Florida 31, East Carolina 24: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Florida improves to 2-0 under McElwain with win over East Carolina, but it was anything but pretty.

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t as impressive as their debut win over the New Mexico State Aggies, but the Florida Gators were able to hang on to a 31-24 advantage to outlast the East Carolina Pirates in the Swamp on Saturday.

The Gators clinched the victory when ECU quarterback Blake Kemp fumbled the ball in the red zone with just a few ticks of on the clock remaining.

In a humbling week for the Southeastern Conference, Florida managed to avoid what would have been a cataclysmic upset in front of a home crowd of 88,034.

Here’s a look at ‘The Good, Bad, and the Ugly’ from the Gators’ Week 2 victory against East Carolina.

The Good

Florida showed some flashes of excellence — primarily on the offensive edges — in an otherwise inadequate outing.

Sophomore tight end DeAndre Goolsby (who averages 22 yards per catch) continued his dominance with three catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. On the outside, wide receivers Demarcus Robinson and Brandon Powell combined for eight receptions for 84 yards and a score. Three more Gators (Ahmad Fulwood, two catches for 15 yards; Kelvin Taylor and C’yontai Lewis each with a six-yard snag apiece) contributed to the aerial attack as well.

The quarterback query between redshirt freshman Will Grier and sophomore Treon Harris may still be ongoing, but the development of this relatively young receiving corps helps alleviate the pressure on both signal-callers.

On the other side, the defense — despite a lackluster performance — ultimately preserved the win for the Gators.

Arguably the second best corner in the conference (behind teammate All-American cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III, of course) Jalen Tabor essentially made the play of the contest with his third quarter pick-six. The interception and score proved to be the game-winner as East Carolina scored 10 points in the final period.

If nothing else, Florida at least found a way to win a close ball game — and they did so without some key players on both sides of the ball.

The Bad

The explanation for the Gators’ lackadaisical performance is twofold:

1) Florida’s offense still needs a lot of work, namely at the quarterback position.

Grier (10-of-17 for 151 yards, two touchdowns and an interception) led three scoring drives, but was careless with the football at times. Meanwhile, Harris (5-of-8 for 54 yards with 32 yards rushing) directed a scoring drive of his own, but was wildly inconsistent in his decision-making.

In addition, the Gators were inefficient on third down (4-of-13 attempts), the inexperienced offensive line was exposed and they squandered several scoring opportunities (two missed field goals and two red zone visits resulting in zero points).

Needless to say, Florida’s offense is far from a finished product.

2) The defense — particularly the secondaryin the absence of Hargreaves (leg injury) — struggled outside of Tabor’s INT.

The Gators gave up 346 yards through the air — 148 in the fourth quarter alone — to an East Carolina team starting its third-string quarterback. The secondary was excessively shredded on the Pirates’ final two drives of the game, allowing 106 yards and a score on 19 plays.

Florida will need to correct its defensive mishaps as it faces a similar dink-and-dunk passing attack in Kentucky this week.

The Ugly

Penalties — again.

Over the last decade (under three different personnel regimes, mind you), Florida has consistently been the most penalized team in the nation.

New coach Jim McElwain has iterated that he wants to change that culture by holding players accountable and demanding smarter play.

But after last Saturday’s meeting with East Carolina, it’s clear that McElwain still has a long way to go.

After posting just one penalty last week against New Mexico State, the Gators were flagged 12 times for a total of 105 yards against the Pirates.

None of these were bigger than Kelvin Taylor’s 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after scoring a seven-yard touchdown — which gave the Gators a 14-point lead with just under seven minutes left in the game. Taylor gave a throat-slash gesture, which resulted in a kickoff from the 20-yard line and an eventual ECU touchdown drive to keep the Pirates within striking distance.

Coach Mac wasn’t pleased.

In the postgame press conference, McElwain addressed his team’s negative plays, saying, “It’s not how it’s going to be around here. We got to learn it. It’s not the brand of football we’re going to play.”

The Gators are going to have to buy in to that ideology and play more disciplined football if they want to beat an improved Kentucky Wildcats team in Lexington this week.

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