Florida Gators 24, UCF Knights 13
Q. How do you explain the defensive effort tonight?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: I just feel like before the game started I just wanted to make an emphasis to the guys, you know, just make sure we had 11 hats to the ball every play, so like that was a big thing that we did and then in practice we did it too, so it's a good thing.
Q. Billy's crediting a lot of the energy that you guys generated during the bye week kind of carrying over tonight. Is that what you think it was? He also did say it was a pretty rough first month for you guys and you guys had kind of a chip on your shoulder a little bit.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Oh, yeah, no doubt. I really think the bye week was a time where we, those three practices, we really made some, like -- we changed some things, like got our mojo, I'll say, our mojo. We got some swag. We was running around, having some fun, we came out like okay, we all feel better. Just get ready to attack the next week.
Q. What can that do, that kind of game with all those -- what can that do for your confidence defensively as you were just saying there.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: What it did for me is like I was going into the bye week, I wanted to have a great emphasis on my pass rush and get off and stuff so I was just working on that and I made a couple plays in practice and I just seen it translate into the field on Saturday, so I feel like it was a big part for me.
Q. Was it a little bit difficult in a sense having a bye week after you guys gained some momentum in Starkville and couldn't immediately return to competition and try to build on that and had to sustain it throughout the entire next week in a sense?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: I say for me not really because I feel like I kind of needed that bye week because coming off the bye week, my body felt way better and just I guess I could say the same for all the other players. So we all took advantage of that bye week and got back healthy and ready to go for this week, so.
Q. In that Wednesday practice session, the competitiveness in it in the bye week, what stood out to you about that that maybe was different or had been missing throughout the past eight months?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: What stood out to me was like nobody cared about messing up. Everybody was just ready to fly around, do their job at a high level and nobody was thinking about making a mistake or holding their pin or anything. It was day (indiscernible) just having fun.
Q. Do you think being a little afraid of making mistakes was something that was holding this defense back a little bit was just playing a little bit -- not to say scared, but afraid to mess up in a sense.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: I can't speak for other guys and what's going on in their heads, but probably. I'll say I'm not sure what holds people back but I know that can be a factor, being afraid to make a mistake, like (deep inhale) they can't play like that, though.
Q. And George, just talk about -- they obviously came in, they have a really good -- one of the top rushing attacks in the country and you guys, you know, shut them down, especially after that first drive pretty well. Talk about what really worked for making that happen.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: We made a big emphasis of staying in your gap, just changing the line of scrimmage, so I feel like we just took that from the game plan and implemented that to the field and we got the result today. Everybody doing their job at a high level.
Q. A lot of the guys on this defense saw KJ last year. You didn't, but is there some where you relied on them a little bit to understand how to deal with him and what he provides?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Yeah, they gave me some insights on what happened last year, how we missed some plays and just making sure I got there and grab (indiscernible). Hold on. You're a bigger guy, so, probably bigger than me, so.
Q. George, what did you see on your sack? The play where you got the sack?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: What did I see?
Q. Yeah.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Which one?
Q. Can you just break down the play?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Which one? The first or second one?
Q. Second one.
(Laughter)
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Okay, so. Got off the ball -- yeah, look, I almost missed him. Sorry, almost missed him, but I got off the ball. I didn't expect to be that free so I started bending. I'm like oh, he missed him hurry up, hit the brakes come turn around. I think came my receiver days, quick breakdown, change the direction, got back there and made the play. Yeah.
Q. And then on the roughing or running into the kicker penalty, what did billy's emotion on the sideline do for y'all?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: I mean --
Q. Did you see it?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: I don't think I really seen it. We was all in our own little world, so.
Q. Did you hear about it?
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Spsh, no, I didn't hear about it. I didn't know what happened. I didn't know how we got it -- what was it? Defensive inter?
Q. It was a sideline warning.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: Sideline warning? Oh, wow.
Q. There was a flag on the field.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: A flag on Billy? There was a flag on Coach? I did not know that, no. (Laughter) Okay.
Q. How do you feel like as a defense you guys handled that, those back-to-back penalties and got off the field still.
GEORGE GUMBS JR.: We always got a next-play mentality. We can't just dwell on the past. We got to strap our boots back up and go back out there and make another stop.
MODERATOR: All right, George. We'll bring you to the side and bring Graham to the podium.
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