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Florida Gators’ third-down defense continues to trend in the wrong direction
By Corey Long
Published:
Just from watching the games it was clear that Florida Gators defense has struggled at times to get off the field.
But the numbers paint a picture that’s much worse.
Florida’s third-down defense is dead last in the nation. It is 131st out of 131 teams.
Florida’s third down defense is the worst in the country and that’s not hyperbole pic.twitter.com/aurXr4HJBR
— Hail Florida Hail (@HailFloridaHail) October 16, 2022
The full list is at Team Rankings. Alabama and Missouri are among the best in the nation.
Florida’s allowing opponents to convert on 54.43% of third downs this year, .02 percentage points worse than Arizona State. The Gators are allowing opponents to convert on two-thirds of their third downs when they are on the road — 130th in the nation.
This is a far cry from last year when Florida yielded a 34.78 third-down conversion percentage under former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
Saturday night the Gators allowed LSU to convert on 8-of-12 third downs and gave up 528 yards in a 45-35 home loss.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
