Florida football: Observations from the first half vs. Seminoles

Florida football has seemingly moved the football at will while the defense has not allowed Florida State to do anything of substance in the first half.

In each of their first three possessions, Florida football came away with three touchdowns.

Florida State, on the other hand, not so much.

The Gators dominated the first half en route to a 30-7 halftime lead.

Midway through the second quarter, the Florida football dominance was prevalent as the Gators had 226 yards on offense to just 91 for Florida State.

The Seminoles, when not hurt by the Florida football passing game, shot themselves in the foot with penalties that breathed life into a couple of Gator drives.

Here are some first-half observations:

Offense firing on all cylinders

The Florida football offense clicked from their first possession.

Quarterback Kyle Trask was extremely effective, going 14-of-19 on the Gators’ first four possessions for 181 yards and two touchdowns. His quarterback rating was 188.4 — compared to a 147.5 QBR for Florida State quarterback James Blackman.

Of course, having eight different receivers catching the ball doesn’t hurt either.

Freddie Swain led the way with a pair of touchdowns in the first half, but Kadarius Toney showed off his best Madden move early in the second quarter to turn a 4-yard pickup into a 47-yard gain by causing miss after miss.

https://twitter.com/GatorsFB/status/1200955342726692864

Even tight end Lucas Krull got into the action in the passing game with a 15-yard catch in the second quarter.

It was enough to give Florida football a 20-point second quarter after just one score in the first.

Regardless, the Florida football passing game was a massive headache for Florida State in the first half as the Seminoles’ secondary had no answer for anything the Gators threw at them — literally.

Big stat: 305 yards of total offense for Florida to just 87 for Florida State.

Great pass protection

Trask would not have the first half he’s had if not for the protection given him by the offensive line.

Brett Heggie had great pass blocking upfront as the line — which has been the cause for a lot of Gator Nation consternation this season — even gave a little running room for Dameon Pierce to score from 3 yards out in the second quarter.

It was that protection that likely led to head coach Dan Mullen to be a little more trusting and aggressive on third down. The Gators were 4-for-4 on third down as they took a 27-7 lead with a little more than 5 minutes left in the half.

The Florida State defense never really got a hand on Trask or anyone else for that matter. A big reason for that is because the offensive line gave him plenty of time to find receivers open downfield.

Florida State has done just as much to themselves

Yes, the Gators are dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, but the Seminoles are doing just as much to hurt themselves as Florida football is doing to them.

Florida State converted just two attempts on third down and one fourth-down attempt.

Credit the Florida football defense for the Seminoles getting just 4.14 yards per play. That said, Jonathan Greenard was in the Florida State backfield the entire half and I would expect more of that in the second. James Houston and Ventrell Miller also wreaked havoc, to the tune of three sacks in the first half.

The biggest thing that Florida State did to themselves was penalties. The Seminoles were penalized six times for 45 yards — including twice where Florida was stopped short of a first down, but the penalty gave it to them.

Running back Cam Akers has had nowhere to go as he’s picked up just 13 yards on seven carries in the half.

I expect to see more defensive dominance and a gunslinging passing game from Florida football in the second half.