Florida football: 3 reasons the Gators can go 8-4, and 3 for 4-8
By Will Thomas
![Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier gestures alongside Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz (15), Florida Gators running back Montrell Johnson Jr. (2), and Florida Gators running back Trevor Etienne (7) during fall football practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, August 5, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F480a5b26fd88c46cc6584e625d49514ed8d5ea53369dc6ed817b549db865e63c.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier gestures alongside Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz (15), Florida Gators running back Montrell Johnson Jr. (2), and Florida Gators running back Trevor Etienne (7) during fall football practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, August 5, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]")
Reason No. 3 Florida football gets four wins: Tackling and third down problems persist
The two reasons that the Gators’ defense was so bad last season were that they couldn’t consistently wrap up and make big tackles, and they could never get off the field on third down.
Patrick Toney’s unit was dead last in the country in third-down efficiency at one point last season, and it felt like a lot of those issues came from not being able to wrap up before the sticks.
I’m sure you all remember the play in the FSU game last season when the Gators’ DL had four guys with hands on Jordan Travis in the backfield on a third down, just for him to run around for 30 seconds and make a game-changing play.
Yeah, teams who have those issues don’t win eight games. They lose eight games.
The defense flat-out has to be a level up from last fall, or Florida football will be in trouble. If they can’t get off the field, the offense will have a lot more pressure on them to score and score fast.
As we’ve mentioned a few times already in this piece, that isn’t a good strategy.
The veteran guys need to step up and set the standard for all of the new faces on the defense that I talked about on the last slide.
If Princely and Marshall take their games to the next level, everyone will follow suit.
If they don’t we’ll be staring down another long fall with more losses than any of us want to see.