Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It was a little tense for a while, but No. 23 Florida finally pulled away in the fourth quarter for the victory over Bowling Green in front of 84,704 at Florida Field.

The Gators (1-0) didn’t look crisp on offense and struggled at different times on the defensive line, but were just good enough to win their 23rd consecutive season opener. That’s the second-longest current streak in the nation, behind only Nebraska (27).

It was over when: Frankie Hammond caught a short pass from Jeff Driskel, shook a tackle from Bowling Green CB Cameron Truss, and went 50 yards for a touchdown to give the Gators a 24-14 lead with 13:18 remaining.

Game ball goes to: Florida RB Mike Gillislee proved he’s capable of being the Gators’ No. 1 tailback. The senior ran for 148 yards on 24 carries. He set career highs with 94 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the first half.

Stat of the game: Florida committed 10 penalties for 76 yards in the first half, but committed just four in the second half.

What it means: It appears that Driskel will be the Gators' starting quarterback moving forward. The sophomore played the entire first quarter and into the second and the entire second half. Driskel finished 10-of-16 for 114 yards and one touchdown. Jacoby Brissett played only in the second quarter and completed 3-of-5 passes for 31 yards.

Turning point: Florida CB Marcus Roberson intercepted a tipped pass at the UF 17-yard line early in the fourth quarter to stop the Falcons from scoring a potential go-ahead touchdown. Roberson returned the ball 31 yards, and three plays later Hammond broke free for his 50-yard TD.

Second guessing: Offensive coordinator Brent Pease made several questionable play calls in short-yardage situations. He had Driskel pull off a quick punt (which went only 15 yards) on fourth-and-6, called a rollout pass on fourth-and-1, and called another rollout pass on third-and-2. None of them worked.

What we learned about this team: The offense is still a work in progress, especially the passing game. The receivers did not consistently get open, and the quarterbacks missed wide-open throws, too. Now, things may have purposely been a little vanilla because of next week’s game against Texas A&M. The Gators didn’t show as many motions and shifts as expected. Still, there was no rhythm to the passing game.

Best call: Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson called a fake punt on fourth-and-5 from midfield, and P Brian Schmiedebusch ran to his right and gained 8 yards. The Falcons got an extra 15 because returner Andre Debose hit Schmiedebush out of bounds. RB Anthon Samuel scored on a 12-yard run three plays later to tie the game at 14-14 with 9:57 remaining in the third quarter.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- No. 23 Florida didn't look good early in the half against Bowling Green at Florida Field, but the Gators got better as the half went along.

Neither of the quarterbacks, however, did much, so it'll be interesting to see how the rotation will work in the second half.

Stat of the half: One of the things the Gators were supposed to have been working on throughout the offseason was being a more disciplined team. They need more work. UF committed 10 penalties for 76 yards, which included two personal fouls.

Player of the half: Florida RB Mike Gillislee ran for a career-high 94 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries, including a 38-yarder to put UF ahead 14-7 with 5:03 remaining.

What's working for Florida: After a slow start, the Gators' offensive line began to assert himself. Bowling Green was able to close down running lanes behind big defensive tackle Chris Jones on UF's first drive, but the Gators got much more movement on the second. That drive went 85 yards and all but 10 of them came on the ground. The Gators finished the half with 145 yards on the ground.

What's not working for Florida: The passing game doesn't look any better than it did under John Brantley last season. UF quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel (4-for-5, 27 yards) are still struggling with intermediate passes. Two of Driskel's four first-half completions were on wide-receiver screens and his one incompletion was because he threw behind a wide-open Quinton Dunbar. Brissett went 3-for-5 for 31 yards.

College Football Live’s Adnan Virk is joined by College Football analyst Robert Smith, who says Texas A&M moving player suspensions to a different date "sends a terrible message."

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- There have been a few things to balance for Texas A&M in the last couple of days.

Emotions are among them -- balancing the disappointment of missing the chance to open their season Thursday against Louisiana Tech with the surge of emotion that will build as the Aggies approach their new season opener and first Southeastern Conference game in program history against Florida on Sept. 8.

There was the transition of putting the Louisiana Tech game plan to bed and beginning to plan for the Gators, and the challenge of not overdoing it when it comes to the players' physical preparation with nine days available to focus on Florida.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It’s time to dip in to the GatorNation recruiting mailbag and answer your questions. Because of the number of questions we’ve received, we won’t be able to get to all of them today, but we encourage you to ask your questions on our Insider fan forum, The Chompions Club. Astute readers will also notice a new spot on our homepage where you can submit mailbag question about the football team at any time. We read every question we receive.

GatorT51: Do you think Mike Gillislee will be the featured back and get bulk of the carries against BG or do you think it will be by committee with Gillislee, Mack Brown, Matt Jones & Trey Burton getting an equal number of touches?

A: Gillislee will be the main back and I expect him to average about 15-18 carries per game this season. He had a fantastic spring and August and made his biggest improvement in pass protection. He’s had a nagging ankle injury the past two seasons but seems to be over that. Mack Brown and Matt Jones will get their share of carries against Bowling Green and the two will continue to battle throughout the season to be the No. 2 back behind Gillislee.

