Florida rebounded from a disappointing opening week game by putting the Miami game in the rearview mirror and focusing on getting better at execution and focus. The Miami loss attracted "noise in the system" and necessitated that Billy Napier and staff make keeping the players' focus on the things they can impact instead of social media a priority. While the week two win over Samford wasn't pristine, it was certainly a welcome improvement and snapped a six game Gator losing streak.

The last time Florida faced Samford (2021), the Gators had to overcome a 42-28 deficit late in the first half en route to a 70-52 win. This year's Gators managed the game much more effectively and scored the first 21 points of the game before cruising to a 45-7 win. The headline for Florida fans was DJ Lagway's record setting performance in his first start as a Gator. His stat line read; 18-25 for 456 yards and 3 touchdown passes. A great day, for sure. DJ's arm talent was every bit as good as advertised. He showed off his quick release, arm strength, and soft touch. He spread the ball around to 8 different receivers and had completions that went for 85, 77, 44, 41, 40, and 36 yards. Florida also ran the ball pretty well with 7 ball carriers combining for 169 yards on 34 carries (4.9 per carry). Montrell Johnson is the bell cow for good reason, but both Tre Webb and (especially) Jadan Baugh flexed their skill sets. For the Gator offense, no sacks, one turnover, and only one negative yardage play. 

There were a few areas for improvement, offensively, in the Samford game. Lagway slid too early on a couple of runs leaving very short third and/or fourth down plays the Gators ultimately failed to convert. Florida also had a couple of wasted timeouts and several illegal procedure penalties. Things to be cleaned up moving forward.

Florida performed better defensively than it may have seemed in real time. Samford ran a quick-paced offense that made it feel like the Gators were scrambling around, at times. On a few drives, they gave up some yards, but made critical stops outside of field goal range. Once they found their footing, the Florida defense was solid. Other than one long Samford scoring drive in the third quarter and one long non-scoring drive in the first half, the Gator defense was off the field in 6 or less plays the rest of the day. Florida defended 69 plays and gave up just 205 total yards (3 yards per play). The numbers were especially good when you note that the Gators played without 4 defenders (3 DBs) that started the Miami game. Tackling was solid again this week and included 12 tackles for loss. The number of defensive penalties was really low.

Special teams were a bright spot again this week. The Gators converted every field goal and PAT attempt and covered every punt (+49.5) and kickoff (+62.5) well. Chimere Dike had a nice (31 yards) punt return for the Gators. Special team players were on and off the field with no signs of confusion.

Texas A&M, this week, provides an opportunity for Florida to take a step forward. There won't be a large number of games on this year's schedule where Florida will be less than a 3 point underdog, but this is one of them. The Aggies are much more talented than Samford and depth for Florida's defense will be an issue, but being at home should help Florida.