Florida Football: One deep flaw revealed in win over UNC Charlotte

All week, Florida football head coach Billy Napier had been trying to convey a theme of consistency. He wasn’t pleased with how the Gators handled success last season and was trying to keep the momentum gained from beating Tennessee going.

All week, Napier said that the Gators weren’t as sharp as he would have liked during practice.

But whether one thinks Florida’s 22-7 win over UNC Charlotte was a lack of sharpness or other, there was one very real flaw that we can officially say exists on the 2023 Gators

Florida Football: Next man up

Let’s make it clear that Florida was never in danger of losing this game. Florida’s defense held the 49ers to 210 yards, 10 total first downs, and only once allowed UNC Charlotte into the red zone.

And if you want a glass-half-full viewpoint of last night, Florida scored on five of its first seven drives.

In fact, the Gators hit all three benchmarks we listed in our “Three benchmarks to hit” piece before the game.

So why did last night feel like such a disappointment?

Because the Gators got to the red zone five times and had to settle for a field goal four of those times. 

We can discuss playcalling elements, but the bigger issue for Florida is that it played without 3/5 of its starting offensive line during the first half. Damieon George and Micah Mazzccua were suspended in the first half following the scuffle against Tennessee, while Kingsley Eguakun missed the game due to injury. Even after George and Mazzccua came back in the second half, though, the lack of finish in the red zone continued.

What is becoming clear is that Florida’s offense isn’t the same without Eguakun.

He missed the Spring Game and missed Florida’s first two games before returning last week. Without doing a 2,000 word deep dive, it is hard to quantify what he means to the offensive line. But last week, Florida looked far more organized along the line, and we are willing to state that at least one of Florida’s red zone drives would have ended in a touchdown if Eguakun was in.

If Florida can go out and beat Kentucky next week, last night will be largely forgotten as a night Florida football dominated in the box score but couldn’t punch it in.

But if next week goes south, consider last night the foreshadowing that we didn’t want to accept after dreaming of what was possible after beating Tennessee.