If Saturday’s game against Alabama was Florida’s first difficult test under first-year coach Will Muschamp, assigning a passing grade would be just as tough.
The Gators came in with a run defense ranked in the top five in the nation, dominating the line of scrimmage with ease through four games. But they had not seen a team like Alabama, had not seen a running back like bona fide Heisman Trophy candidate Trent Richardson.
Now they have, and now, that defense doesn’t look so dominant, as No. 17 Florida (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) lost 38-10 to No. 2 Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) in front 90,888 in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
“We got beat by a better team,” Muschamp said. “We were inconsistent in stopping the run in the first half. They’ve got a good football team — we knew that going in. ... Richardson’s a really good back. We knew that going in. They’re a good football team, and you can’t afford to make mistakes.”
After Florida received the kickoff and took a 7-0 lead on a 65-yard completion from John Brantley to Andre Debose, Richardson and the Alabama offense took control. The 5-foot-11, 224-pound junior rattled off 35 yards on five carries on the Crimson Tide’s opening drive, then added 25 yards and a touchdown on the following series to tie the game at 10.
As poorly as the Gators played against the run, Florida showed the ability to compete early on. But, like last season’s 31-6 loss in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a turnover helped make the difference.
Courtney Upshaw’s 45-yard interception return of a Brantley second-quarter pass put the Crimson Tide ahead 17-10. Florida went three-and-out on its next two possessions, and Alabama added another score to make it 24-10.
Pushing to put points on the board before halftime, the Gators drove into the Crimson Tide red zone with less than a minute and a half to play.
But Brantley was sacked on consecutive plays, and Florida failed to score as Caleb Sturgis missed his first field goal attempt of the season from 52 yards out.
Brantley was injured on the second sack and had to be assisted to the locker room. He did not return, and freshman Jeff Driskel played the remainder of the game.
But even with Brantley, the Gators didn’t have much of a chance at stopping Alabama and Richardson. He ran through Gators defenders all evening, totaling a career-high 181 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. After the game, Florida defenders could do nothing but level praise Richardson’s way.
“He’s a tough running back, that’s why he’s a Heisman candidate,” defensive tackle Omar Hunter said. “Give him a lot of credit, he did a great job, him and his offensive line.”
Said linebacker Jelani Jenkins: “He’s definitely a back who we’re going to see at the next level.”
Defensive tackle Jaye Howard was also impressed, calling Richardson “a great player,” and saying, “it takes more than one person to bring him down.”
Leading up to the game, Muschamp and seemingly every player on the Florida defense talked about the importance of tackling. They talked about how impressive Richardson was with the ball in his hands.
Muschamp said, without question, the combination of Richardson and fellow running back Eddie Lacy would be the toughest test the Gators’ young defense had seen.
They were right.
“It was a matter of missed tackles,” defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd said. “We got to do a better job of wrapping up and swarming to the ball.”
Even when the defenders appeared to have Richardson wrapped up, which wasn’t often, the bruising back eluded their grasp.
Early in the fourth quarter of a two-score game, Howard was in the backfield in position to stop Richardson for a loss. But Richardson cut left, shaking the arm tackle from Howard, and galloped into the end zone to put the game out of reach at 31-10.
Alabama coach Nick Saban attributed the win and success of Richardson to the offensive line. An experienced unit returning four starters from a season ago, the Crimson Tide offensive line was in command from the start.
Seeing it first hand all night, Howard admitted as much afterward.
“The defensive line, we didn’t control the line of scrimmage,” Howard said. “There were times we looked good, and there were times when they ran right through us. We got to come back and correct that.”
As a team, the Crimson Tide racked up 226 yards on the ground — just 4 yards shy of the 230-yard average with which they entered the game, trailing only Florida for best in the conference.
But the Gators ran for just 15 yards in the second-worst loss at home in the last 30 years. Saturday’s 28-point loss is behind only the 36-7 defeat against LSU in 2002. Saban was the coach in both.
Alabama is now 8-2 in The Swamp — the best record of any SEC opponent.
“We put so much into this one,” Hunter said. “I really wanted it. I feel like I put everything in this offseason just for this game. ... To come up short is disappointing, but we’ll get through it.”
Contact Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
Alabama running back Trent Richardson (center) had a career-high 181 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the Crimson Tide’s 38-10 win against Florida on Saturday in The Swamp.