Impulse36: Haven't seen many Boise St. games, what is Pease's passing game like? Does he go with short passes, screens, throws that require timing? Does he usually throw it deep? From the spring practice, sounds like we play action into deep throws. The coaches (or possibly the reporters) tended to mention receivers getting behind the defense and catching deep passes. Are the QBs capable of making that quick three-step drop slant throw (pinpoint accuracy) or are they more suited for throwing deep (strong arm)? How much is expected of the QB at the line of scrimmage, is he expected to make hot reads, call out blitzes? Thanks!

A: Whew, long list of stuff. I’ll try and answer it all as succinctly as I can. Pease’s offense uses all of those things, and one of the things I’m eager to see is the screen game. UF hasn’t really been a good screen team, with the running backs, anyway, and I’ve always thought that was an area in which the Gators could excel. The problem the QBs are having right now, though, is in their timing. They’re both holding onto the ball too long, which is normal for any young quarterback. Jacoby Brissett seems to be having that trouble a bit more than Jeff Driskel because he doesn’t want to leave the pocket. There are some play-action deep throws, but I question the ability of the receivers to consistently get open.

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Ivan Maisel previews Florida with SEC blogger Edward Aschoff. They break down Florida's first SEC matchup of the season, as Texas A&M now plays host to the Gators to open its season after Hurricane Isaac postponed the Aggies' first game against Louisiana Tech.

Listen to the podcast

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin addressed several topics on Wednesday during the SEC coaches' teleconference.

• Among them were the suspensions of linebacker Steven Jenkins and safety Howard Matthews. Both were suspended for one game, as announced over the summer by Sumlin, for a violation of team rules. Early in fall training camp, Sumlin said the pair would be suspended for the first game. With the Aggies' season opener against Louisiana Tech, originally scheduled for Aug. 30, having been postponed to Oct. 13, Sumlin said both players will still serve their suspensions against Louisiana Tech.

"Steven Jenkins and Howard Matthews were suspended for the first game. As a matter of fact, last week, neither guy was involved in our preparation for Louisiana Tech and that'll remain the situation," Sumlin said. "As a matter of fact, Howard Matthews played scout team wide receiver last week. A lot of things have changed because of that since the storm and they will still be suspended for the Louisiana Tech game. That won't change."

• With the Aggies getting a tad more preparation time for their new season-opening opponent, Florida, Sumlin said he is managing how much the coaches work the players to guard against burning them out.

"I don't know that we do anything different," Sumlin said. "We'll have our basic schedule next week. The key to this deal is to prepare but not burn your guys out. We've had a discussion on that and how we're going to practice between now and game week next week. I think that's the challenge. The challenge was really (Tuesday) really kind of a letdown experience for our guys and getting them built back up today. Just like our coaching staff, when we turn on that Florida film, if you can't get excited in your preparation for that ... I'm sure when ... we turn that video on, they'll be excited."

• In regards to the news that the Aggies' series against Arkansas is returning to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, beginning in 2014, for an 11-year stretch, Sumlin said there are some benefits for the Aggies.

"To play in a venue like the one in Dallas, I think is very, very exciting to our players," Sumlin said. "To have the game in the state of Texas, I know being away from Kyle Field is disappointing to some of our fans, but if you're going to be away, it's hard to say that you can find a better place to play then the venue we're going to play in. And it guarantees us another venue in-state. And again, I think playing Arkansas in that type of venue and that type of atmosphere is only going to add more excitement to our schedule."

• Sumlin also talked about the fact that redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel will get his first collegiate snap against Florida next week. With Manziel's inexperience, he said mistakes are to be expected.

"As a first-year quarterback, there's going to be mistakes," Sumlin said. "Even as a third- or fourth-year quarterback you're going to make mistakes. I think that we try to simulate as many things as we can during practice. We try to keep the tempo high and the pressure on a little bit more ... . Whether it's next Saturday, when it's going to be or whether it was Thursday on national television on the road, both of those are different situations but both of them are difficult because it's the first start. So when you have an inexperienced player the only way for him to get experience is to play."

After spending two weeks preparing for a game that has now been postponed, Texas A&M has turned the page and its attention to Florida.

With the Aggies' new season opener scheduled for Sept. 8 at Kyle Field after the original opener against Louisiana Tech, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed to Oct. 13 because of Hurricane Isaac, they closed the book on the Bulldogs and began preparing on Wednesday for the Gators.

"Today we moved on, we moved on to Florida," Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said Wednesday during the SEC coaches' weekly teleconference. "And I think that obviously, our preparation has changed with the postponement of the game and the move of the game back to Oct. 13. So for our guys, it was kind of a bittersweet kind of situation. Guys were ready to play somebody else, they were down a little bit (Tuesday), but as we talked to them about where we are right now, finishing up our preparation for Louisiana Tech yesterday and really moving on to Florida. That's where our focus is right now."

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