Florida Gators Getting Back to DBU Ways Ahead of Georgia Game

The Florida Gators's pass defense has look much stronger as of late, and the timing is even better

Longtime Gators fans are seeing the team play some familiar higher-caliber defense as of late / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

It’s been an impressive run for the Florida Gators passing defense during this recent three game stretch that has seen a radical shift in play compared to how they looked before their first bye week. 

It started with UCF. The Gators only surrendered 165 passing yards to the Knights and had one interception against opposing starting quarterback KJ Jefferson. He also completed just 55 percent of his passes. 

Next up were the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. The defense this time would be tested against a preseason Heisman hopeful in Nico Iamaleava. But that’s all he was, a preseason Heisman hopeful. Iamaleava struggled most of the night against the Gators defense, only completing 62 percent of his throws for just 169 yards and an interception.

Then, in the Gators last outing against the Kentucky Wildcats, the passing defense was suffocating. Wildcats’ starter Brock Vandagriff was just 12-for-26 for 165 yards, one passing touchdown and two interceptions. The Gators also terrorized their backup quarterback Cutter Boley, who was 0-for-6 on the night and a pick-six thrown. 

But the most impressive note from this game is that these three interceptions from the Gators defense matched its entire 2023-24 season total of interceptions (3). Pretty impressive for a defense that is considered bad. 

It gets even better though. The Gators are allowing just 166.3 passing yards a game over this span and have only given up one passing touchdown to five interceptions. That’s a very beautiful ratio. 

How does this compare to the first four games?  

In the first four games, opponents were averaging 236.8 passing yards per game. The passing defense also surrendered six passing touchdowns to only one interception. 

So, I don’t know what happened during that bye week, but whatever it was worked. It’s also good for the Gators that they are on another bye week before facing Georgia because if giving them a week off leads to another jump happening, then maybe they’ll have a chance against the daunting Bulldogs.