Florida football is getting closer to playing the complementary football head coach Billy Napier has been striving for since he first took over as coach.
The Florida Gators (4-3, 2-2 SEC) scored 14 points off turnovers, established the run and generated big plays downfield in the pass game from freshman quarterback DJ Lagway in its 48-20 win over Kentucky at The Swamp on Saturday night.
Florida built a 27-13 halftime lead against the Wildcats and maintained it, helping Napier improve to 15-17 overall and 8-12 in the SEC during his UF coaching tenure.
“In this league, each part of your team is going to have to go blow for blow,” Florida football coach Billy Napier said. “Every matchup is different. There is certain spots on your team where maybe you’re at a disadvantage or certain parts of the team where you’re at an advantage.
“I thought we fed off each other at times tonight. That’s an important part.”
Here are three things Florida learned from its win over the Wildcats:
Florida football WR Elijhah Badger emerging as a consistent deep threat
Bager had three catches for 148 yards against the Wildcats on Saturday night. An Arizona State transfer, the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Badger made catches of 58, 50 and 40 yards to help set up three UF touchdowns. Badger appears to be developing a nice rapport with Lagway.
“Badger had an unbelievable day, some elite catches,” Napier said. “Finished one off there on third down. But just his ability to make the contested catch, the vertical threat, and then obviously DJ laid those in the basket.”
Florida football can establish the run against a tough front seven
Kentucky entered its matchup with Florida ranked third in the SEC in run defense, allowing just 89.3 yards per game. But even without starting running back Montrell Johnson Jr., the Gators had success on the ground, rushing for 197 yards on 4.5 yards per carry.
Freshman running back Jadan Baugh led the way for the Gators with 106 yards and 5 TDs. Lagway also showed off his dual-threat capability with 46 yards on 10 carries, while Ja’Kobi Jackson had 9 carries for 44 yards.
“It comes down to having a good plan, having a hat for a hat, and then got a ton of people this contribute to the run game,” Napier said. “Not just the offensive line. The tight ends, receivers, obviously the quarterback in the middle of that as well. If we’re going to be a contender we’re going to have to be really good up front on both sides.”
Florida football still has some work to do on special teams during the bye week
Florida has some strong performances in the kicking game against Kentucky with punter Jeremy Crawshaw averaging 50.8 yards on four punts and Trey Smack connecting on field goal attempts of 29 and 33 yards. But UF also surrendered a 99-yard kickoff return for a TD by wide receiver Barion Brown, which cut the Florida lead to 27-13 at halftime.
UF didn’t get much going from its return game as well after Chimere Dike stood out with punt returns of 27 and 30 yards the week before against Tennessee.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Three things Florida football learned from win over Kentucky
