Up Next: Gators face questions with starting QB hurt, lack of production
Three weeks ago, Will Muschamp decided to change quarterbacks during the bye week, elevating true freshman Jake Bentley to starter over Perry Orth and Brandon McIlwain.
Florida will go with a different starting quarterback for Saturday’s noon contest against the Gamecocks at the Swamp, but UF coach Jim McElwain didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Luke Del Rio, son of the Oakland Raiders coach and former NFL linebacker, started six of the previous eight games for the Gators (they are only play 11 regular season contests due to Hurricane Matthew) until suffering a serious right shoulder injury in last week’s 31-10 loss at Arkansas that will sideline him indefinitely.
Del Rio supposedly suffered the injury in the second quarter but didn’t tell coaches or teammates about the injury and kept playing. He completed 19-of-37 passes for 229 yards in the loss.
“Hindsight is 20-20,” McElwain said Monday during his weekly press conference. “It speaks to the belief of our team and the toughness of Luke. Yet sometimes you have to be honest. He was banged up and played that way. Looking at myself in the mirror, we should have made a change at halftime. Part of the reason is we didn’t know the severity of (the injury). He didn’t play up to par, and now we understand why.”
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Austin Appleby, the first graduate transfer (Purdue) to start at quarterback for the Gators in program history, will likely get the starting nod for Florida, although McElwain will give freshmen Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask an opportunity to prove themselves in practice this week.
How much progress have the freshmen made and are they ready to face an SEC defense?
“We’ll find out,” McElwain said. “The big thing is the people around them and elevating their play a little bit. We’ll probably have to cut the field from a read standpoint.”
Appleby has started two games this season (Tennessee and Vanderbilt) for the Gators and has completed 61.1 percent (44-72) of his passes for 470 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He threw for 290 yards in Knoxville, the fifth-highest total in UF history by a quarterback in a debut start.
Appleby last threw a pass in a game on Oct. 1 during Florida’s 13-6 win at Vanderbilt. He completed 19-of-28 passes for 144 yards in that game as McElwain elected to rely on a short, safe passing attack. Florida averaged 5.14 yards per attempt in the hard-fought win in Nashville.
With Del Rio handling the bulk of the quarterback duties, Florida has managed just 472 yards of total offense in its past two games – a win over Georgia and the loss to Arkansas. The Gators have been held to fewer than 242 yards in three of their past four games, managing just 236 yards in the win at Vandy when Appleby led the offense.
Florida has struggled to run the ball consistently all season and currently ranks 12th in the SEC in rushing offense (150.4 ypg). Last Saturday in Fayetteville, they managed just 12 yards rushing on 14 attempts as UF was dominated on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
In terms of passing yardage, the Gators are fifth in the SEC, yet just 12th in passing efficiency as Del Rio and Appleby have combined for 11 TD passes and nine interceptions, six more than Gamecocks quarterbacks have thrown in just one more game. Jake Bentley has yet to thrown a pick for USC in three starts.
“We’re staying the course,” McElwain said. “We have a plan and our guys understand it. There are some tweaks you do in evaluating every week. This week is no different.”
Del Rio isn’t the only starter slated to miss Saturday’s game. Florida’s top two tacklers – linebackers Jarrad Davis (left ankle) and Alex Anzalone (underwent surgery Monday for a broken arm) will also miss the game along with starting center Cameron Dillard.
The only SEC East team with two losses, Florida controls its own destiny and would clinch a second-straight SEC Eastern Division crown with a win over the Gamecocks and a Kentucky win over Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday.
Both games kickoff at noon on Saturday.
The Gators have not won the Eastern Division two-straight times since 2008 and 2009 at the end of Tim Tebow’s run in Gainesville.
Even with the questions at quarterback, UF can always lean on a solid defense that leads the SEC in passing defense (147.9), passing efficiency defense (90.54) and ranks second in total defense (268.1) and scoring defense (14.1) behind, of course, Alabama.
Ironically, Muschamp recruited most of the first-team players on Florida’s defense.
“Will did a heckuva job (at Florida), but sometimes things don’t work,” McElwain said. “We’re going to see seniors on Saturday that he brought into this organization.”
South Carolina carries the SEC’s best turnover margin (plus-9) into Saturday’s game. The Gamecocks have committed just one turnover in Jake Bentley’s three starts at quarterback.
USC’s 20 takeaways are the second-most in the SEC behind Texas A&M.
“They have done a great job not turning it over on offense and creating turnovers on defense,” McElwain said. “They fly around to the ball. Will Muschamp is a very good football coach. They are playing very enthused and guys are playing their tails off. Will knows what he is doing and his guys are executing at a high level right now with a lot of belief.”
SEC WEEK 11 SCHEDULE (Nov. 12)
Mississippi State at Alabama, noon (ESPN)
South Carolina at Florida, noon (CBS)
Kentucky at Tennessee, noon (SEC Network)
Vanderbilt at Missouri, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
Auburn at Georgia, 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
LSU at Arkansas, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Ole Miss at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
