2023 Florida Football Postgame Notes
Kentucky 33, No. 22 Florida 14
Kroger Field – Lexington, Ky.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
- By finishing with an 83.0% completion percentage, QB Graham Mertz became the first Florida
quarterback in the last 20 seasons with five-straight games completing 70% of his passes or more.
o Mertz accomplished this feat in his first five career starts as a Gator (70.5%, 82.4%, 79.2%,
87.5%, 83.0%).
o Mertz leads the SEC and ranks third nationally with a 79.1% completion rate. - Mertz finished with a 167.0 passer rating at Kentucky – his fourth-straight game over 150.0 and his
third of the season at 165.0 or better. - After starting 0-for-3 passing, Mertz completed 22-of-27 passes (81.5%) for 244 yards and two
touchdowns. - Mertz threw his first interception in 95 pass attempts – since Week 1 at No. 14 Utah – on a deflected
pass to WR Arlis Boardingham in the first quarter. - Mertz finished the first half completing 10-of-12 passes for 108 yards and one touchdown.
- Mertz has thrown a touchdown pass in 20 of his last 23 games.
- TE Hayden Hansen made his first-career start and put Florida on the board with his first-career
touchdown reception on his second-ever catch. - RB Montrell Johnson Jr. led the receiving corps with a career-high six receptions.
- RB Trevor Etienne posted a career-high 38 yards receiving while his four catches tied his career
high. - WR Kahleil Jackson set career highs with three receptions and 41 yards receiving.
- WR Ricky Pearsall recorded a reception in his 33rd-consecutive game, tied for the eighth-longest
streak in the FBS. - Pearsall finished with a team-high 62 yards receiving on three catches and one touchdown.
- Freshman WR Andy Jean caught four passes for 33 yards to set new personal bests in his young
career (previously had just one catch for 62 yards across two games). - The Gators were held under 100 yards rushing for just the fourth time in 18 games under HC Billy
Napier.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
● In year one under DC Austin Armstrong, Florida has allowed just 275.6 yards per game.
o Through five games last year, Florida had allowed 421.0 yards per game.
o UF came in ranking first in the SEC, fourth in the P5 and fifth in the FBS in total defense.
● The Gators have limited teams to 17.4 points per game (t-18th in FBS), an 11.5-point improvement
from last season (28.9).
● Florida is allowing just 144.0 passing yards per game.
o Entering the game, Florida ranked 15th in the FBS, eighth in the P5 and first in the SEC.
● Florida allowed more than 24 points for the first time this season.
● Florida held its opponent to under 200 passing yards for the eighth time in the Napier era including
the fourth time this season.
● Florida limited Kentucky to 36 passing yards in the first half.
o This was the Gators’ fourth-straight game limiting its opponent to under 100 passing yards in
the first half (216 first half passing yards in that span).
o Florida has surrendered just 375 first half passing yards this season (75.0 per half).
● LB Mannie Nunnery made his first start as a Gator (transferred from Houston).
● Despite trailing 23-7 at the half, Florida won the time of possession battle (17:02-12:58) and ran
more plays (32-30) than Kentucky across the first two quarters.
o Florida ultimately prevailed in both categories (31:14-28:46 / 59-56) by game’s end.
● LB Shemar James paced the Orange & Blue in tackles (eight) for the third time this season and also
notched one tackle for loss.
● DB Miguel Mitchell notched a career-high five tackles.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
● P Jeremy Crawshaw unleashed a 60-yard punt on his 100th-career attempt (his first of the game).
o With the punt, Crawshaw has produced a 60-yarder in each of the last three seasons.
● Crawshaw punted five times for an average of 53.8 yards including a long punt of 61 yards, four 50-
plus yard kicks and one inside the opposing 20-yard-line.
o Crawshaw has now punted for 50-plus yards on 42 of 104 career punts while placing 40
inside the opposing 20-yard line.
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS (5)
● Ricky Pearsall (from Graham Mertz): 20-yard reception, second quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 16-yard rush, second quarter
● Caleb Douglas (from Mertz): 34-yard reception, second quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 14-yard rush, third quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 33-yard touchdown reception, third quarter
SERIES UPDATES
● Tonight’s game represented the 74th all-time meeting between Florida and Kentucky including the
34th matchup in Lexington.
● With tonight’s victory, the Gators fall to 53-21 (.716) in the all-time series vs. Kentucky and 23-11 (.647)
in Lexington, having now lost three-straight games against the Wildcats.
