Dan Mullen evaluates Florida's defense after coaching changes

Dan Mullen hoped that firing Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham would solve the Gators’ defensive issues. After Saturday’s showing, it seemed to have done quite the opposite.

The Gators entered Saturday’s contest with Samford with an abysmal 4-5 record, and it wasn’t until a blowout loss to South Carolina that Mullen fired both his defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, and his offensive line coach, John Hevesy.

On Saturday, Mullen’s Florida Gators ended up winning, improving their record to 5-5 after executing a come-from-behind, 70-52 victory over Samford, but the win only told half the story. In recent weeks, while the firings transpired, Florida lost a couple commits and had recruits tweeting at one another not to consider Mullen’s program. And after all that, Mullen followed it up by losing the first half of the game to Samford, only to double down on the questionable coaching in both his postgame press conference and in his team’s celebration of a lousy victory.

All the while, Mullen’s defense may have looked worse than it did under Grantham.

“I think some of the simple things, you know? We’ve got to get away from some of these simple penalties,” Mullen said of his defense’s struggles. “I’m on, listening to the defense. We practice this stuff over and over. [Then,] jump offsides. That’s a discipline thing. That’s a simple discipline thing. You can’t jump offsides. The substitution, I’m on, I’m listening to us call the substitution … and those are things we have got to be better at.”

Not only did Mullen’s defense allow 530 yards of total offense to a mediocre FCS team, but as he noted, Florida also committed a season-high 12 penalties. The penalties costed the Gators a total of 94 yards, and while they pulled off the win Saturday, the future in Gainesville looks bleak, at best.

Mullen, Florida receive criticism after win

With all that’s transpired in the past few months, Mullen continues to receive plenty of criticism from fans and media alike. He hears all of it, but as he clarified after the Samford win, it doesn’t bother him — because at the end of the day, he’s his own biggest critic.

“The criticism — the criticism is the criticism. You know, no one is going to be harder on me than me,” Mullen said after Florida beat Samford. “I want to win. I love the Gators. And I love winning. I love competing, I think you guys know that. I’m a competitor, and I want to win. And there’s nobody that’s more disappointed in the team — not just in the wins and losses. There’s nobody more disappointed when we don’t perform and live up to the Gator standard and the expectation than me. And I know a lot of people think that, but I’ve got to tell you, last week’s game (a 40-17 loss to South Carolina) — that was disappointing. I was disappointed in our performance and how we were.”

Mullen’s team did muster an unbelievable 70-point performance, thanks to 717 yards of total offense; quarterback Emory Jones threw for 464 yards and six touchdowns, completing 28 of his 34 pass attempts, while running for 86 more yards and another touchdown. The Gators offense was incredible — but the defense was downright embarrassing. Mullen’s Gators let Samford break all sorts of records on Saturday, including the highest-ever point total for an FCS team against a Power Five opponent. The Bulldogs even held a 42-35 halftime lead, the most points Florida has ever allowed in a single half.

Florida gave up 530 yards of total offense, including 400 passing yards to Samford quarterback Liam Welch. In addition to Welch, wideout Montrell Washington was the offensive star for Samford. He had three scores: a one-yard touchdown run, a 23-yard touchdown catch and a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He finished with 10 receptions for 124 yards.

“So, the criticism is the criticism, and you know what? My self-criticism is probably a lot worse,” Mullen continued. “Mine was probably enough on that and I didn’t need to look at anybody else’s.”