Florida football motivated to finish strong after suffering second loss vs. Georgia

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In head coach Dan Mullen’s first season, the Florida Gators walked into Jacksonville, Florida, as a one-loss team and limped out with their second defeat and an inability to control their own destiny for the remainder of the 2018 season. The disappointment from that defeat stuck with the team, and Florida fell hard in a blowout loss to Missouri the following week. 

A similar situation has presented itself this season following the No. 10 Gators 24-17 defeat last week, but they are as motivated as ever not to allow the same thing to happen again. 

“I think you just, you revert back to your training, you know,” redshirt junior tight end Lucas Krull said earlier this week. “The other day, it’s the fire inside of each individual so you have to talk to yourself and say who are you as a person and a competitor. It’s all about your will to want to win, so that’s what I’ve seen in practice this week. Every guy has been out there, practicing pissed off, you know, we’re angry. It’s something that’s going to translate to a great finish.”

Florida has battled through a tough schedule up to this point, facing three top-10 teams. It managed the best it could, dominating Auburn but falling at LSU and against Georgia in Jacksonville.

The remaining schedule is a bit lighter. Vanderbilt (2-6, 1-4 SEC) is on deck Saturday afternoon. UF then travels to take on Missouri (5-3, 2-2 SEC), and following its third off week of the season, welcomes Florida State (4-5) with its head coach already seeking new employment.

Some might say there isn’t a lot left to play for now that the Gators have suffered their second loss, but that’s now how this team is built. The SEC East champion hasn’t been crowned yet, and a New Year’s Six bowl is still a possibility.

“You have such high expectations and you’re just so, so close to reaching a potential goal that you guys set at the beginning of the year,” Krull said. “Just something that when you don’t get it, it makes you, it fires you up and makes you want it more. A lot of teams can turn their heads down and be frustrated and quit on a season, and that’s not us.

“That’s not the Gator Standard, and that’s not how we work here. We’re just going to build right back up and get right back out there and every time we step on the field Saturday we expect to win. And we’re going to.”

Florida hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday at noon ET.