Florida (3-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) can still very well win the SEC East and make it to the conference championship in Atlanta for the first time since 2009. They have four SEC matchups remaining on the schedule — all of which are against Eastern Division rivals. The first of those games is against Missouri (4-2, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday night in the Swamp at 7. Here are four points to watch out for when the Gators face their second set of Tigers in as many weeks.
1. Florida’s two-quarterback system: Coach Will Muschamp announced in his weekly Monday press conference that both Jeff Driskel and Treon Harris will receive playing time against Missouri on Saturday, with Driskel likely to get the start.
There is an old adage in the football world that goes "If you have two starting quarterbacks, you don’t have one."
In many cases, that tends to be true.
But offensive coordinator Kurt Roper has experience with a two-quarterback system.
In his last year as the offensive coordinator at Duke, Roper’s starting quarterback situation consisted of a combination of Anthony Boone and Brandon Connette. The duo totaled 3,472 passing yards and 26 touchdowns.
Connette worked as the main running quarterback, scoring 14 touchdowns on the ground in 2013.
Roper and Muschamp both said earlier in the season they would only resort to a dual-quarterback system this season if there was a purpose for it.
They didn’t feel that it was necessary through the first five games of the season.
Apparently it is now.
2. Mauk’s second game against the Gators: Florida learned Maty Mauk’s name early in its matchup against Missouri in 2013.
The then-redshirt freshman quarterback started his first career game against the Gators last season.
His first pass attempt — and the first play of the game — was a 41-yard pass to L’Damian Washington. One play later, Mauk found receiver Bud Sasser in the endzone for a touchdown just 27 seconds into the contest.
Mauk finished the game with 295 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception on a 50-percent completion rate. Four different receivers had at least three receptions and 52 yards.
In his first full year as a starter, Mauk has stayed relatively consistent, averaging 201.2 passing yards a game and totaling 14 touchdowns on the season, which is tied for third in the SEC.
Mauk experienced some growing pains as last weekend against Georgia — throwing four interceptions and tallying just 97 yards through the air.
But that just gives him more fuel to tear apart Florida’s secondary that’s given up eight passes of at least 30 yards this season.
3. Battle in the trenches: Both Florida and Missouri have defensive lines capable of forcing pressure on the opposing quarterback.
The Gators have tallied 10 sacks in the last two games after totaling just six through their first three games. Redshirt sophomore Alex McCalister leads Florida and is fifth in the SEC with four sacks — including three in the last three games — and Buck linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. has a team-high nine quarterback hurries.
On the opposite side of the line, Florida’s offensive line has limited its opponents to an average of one sack per game, which is tied for second in the conference and tied for 16th in the country.
But that number could change if Missouri’s pass rush continues the strong pace it’s created through the first half of the season.
The Tigers have 20 sacks through six games and are led in the pass rush by junior defensive end Shane Ray and senior Markus Golden, who have 11 of those sacks.
4. Moving the chains: After converting seven third downs in its win against Tennessee, Florida struggled to move the chains on Saturday against LSU.
The Gators converted just two of its 12 third-down attempts against the Tigers.
While Muschamp and Roper want to utilize the up-tempo offense that Roper was brought in to coach, that type of system is impossible to do when the offense can’t even stay on the field.
Luckily for Florida, Missouri is allowing opponents to convert on 37.5 percent of its third down attempts, so this could (read: should) be the time for Florida to find its rhythm on offense.
Jeff Driskel (6) reacts after rushing for a first down during Florida's 30-27 loss to LSU on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
