Tough Loss to Take for Gator Defense

The locker room Jon Bostic saw after Saturday’s loss to LSU was filled with pain. The frustration on the faces of every player told the story. One loss was bad enough, but to experience the hurt two weeks in a row was something they weren’t prepared for.

“Everybody is kind of down,” Jon Bostic said. “A lot of people were hurting. We don’t like to lose. That’s not a thing we do here.”

It wasn’t a locker room of pointing fingers. No one wanted to put fault other places because it was spread all around. Youth has been pointed to as a reason the team is struggling this season, but the players don’t want to hear that. The team knows their performance isn’t acceptable.

“We’re still young, but young isn’t an excuse now,” Bostic said. “We’re playing in the SEC, so young really can’t be an excuse.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on. There were a lot of mistakes today.”

The commitment to prepare hasn’t been a struggle from what Bostic has seen. They work every day on the practice field to improve on mistakes from the previous games. Film study remains an important part of each week.

The leadership isn’t an issue in Bostic’s mind. It just comes down to execution.

“I think our mindset is right where it needs to be,” Bostic said. “I just think everybody needs to go out there and no what they’re doing.”

The defense struggled with missed tackles all night, but Bostic viewed them as a key reason for LSU’s final drive to win the game. After missing only six tackles at Alabama last weekend, the defense regressed.

The Tigers broke through arm tackles to pick up critical third downs on multiple scoring drives.

The final scoring drive for the Tigers ended with a successful fade to Terrance Toliver over corner Jeremy Brown. The replay on the screen in the stadium showed that Toliver might have juggled the ball while trying to make the catch, but replay showed that not to be the case.

“I looked at the big screen, and I don’t know, but the refs made their call,” Bostic said. “I thought he was out and didn’t have possession of the ball (at first), but the refs made the call.”

Bostic now will make it his aim to help the team move on. Their focus turns to Mississippi State on Sunday, as former Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen will lead the Bulldogs to Gainesville.

“I know it’s hard on everybody, but we can’t pout on the loss,” Bostic said. “We’ve got to come back this week and get back to work. We’ve got to win out.”

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