What Florida interim coach Billy Gonzales said after 31-11 loss to No. 20 Tennessee

What Florida interim head coach Billy Gonzales said after No. 20 Tennessee beat the Gators 31-11 Saturday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville:

Opening Statement 

“Obviously we didn’t want to let them start, get a fast start at the beginning of the game. We know their offense, we know their tempo. We knew they were fast-paced and an explosive offense. We wanted to stop them, and we didn’t make that happen. Obviously we wanted to slow them down at the beginning of the game. They came out and they scored on the first four drives. Our drives were nowhere near where we needed them to be. The first half stats, obviously it was 31-0. First downs they beat us 19-6. Rushing yards, 177 to 70 at halftime. Total offensive yards, 323-110. Then you take a look at the possession time, it was 18:31 to 11:29.

“And I think the biggest thing is we talked about not letting them get off to a start, a fast start, but, you know, we couldn’t get them off the field. They were 4 of 6 on third down (situations), 1 of 1 on fourth down (situations). And we were 0-5 and 0-1 on third and fourth down situations. Came back in at halftime, talked to the team about when your backs against the wall, who are you and that’s who you really are. I thought they came back. They fought in the second half, obviously. Both teams slowed the tempo down, both teams slowed the pace down. 

“But the positive for us is if you start looking at numbers, came back and obviously had a chance. I think first and foremost you recognize (Jaden) Baugh. I think Jaden Ba played an exceptional game, both in the run game and the pass game for us. We finished up, if you take a look at the possession at the end of the game, they still had ball 10 more minutes than we did. And again, at the end of the game, we couldn’t get off the field. They were 9 of 13 total on third downs, so we were 2 of 9. And then they were 1 of 1 (on fourth down) and we were 0 for 1. 

“I think the biggest thing people have kind of done against us the last, probably last three games is when I come back and I look at the stats at the end of the game, when you got a passing team, you think that they were a pretty balanced team, but they only threw the ball 22 times and they ran it 51 times. So we’ve got to do a better job stopping the run consistently and that hasn’t happened lately. So we got to get back to work and continue to get better.”

The vibe of the Florida team in the locker room at this point in the season

“Yeah, nobody wants to, nobody … it’s not great because everybody wants to win and nobody wants to lose. So if you’re asking what it feels like to lose, it’s not fun, it’s not good. It sucks to be up here in front of you guys, obviously. And I’ll take the loss for the players every game, no matter what it’s going to be. So I’ll continue that process. But we got to get better, obviously. And does it hurt? Yeah, absolutely.” 

How the Tennessee rivalry, honoring Urban Meyer and playing a national, primetime game resonates with Florida after that kind of performance 

“Whoever’s here is here, obviously. I think it was awesome that he had an opportunity to be recognized. I think that’s special for Coach. I think the world of him. But as far as our players, we’ve got to continue to try to get better, we’ve got to try to continue to finish a game. We played a half of football. The last couple weeks, two of the first three games we played, we played a good first half and we didn’t play a good second half. This time we reversed. We didn’t play first half and we came out in second half and played solid. Run game kicked up a little bit and we set up some play action off of it. So, but no, it doesn’t matter as far as who’s here, who’s not, we got to be better.”

Urban Meyer talking to the team this week and Florida still coming out flat, if there’s something he can pinpoint 

“No, no. We just kind of, we played a good football team. Last year they were a College Football Playoff team. This year they’re a field goal, an overtime loss to Georgia and a field goal, really, to Oklahoma. And, or else they’d be in the CFP Playoff at a high level right now. So they’re an extremely good football team. But we’ve got to find a way to get off the field.  We’ve got to find a way to stop the run game. And I think that’s something that teams have done over the last couple weeks against us.”

Florida hitting a big pass play to Jaden Baugh early in the game, it getting called back by a penalty and there being no other big plays in the first half

“I’ll go back and look. I can’t tell you every pass play that we called, right off the get-go. You know, when you start off with, when you start off with a big play in the pass game and all of a sudden you get a penalty it deflates you. And it’s hard to dig yourself out of a hole when you have a big play and all of a sudden now you’re moving behind the sticks. You go back through, and I’m just looking at some of the, where we got the ball, we got the ball on the one drive on the minus-5. And one of the other ones I think we got it a little bit further back as well, too.

“But we didn’t put a ton of drives together. Offensively a penalty negated a big pass play and we had to punt the ball on the first drive. Second play we had three plays, we punt. We missed a block by a block on the right side of the line up front. It was a good play. We missed a block. And then we had a offense turnover on downs; we couldn’t get the yard that we needed. Then we started on the minus-5-yard line. We’d like to be able to see, make the decision where we run away from the ball and try to let it go into the end zone. So we got it on the minus-5 and we had to punt out of that. The back part, we got it again on the minus-5. We drove down to the 14. Got ourselves in trouble again. And then we missed a field goal, which is uncanny of Smack. That’s kind of how it ended at halftime.”

Positives that Florida can take away from this game

“I think our players want — we want to continue to fight, continue to win. I just got done telling them. I said sometimes life has to break you completely before you truly discover who you are. And that kind of resonates with me in talking to the players. And you’re searching, obviously. There’s been a lot of change and a lot of different emotions that have went on through these last five weeks.

“The one thing is the players are going to continue to keep going. There’s not a negativity. There’s nobody in there complaining to each other and throwing things around the locker room and fighting. But, yeah, it hurts. Anytime you want to have an opportunity, this is the last SEC game. We’ve got one more game here coming up against Florida State, another rivalry game. We’ve got to go back and obviously try to figure out what we can to get a victory here.” 

How difficult the situation is that he’s in with Florida right now

“As a staff you keep fighting no matter what the situation is. I think anybody that would give in really shouldn’t be around a program. So I don’t think anybody’s quitting as far as the staff goes right now We’ve got to continue to keep fighting. We’ve got to continue to keep pushing. Again, like I said, our job is to try to continue to help these players get better and coach them. We’ve got one more week with them. That’s going to be our job, continue to keep pushing these players so we can try to continue. We’ve made a commitment to them, and they’ve made a commitment to each other. So that’s our goal.”

His message to Florida fans after the loss

“Gator football and Gator Nation has tons of tradition. The University of Florida’s tradition is second to none. Obviously we’re in transition right now. But the biggest thing is continue to keep being who they are. I think I’ve been here three different times with three different head coaches. The one thing that’s consistent, is the fans are unbelievable. They showed up again today. They’re going to continue to show up. 

“I’ve always said this before, as a coaching staff, as a coach — I’m going to put it by myself, but as a coaching staff, embrace it, embrace the fans and the community because that’s what makes the university such a special place. The fans have always been great. I can go back through, some of the biggest games that we’ve ever won here, they’ve been fantastic. They’ve helped us win those games with the noise and the crowd that they’ve done.

“Just keep hanging in there, obviously. I want what’s best for this university. However the move continues forward in the future, I think as a coach, from my standpoint — I’m looking from a fan and a coach, Gator Nation and the fans are fantastic. And I think the relationship between the staff and the fans and the players and the fans has got to continue the way it’s always been. I think that’s second to none. I think the fans are amazing here.”