After humbling loss, No. 16 Florida and coach Jon Sumrall try to move on and get set for Gamecocks

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Jon Sumrall received an unexpected text from his best player a day after a humbling loss at Missouri.

Running back Jadan Baugh’s message: “Coach, I’m sorry. I won’t let that ever happen again.”

Nearly everyone on Florida’s roster could have sent the same note. The Gators were beaten in every phase in a 45-17 loss that dropped them to No. 16 in the latest AP Top 25 college football poll.

Sumrall’s message this week: pick up and move on.

“Adversity reveals more about who you are and your character than success,” Sumrall said. “Anybody can have the right attitude when things are going well.”

The Gators (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) host South Carolina (2-3, 0-3) on Saturday with an eye on fixing galling issues on both sides of the ball.

Baugh, who entered the game second in the nation in rushing and first in scoring, ran 12 times for 13 yards behind a line that was mostly manhandled by the Tigers. Quarterback Aaron Philo was slightly more effective, but he also missed a wide-open receiver for a touchdown early in the game.

The Gators also played without leading receiver Vernell Brown III (knee) and got little help from fellow injured wideouts Eric Singleton Jr. (ankle) and Bailey Stockton (back).

The result: Florida faced nine third downs in which they needed 10 or more yards to move the chains. They converted two of them.

“We were off schedule all day, and that makes it hard for any offensive line,” said offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, whose unit averaged 53.5 points a game through the first four weeks of the season. “We’ve just got to be better in all facets.”

Defense could use the biggest boost.

Florida hasn’t been even remotely consistent through five games, and problems that plagued the defense at times showed up from start to finish against Mizzou: a lack of pass rush and woeful secondary play.

“Definitely a humbling experience,” defensive tackle Brendan Bett said. “People kind of got a little complacent. In my opinion, I’m kind of glad it happened because we got to see where our true weaknesses were."

The Gators allowed 560 yards of offense, with 235 of those coming on four plays.

“You can’t live in this world, but if you take those four out, you’re looking at it going, ‘All right, we played pretty good defense,’” Sumrall said. “But we got four freaking plays. … We can’t give those up. We have to make people earn it.”

Cornerbacks Cormani McClain, the No. 1 high school prospect in 2023, and Ben Hanks III, a four-star recruit, have been burned repeatedly. They got away with it in wins against Auburn and Ole Miss, but they had nowhere to hide against Missouri.

Defensive coordinator Brad White said “everything’s up for adjustment” in practice this week, including potential scheme and personnel changes.

“If we want to get anywhere close to where we want to get to, when the ball’s in the air, there has to be more of a dog mentality,” White said. “There’s too much survival mode right now and not enough hunting. We need to hunt.

“Again, that’s just words. Guys have to play confident again. I believe in everybody in that room. Like I told him, I would much rather you go down freaking swinging and straining and playing hard than playing soft and playing like a coward.”

Players insist things will look different against the Gamecocks, who have lost three in a row this season and eight consecutive league games. Sumrall is counting on it, too.

“I don’t like losing. I actually hate losing more than I like winning,” Sumrall said. “There’s a lot to learn from every scenario you go through. And when you lose a game, I think it forces everybody to take more direct accountability to what we’re doing."

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