Florida football (4-2, 0-2 SEC) on Saturday (noon, ESPNU) will enter its homecoming matchup with Missouri riding high after beating Eastern Washington 52-17 on Sunday.
The Gators racked up 666 yards of offense in the win against the FCS school, with quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Jalen Kitna looking sharp. Richardson passed for 240 yards and 2 TDs while Kitna added 152 yards and 1 TD.
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Missouri gave No. 1 Georgia a scare on Saturday before falling 26-22 at home. The Tigers (2-3, 0-2 SEC), like the Gators, are looking for their first conference win,
“They have some weapons,” Florida defensive lineman Tyreek Sapp said. “They have some guys that can do some damage. We will take whatever steps are necessary to go out and play against this team.”
Here are three things the Gators learned after beating EWU on Sunday:
Florida protects its quarterbacks
The Gators did not allow a sack against EWU and gave up just three sacks in five games, second in the SEC behind Ole Miss.
It helps to have a mobile defender like Richardson to get out of foul trouble, but credit also goes to Florida’s offensive line, which consistently protects the pockets of its quarterbacks. Florida has been able to overcome an injury to Michael Tarquin Jr., who started at right tackle, and is developing depth at all positions on the offensive line.
“We have a saying in the O-line room, 5 equals 1,” Florida offensive lineman Richie Leonard IV said. “And our coaches preach to us, coach (Rob) Sale and coach (Darnell) Stapleton, you know, if six is one, play six. If seven equals one, seven will be played.”
The Gators have depth in the QB room
Richardson has managed to stay healthy through the first five games of this season, but it helps to know Kitna, a redshirt freshman, is developing well behind him.
According to Florida coach Billy Napier, Keetna has looked great, completing 66.7 percent of his passes, and has been making strides each week in practice.
“With the new coaching staff, they are developing a lot,” Kitna said. – They are huge, becoming one percent better every day. So that’s what I’m trying to do. Just fixing the little things in my throws, being a better game manager, knowing the situations and knowing the play inside and out, having that in the back of my head so we can focus on other things like defense and defense, getting those things right. So I’m just taking my game to the next level.”
With Jack Miller on the mend and close to returning from thumb surgery, Florida will likely have two backups with experience to turn to in the second half of the season should anything happen to Richardson.
The work of defense remains unfinished
Florida was slightly better on third down (8 of 18) and fourth down (1 of 4), but still allowed 411 total yards against EWU.
14 of EWU’s 17 points came in the fourth quarter, when many second- and third-stringers entered the game. Florida led by one, but missed a second chance when Sapp failed to pick up on a sack by teammate Princi Umanmillen.
“We’ll see that we could do some things better, leverage better, play with a little bit tighter coverage, a little bit better gap integrity at times,” Napier said. “But I think we still have a lot of work to do. I think all of our guys had a really good experience (on Sunday) and I think that will be helpful in the future.”