Dan Mullen has faced increasing pressure this season from the Florida fan base about his handling of the defense and coordinator Todd Grantham, and also who starts and plays more at quarterback, between Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson.

At his Monday press conference, Mullen was asked if the fans care more than he does, and how that perception plays out from inside the building.

“I don’t think there’s anyone more motivated to win than me,” Mullen said. “I know the Gator fans everywhere will probably sit there, and everyone on this screen, ‘I want the Gators to win way more than he does.’ I don’t think that’s the case. The aspect of it, looking from the outside in, you sit there and say, ‘I’m the biggest fan, I want us to win more than anything else.’ I tell you what, the coaches, the players, the people within the program that put in the work every single day year round, want to win football games.”

Mullen said at different times, he’s always keeping perspective of where you are.

“Are we improving, are we worried about what we can control,” Mullen said. “I’ve had one undefeated season as a coach. We didn’t get to play for a national championship that year. I don’t know what else we could have done, but that’s outside, all you could control was what you could control.”

Mullen also cited the two national championship season when Florida lost games.

“You just put it in perspective, are we getting better, how are we getting better, are we excited to compete, we only have so many opportunities to compete each year,” Mullen said. “We work year round for 12 opportunities to compete, and if you do well in those 12, they give you 13, 14 maybe even 15 depending on how you do in those 12 opportunities. The motivation and the desire to go win each one of those is huge because you have so few opportunities to do it.”