Why 'middle eight' is focal point for Florida football heading into Kentucky game

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In analyzing how Florida football came up short against rival Georgia, interim coach Billy Gonzales centered on how UF closed the second quarter and opened the third quarter.

The "middle eight" as Gonzales called it, wound up being a 10-point swing that the Florida Gators were unable to overcome in an eventual 24-20 loss to the Bulldogs.

It's a point of emphasis that Gonzales and the rest of the Florida Gators will take into their next matchup on Nov. 8 at Kentucky (7:30 p.m., SEC Network).

"For us, that's what I look at," Gonzales said. "I look at getting the team better, and how can we get better? There's a bunch of individual plays, but if we start looking collectively on offense, defense and special teams together, how can we improve? I'm going to focus on that mentally."

With 2:34 left in the second quarter and the UF up 10-7 on UGA, Florida drove to its own 35-yard line before being forced to punt after two straight incompletions and a loss of 13 yards when quarterback DJ Lagway lost and recovered his own fumble on a run play. Florida then punted with 1:09 left and Georgia went 42 yards in seven plays, setting up a 39-yard field goal by Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring that tied the score at 10.

Then, Florida went three-and-out on offense to start the third quarter, and Georgia responded with a five-play, 74-yard TD drive on its opening second half drive, capped by a 22-yard TD pass from quarterback Gunner Stockton to wide receiver Noah Thomas in which safety Jordan Castell was beaten in coverage.

"It was a lot of shifts and motions, but I felt like that's a play I could've made to help the defense and eliminate points off the scoreboard," Castell said. "I take that play to the chin."

Can Florida football use technology better coming out of halftime?

A new college football rule in 2025 allows for tablets to be interconnected to other devices to project larger images. It's something that both UF and programs facing UF can use in an effort to make halftime adjustments.

"The players, they do a good job now that there's video access," Gonzales said. "We go in there and we'll talk about what plays we want to run, which plays the defense thinks they need to do to stop them."

For the season, Florida has had mixed results coming out of the half. UF was shut out in the second half against LSU and managed just three second half points at Texas A&M. The Gators were able to put together a TD drive in their first possession of the third quarter against Miami but were unable to sustain that momentum in an eventual 26-7 loss to the Hurricanes.

"We know we've got those things to correct," Florida football defensive lineman Tyreak Sapp said. "We are going to go in and look at the film and try to get them corrected."

Gonzales said he wants to maintain a level of aggressiveness on offense late in the second quarter rather than run clock, which is why UF called three straight pass plays before being forced to punt the ball away. He noted the second down incompletion from Lagway to receiver Tank Hawkins was close to being an explosive play.

"Just kind of looking at it, did we have the right calls? Absolutely," Gonzales said. "You're about a foot away from pass to Tank down the field. And again, with the right calls on defense, we just gotta execute at a high level."

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Middle eight an emphasis for Florida football heading into late season stretch

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