The Florida Gators dropped their third game in a row to the No. 24 ranked Auburn Tigers 17 – 6. In a game where defense was supposed to determine the outcome, (because both offenses were as good as a Pop Warner team) it turned out to be a football game decided by penalties and mental mistakes made on special teams by the Gators.

Florida’s first offensive series was a tough one to watch. I take that back, almost every offensive series for the Gators (and Auburn) was tough to watch. On the second play from scrimmage, Jacoby Brissett heaved a prayer into the air attempting to convert on the long ball. For one second I actually thought he had someone open and just maybe, maybe this would be reminiscent of the pass Andre Debose caught against Alabama. Unfortunately for the Gator Nation it was nothing of the sort. It was actually a horribly thrown ball that ended up being intercepted. This pretty much set the tone for the entire night.

Auburn’s first touchdown came from a fumbled punt by Chris Rainey. Although it was clear on the replays that Rainey was interfered with as he called for a fair catch, the referees missed the call and awarded the ball to Auburn. Three plays later, Auburn quarterback Barrett Trotter connected on a poorly thrown ball to DeAngelo Bennett for a 25 yard score.

From there nothing seemed to improve. The Gators shuffled in three quarterbacks all night. Jeff Driskel was in effective and scared. Jacoby Brissett couldn’t do anything. And Trey Burton in at quarterback gives the Gators a negative edge as everyone knows they are just going to run some sort of wildcat formation and not even attempt to throw the ball.

Overall, it was a horrible offensive performance and a pretty solid defensive performance. The Gators D held the Tigers to 123 yards passing and 155 yards rushing. Both scores for Auburn came off of two different errors that the Gators had on Special teams. One of them just happened to be that our punter forgot how to hold onto a ball when he punts it. Yes, the ball was snapped to him perfectly. He caught the ball perfectly. He had no one even around him trying to block the kick. And yes, he takes one step forward, getting ready to wind up and boot the ball, and he fumbles it in his hands. Picks it up, tries to hurry and kicks a wonderful 15-yard punt. It was simply fantastic. With things like this happening all night, it was just impossible to come away with a win even if the defense keeps you in the game the entire night.

I don’t think anyone ever thought we would be missing Brantley this much. But we do and we need him back now. It’s going to be a long season if we are stuck with rotating Driskel, Burton and Brissett.