● Despite the loss, Florida is 33-4 in its last 37 games against Kentucky and 16-2 in the last 18 matchups
in Lexington.
- HC Billy Napier falls to 0-2 against Kentucky HC Mark Stoops in their second meeting as head
coaches.
THE STREAK
● Florida has scored in 441-consecutive games — which is an NCAA record and 54 games longer
than any other college football team in history.
o The last time Florida was shut out was on Oct. 29, 1988 vs. Auburn (L, 16-0).
GAME DETAILS
● Florida Game Captains: #88 Caleb Banks, #65 Kingsley Eguakun, #15 Graham Mertz, #15 Derek
Wingo
● Coin Toss: Kentucky won the toss and deferred; Florida received and defended the east end zone.
● Attendance: 61,699
2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach
Kentucky 33, No. 22 Florida 14
September 30, 2023
Opening statement…
“Not a lot of positive to talk about today. Hats off to Kentucky and Coach Stoops. They were ready
to play. They flat-out beat us. They were the more physical team. They controlled the line of
scrimmage, the edges of the formations. They protected their quarterback. We did not win the line of
scrimmage or the edges, and they effected our quarterback. We had a handful of penalties
obviously, that were a factor. The early turnover was a factor. And then just fundamentally, very
disappointed in our team. I told the players, I know one way to do this and that is to take complete
ownership of it. I think for me, personally, as a leader, I have to do a better job for our team. In all
ways. Ultimately, that’s my job. Is to have our football team ready to play. And I’m going to take
ownership of that, because I know what we’re capable of. I do believe that we had a good week. I
do believe that we were in the right frame of mind. But when the ball got put down, we didn’t
execute. We weren’t physically ready and certainly, the way the game went early, it got out of
hand. We did our best to try to fight and get back in it, but hats off to Kentucky. All parts of the
game, they were more effective. I haven’t looked at the stat sheet yet, but I imagine that’s exactly
what it says. Kentucky deserved to win today. The Gators did not. That’s my responsibility. I think we’ll
be able to evaluate things technically a little bit more and talk with you on Monday, but overall,
we’ve got work to do to improve. One thing I do really believe in, is I believe in that group of kinds in
there. I think they want to have success. I think they’ve done a lot of quality work. And I do think that
these types of experiences present opportunity, and I’m very hopeful there will be some good things
to come of this. But, we’ve got to take a good look in the mirror from an overall operation here and
do a better job for the players. I’m sure the players will see things that they can do better as well.”
On whether the team was ready to play…
“I do think that we had a good week. I think that they beat us up pretty good. Anytime a team rushes
for 300-plus and they hold you to under 100, ultimately, that’s where the game was won today. Line
of scrimmage, edges, tackling, fundamentals, we misfit some runs, and then we were unable to do
that on offense.”
On the special teams penalty turning a three-and-out into a 75-yard touchdown…
“It’s disappointing, because we had a similar situation in last week’s game. We covered it thoroughly
throughout the week. We actually sent a play in from last week’s game to the SEC, talked about the
exact rule, how it’s interpreted, showed the clip in the meeting. I think we just got a young player out
there who made a poor decision, and he knows he made a mistake. I do think that that was a
pivotal moment in the game. I think you’re spot on. It’s still a close game. We’re off the field. We’re
going to get it at midfield. We’re going to get it on the short field for probably the first time the whole
day. And then we put them back out there and they ended up getting a touchdown off that
possession. So, no question. 100 percent a huge play in the game.”
On whether the team’s physicality compared to Kentucky…
“Anybody that knows me, knows that that game right there is going to be hard on me. Just in terms of
who I want to be. The brand of football that I want to play. So, I think you’re exactly right. And look, I
respect it. I respect it. I think you’re spot on.”
On whether the players got gassed early…
“No, I think it will be very fundamental. I think we understand exactly what happened. We’ve got to
strike blockers. We’ve got to play with better eye discipline. We’ve got to fit our gaps. And when
given an opportunity, we need to get the runner on the ground. There were numerous times
throughout the day where we did not do that. We played better defense, much like I have told you
before, the challenges are ahead. Today is a good example of that. Good slice of humble pie.
Ultimately, we’ve got to play with better urgency. We’ve got to strike blockers, we’ve got to fit runs
and when given an opportunity, we got to get the runner on the ground. 300-plus on the ground.
That’s not who we are. That’s not who we want to be. We’re going to get it fixed.”
