Bio Blast: Florida Gators

Kentucky’s long SEC losing streak came to an end on Saturday night on the Plains in a 10-3 slugfest victory over Auburn. Now the Cats are returning home in Week 11 to see if they can end the program’s long home losing streak. UK will be hosting a familiar opponent this weekend at Kroger Field.

Florida and Kentucky will face each other on the gridiron for the 76th time on Saturday night. This yearly series is not going away in the new nine-game scheduling model. That gives each meeting a little bit more significance. The Gators famously won 31 in a row in this series from 1987-2017 but UK snapped the streak in 2018. Since then, UK has mostly had the upperhand. The Cats are 4-3 over the last seven meetings in this series and enter Saturday having won three of four. Mark Stoops helped turn this series for the Big Blue Blue and now he will be facing a fifth different Florida coach in 13 years.

The Cats and the Gators are currently near the bottom of the SEC standings as each team is trying to salvage a tough season. Florida has started a coaching search. Kentucky’s coaching staff is attempting trying to cool down the hot seat. That creates an interesting matchup.

KSR will be here all week to preview the game and discuss what happens between the white lines at Kroger Field on Saturday night. Let’s get things rolling by taking our first close look at the Gators.

Another interim head coach in Gainesville

Urban Meyer won 65 games in six seasons as the head coach at Florida with a pair of national titles, two SEC titles, and three top-five finishes. At age 46, Meyer decided to resign from his post before resurfacing at Ohio State after just one year off.

The Gators have had a revolving door of head coaches since the 2010 season.

• Will Muschamp (2011-14): 28-21
• Jim McElwain (2015-17): 22-12
• Dan Mullen (2018-21): 34-15
• Billy Napier (2022-25): 22-23

Florida has burned and turned through four head coaches in 15 seasons. Mullen was fired in year four despite recording three consecutive top-15 finishes to begin his career in Gainesville. In 2014, 2017, 2021, and 2025 an interim head coach has taken over.

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin led the Gators to a Birmingham Bowl victory over East Carolina in 2014. Defensive coordinator Randy Shannon guided the Gators to a 1-3 finish in 2017. Running backs coach Greg Knox led Florida to a rivalry win over Florida State before a loss to UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl. Wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales is up next.

The 54-year-old has had three different stints at Florida working for Urban Meyer from 2005-09, Dan Mullen from 2018-21, and Billy Napier from 2023-25. Gonzales is now in year 12 at Florida and is attempting to guide the Gators to a strong finish.

Gonzales promoted quarterback coach Ryan O’Hara to the play-calling chair and had the Gators in position to beat Georgia last week. He now attempts to keep this team in the fight with remaining games against Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Florida State.

This is a territory that this football program is familiar with.

A star quarterback is having a rough season

There was about a week in 2022 when Anthony Richardson had some legit Heisman Trophy buzz under head coach Billy Napier but that soon fizzled out. As losses piled up in his first two years, the one saving grace was a commitment from five-star quarterback DJ Lagway and what could be coming to Gainesville in 2024.

The No. 3 overall recruit and 2023 National Gatorade Player of the Year eventually became a starter as a true freshman in 2024 and helped lead the Gators to a 4-0 finish with ranked wins over LSU and Ole Miss at home. Lagway threw for 1,215 yards on 10 yards per attempt as he completed 19-of-36 passes of 20-plus air yards for over half of those 1,215 yards. Many thought the former blue-chip recruit could become one of the biggest stars in college football in 2025.

That has not played out.

Lagway has improved his completion percentage (59.5% to 65%) but every other number across the board is down. The vertical accuracy (10-of-30 with 5 interceptions) isn’t what it was last season and the run element that he showed in high school simply has not been there in college. Lagway has tossed 18 interceptions in 438 pass attempts and has not been able to elevate this offense.

Florida enters Week 11 ranked No. 29 nationally and No. 2 in the SEC in pass play percentage (53.2%). The Gators have committed to riding Lagway despite some poor passing numbers.

• Yards Per Dropback: 6.73 (No. 79 overall)
• Passing Success Rate: 40.75% (No. 99 overall)
• EPA/Dropback: -0.10 (No. 114 overall)

The Gators are averaging less than seven yards per attempt this season and have struggled with consistency in the passing game all year. Lagway had brutal performances on the road against LSU and Miami before settling in recently. However, the turnover-worthy plays have not gone away.

Florida has turned the offense over to their young star quarterback, but he has gone through some growing pains. Lagway missed basically all of Florida’s offseason program with some mysterious injuries and that lack of offseason work has shown up on the field.

This offense currently ranks No. 116 in points per drive (1.51). Florida needed Lagway to become a star. That has not played out this season.

Another top-25 defense has shown up on Kentucky’s schedule

Kentucky caught a break on the schedule when Tennessee’s defense showed up. That allowed the Wildcats to break that long two touchdowns or less streak in Week 9. But that was the only time the Cats got to go up against a defense ranked outside of the top 25 in SEC play.

UK will face another good defense this weekend.

Florida enters this contest ranked in the top 30 in success rate, EPA/rush, rushing success rate, and red zone touchdown percentage. The Gators have been leaky against the pass (No. 81 in EPA/dropback, No. 106 in yards per dropback) but that has been their only real weakness. Only two teams have gone north of 150 rushing yards against this unit and the Gators have recorded an interception in six consecutive games.

Kentucky is facing another solid defense on Saturday. Florida is not on the level of Texas or Auburn, but does have a similar statistical profile to Georgia, South Carolina, and Ole Miss. UK struggled to get anything going on the road against the Dawgs and Gamecocks. The Cats scored 23 points against the Rebels but finished with just two touchdowns in five red zone possessions.

Can they figured something out and put some points on the board against another solid unit?