and try to throw a pick. That’s not what I planned to do. That was not in our game plan. But things happen throughout the course of the game that you don’t plan, and that’s what adversity is.“It’s all about just trying to persevere through those kinds of things, and that’s what we did and just got a great team win.”"

Despite the inaccuracies and occasionally poor decision-making, Franks still ended the game with a passer rating of 151.6, according to Sports Reference.

We weren’t the only ones shaking our heads after the interception:

The Florida pass rush is massive

If Saturday’s game was indicative of anything, its that the Florida football defensive line has the potential to be one of the best in the nation.

Despite giving up 308 yards of total offense, the defensive unit racked up 10 sacks against Jarren Williams. That’s right … 10.

Those sacks were critical, especially when facing a young, untested quarterback in Williams. The Miami offensive line was victimized all game long and the pass rush was darn near unstoppable.

The 10 sacks go along with 16 tackles for loss.

How not to win a game

The last 4:30 of the game was an exercise in how you shouldn’t go about winning a football game.

Florida’s defense comes up with the big stop and Franks throws is away (see above).

Florida Gators Football

But, as Miami is driving for what they hope is a game-winning drive, they are slapped with two penalties for 30 yards. It took them from the Florida 25 to their own 45.

Oh, but wait, there’s more.

With the Hurricanes facing 4th and 34 from their own 36, Williams eyes Jeff Thomas for a pass, but Marco Wilson is whistled for pass interference. Fifteen-yard penalty and an automatic first down — on the play where Thomas would have still been short of the first down had he made the catch.

Three plays later, Miami had 3rd and 12 from their own 49 and Trey Dean was hit with another pass interference penalty, breathing further life into the Hurricanes’ hopes.

Fortunately, the Florida defense kept Miami at bay and forced their 10th sack of the game. Jeremiah Moon hurried the quarterback and forced an incomplete pass on fourth down, effectively ending the game.

"“Honestly, my life clock was going probably at about a thousand times faster,” Mullen said, as quoted by ESPN. “I mean, every second was probably like a thousand minutes or days. I don’t know. The last five minutes of the game I think I aged like 10 years.”"

Yeah, we felt that way too, Coach.

Woeful running game

This was supposed to be Lamical Perine’s breakout year.

But, if the first game is an indication, it’s going to be more like an uphill battle, than a breakout.

The inexperienced Florida football offensive line was a big key in the fact the Gators managed just 52 yards on the ground against Miami.

Perine did have 43 yards on 10 carries, but it seemed like the running game had no traction during the game and there was little reason why that would be.

If the Gators hope to have any success past the first few games of the season, the offensive line is going to have to do better in the trenches.

Because 43 yards for Perine and just 52 for a game is not going to get it done this season.

Game one, don’t panic

I know there are several Gator Nation faithful scratching their heads and wondering what the rest of the season has in store.

My suggestion: Be patient and realize, it’s only week one.

Mistakes are going to happen. It’s how you learn from them and respond that will determine how the remainder of the season will go.

The offensive line still needs work. Franks needs to improve his decision-making and Perine needs to be more active in the offense.

As for the defense, well, better timing on pass break-ups might be something to look at, but that defense kept Florida football in the game Saturday night, no question.

Again, mistakes are common on week one. With a bye week and Tennessee-Martin coming up in two weeks, the Gators should have plenty of time to work out those early-season kinks.