5 biggest takeaways: Demarcus Robinson emerges as Gators’ top playmaker

In shocking fashion, the Florida Gators defeated the Kentucky Wildcats after three overtimes to open up their SEC schedule. No one saw this game being as close as it was, but the Wildcats impressed while the Gators definitely have question marks moving into their Week 4 matchup against Alabama.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Gators’ three-overtime victory over the Wildcats.

Jeff Driskel is still very inconsistent – At the end of the day, Driskel’s stat line doesn’t look to bad – 295 passing yards and three touchdowns. However, too many times throughout the game, Driskel looked lost. He (as well as the offensive line) struggled to pick up many of Kentucky’s blitz packages and the redshirt junior quarterback constantly stared down his receivers. Perhaps his worst moment came on his interception in the red zone in which the defensive line pressure forced him to make a quick decision, which resulted in a floating duck right to the Kentucky defensive back who returned it to midfield. On the other hand, Driskel made some clutch plays, especially on his last-ditch effort touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson to tie it up in the first overtime. He showed flashes of a strong arm tonight, but his inaccuracy downfield and his poor decision making at times leaves a lot of questions left to be answered about Driskel.

Demarcus Robinson is the real deal – Coming into Florida, Demarcus Robinson was expected to be the next great playmaker at wide receiver. It seems everyone was right, but it just took an additional year to come true. The sophomore wideout showcased all the skills necessary tonight to be considered one of the conference’s next great wide receivers. His speed and athleticism is exciting to watch, but if his 15 receptions, 216 receiving yards and two touchdowns certainly didn’t hurt that possibility either. It’s tough to see how Robinson tops this performance at any point this season, but he’s clearly the team’s No. 1 playmaker on the outside.

Florida continues to be undisciplined – Since Will Muschamp arrived at Florida in 2011, the Gators have either been dead last or second-to-last in penalties committed in the SEC. This season has once again gotten off to a rough start penalty-wise for the Gators as they committed another eight penalties throughout the game tonight. One in particular – a 15-yard facemask against Darius Cummings in the 2OT – negated a third-down stop for the Gators and gave UK a first down inside the Gators’ 15. Fortunately for the Gators, UK only got a field goal out of it, but if Florida wants to be considered a serious contender in the SEC this season, the penalties have got to be taken care of.

DJ Humphries absence had a big impact on Gators’ offensive line – Left tackle DJ Humphries is dealing with a high ankle sprain, so the junior lineman was forced to sit out of last night’s game against Kentucky. Sophomore Rod Johnson made his first collegiate start at right tackle, while senior Chaz Green slid over to left tackle to replace Humphries. While Johnson is a good talent in his own right, the absence of Humphries made a big difference. All night it was obvious the offensive line struggled with communication, failing to pick up several of Kentucky’s blitzes, especially the corner blitzes. Johnson often covered the wrong rusher, leaving guys like Bud Dupree and Jason Hatcher the room needed to put some serious pressure on Driskel. Humphries probably won’t be back until the Tennessee game in a few weeks, but the offensive line is clearly not as talented or as composed up front without him in the lineup.

Gators passed the test – As ugly as it was at times, there’s no denying that the Gators showed resilience last night. There’s no denying that Kentucky was the better team and they probably deserved to win the game, but give credit to the Gators for coming up big when they needed to and for pulling out the victory in the end. A win is win in the Gators’ eyes and they’ll need the momentum of a conference-opening win to carry into next week’s matchup against Alabama.

Drew Laing

Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.