On the pace of play in the fourth…
“The sack was a big play. We’re kind of getting it on a long field. We get a first down, then we get it
out there kind of into 20-30 range, and then it’s P-and-10 play, seven-man protection, and we give us
a sack. And really, the challenging thing about that is, from an analytics standpoint, it was a go-for-it,
all-go situation, so the last thing you want to do is have a negative play. So, you’re spot on. It’s a two-
score game for a lot of the second half to some degree. I think once the game became about time,
we played with more tempo and urgency, but I think it was three scores at that point.”
On the offensive play calling…
“I remember them all. I think between possessions, we know what happened. I think sometimes,
you’ve got to remain objective. No different than how we evaluate everything we do. What caused
the issues in the game? Sometimes it may be design. Sometimes it’s communication. Sometimes it’s
undisciplined penalties. Sometimes it’s fundamentals and techniques. I think there’s lots of things that
contribute when you don’t have success in this game. We’ve got a great group of people that work
hard to do that and we certainly weren’t good enough today.”
2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Student-Athletes
Kentucky 33, No. 22 Florida 14
September 30, 2023
15 Graham Mertz, Redshirt Junior, Quarterback
On his reaction to the game …
“I think it’s never fun to lose a game. I’m frustrated. I think I could’ve been a lot better for this team
today. I don’t think I played close to my best game. Personally, frustrated and it’s more on a front of, I
could’ve done my job better for everyone in that locker room. Definitely frustrated but there is only
one right way to go after a game like that and it’s how do we move forward. There’s two different
ways to go and there’s one you never want to go down. There’s one route I’m going down, I’m
going down full force.”
On Kentucky playing the style Florida wants to play…
“I think in total, we look at the Utah game and this game and the word has been execution and it
always will be. I think we had a great plan on both sides going in and that’s where I am going to put
this on: the players. We have to be better. We can’t have penalties, we can’t have pre-snap
penalties. We have a great plan. We have to be better for each other and we have to come
together every single day and work for that. Because, flat-out, we have seen what it is like to not
execute and the outcome that leads to it. And it doesn’t feel good, it shouldn’t feel good for
anybody, but like I said earlier, you take that and you move forward with it. We are still only in Week
- We have a long road to go and got a lot of games left. The emphasis on player-led execution on
the plan that we were provided.”
On offensive line play…
“That’s where I said it’s on me. I can be better in protection. I can watch more protection cut-ups,
get us in the right mic point, the right slide. There are so many different things that go into that. They
fight like crazy every single play. I owe it to them to get them in the right call and be their extra
eyeballs that’s always checking. I think today, they did some good things up-front and different
pressures. So, I think in total, when I go back and watch the film I am going to see that I could’ve
done a better job in protection, giving them alert calls and getting them ready for looks that are
coming.”
What is your process after a tough loss…
“I think you got to you got to go through it, and that’s an experience thing. I was just telling the guys
in the locker room that I’ve been on a team that’s been 1-4 to start the season, we ended 9-4. There
is always, and I said it earlier, there’s to ways to go with this thing. I’ve been through it, I’ve seen it live
go both ways. So, I think I can bank on my experience and make sure it goes the right way. The
character of the guys in that locker room, the character of the coaches and support staff we have,
there’s only one we are going to go. Right now, yeah there’s frustration, there’s a bunch of we
could’ve done better for each other that we are going to have on the whole flight back and then
we are going to watch the film and it’s all about our approach next week.”
6 Shemar James, Sophomore, Inside Linebacker
On Ray Davis’ performance…
“It came down to being gap sound. Guys were jumping out of their gaps, not tackling very well. With
a back like that, you miss a tackle and it’s ten more yards, 15 more yards, 20 more yards. It just came
down to execution. We were just shooting ourselves in the foot, not wrapping up, not tackling,
getting him to the ground.”
On stopping the run…
“I think the early morning game played a factor in it, to be honest with you guys. We came out very
flat defensively. We kind of got to get together in the second half. You have to start fast and finish
fast in order to win in the SEC.”
On the defense’s physicality…
“To play on defense, you are the aggressor in that situation. It kind of hurts me to my heart and hurts
the guys that I play behind and in front of to know that I guess you could say out-physical today by
Kentucky in the front seven. We’ll get that right next week.”
On the special teams penalty…
“That was just, football is football. Unfortunate things will happen throughout the game, and it was
just us as a defense to get back on the field and get another stop, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t do
that. I feel like that’s up to me and my other linebacker to just get on defense ready and have them
ready at all times.”
