One-on-one: Kevin Sumlin lays it all out in lead-up to Florida

A&M's head coach breaks down Florida, game's meaning

Billy Liucci: Let’s flashback to a week ago … what was your message on Wednesday to this football team when they had that game taken from them, knowing you had the Florida Gators coming up 10 days down the road?

Kevin Sumlin: “I think it started on Tuesday. We didn’t find out until right before we went on the field for practice around four o’clock. I was depressed about it and went down to talk to the coaching staff who were already headed outside. We went ahead and went through our final preparation practice for Louisiana Tech.

“We told the team before we practiced, ‘Let’s practice our Thursday routine, get used to it and finish up our preparation.’ I think we set the stage again on Wednesday and said, ‘Hey look, we’re moving onto Florida now.’ That’s the best thing we could have done. Everyone was down about it, but we told them that we were going to move on ahead to Florida on Wednesday. I think our guys handled it very well.”

BL: There has been a lot of talk in the last week or so about Florida playing a game while you guys don’t. When you’re watching Florida on Saturday, do you kind of chuckle as well as you know Brent Pease? Did you feel like they held a lot back, or were they showing a lot to give you guys more to work on?

Sumlin: “I’ve known Brent for a long time. He’s a guy I have respect for, and the same goes for Will Muschamp. (Muschamp) is a guy who has been exotic in his schemes, a real pressure package defensive coach. Brent has been a guy who has shown a lot of shift trade motion, receivers in the backfield, tight ends … you name it.

“Those types of things are things you didn’t see a lot of on Saturday. That was a red flag for me, that they were being very vanilla and wanted to see their guys play. Will even said that in his press conference on Monday. They accomplished what they wanted. They wanted to go out and beat that team and be physical. That gives them some confidence, knowing that they won a game by lining up and being physical.

“They can draw some confidence from that in the fact that they didn’t show much and won a game. That’s a positive for them.”

BL: The big news out of Gainesville yesterday was the naming of Jeff Driskel as starting quarterback. Does that change your preparation at all, or does it keep everything the same? I know Driskel is a little more mobile, but they can both (Jacoby Brissett being the other) throw the football.

Sumlin: “It keeps everything the same. You come into a situation and, the first play of the game last Saturday, they had both of them on the field. You have to prepare for that. I think that they have shown the ability to play either one of them, no matter what. They are both athletic guys. Driskel is maybe a little more athletic, but they’re both athletic guys that from a preparation standpoint need to be prepared for.”

BL: Florida got physical last week and that’s kind of been their mantra throughout the offseason. I know I’m oversimplifying, but does it ring true to say that the team who wins the battle in the trenches on Saturday is likely to walk out as the winning football team?

Sumlin: “You would think so, but I think our message to our team is that if you watch not just Florida, but every SEC team, that is kind of their mantra. Every week is a fistfight in the trenches, so for us, that’s not going to change. In order to play in this league and be successful, no matter what style you play in, we have to be a physical football team upfront offensively and defensively.

“If you’re not, then that’s going to show over the course of the game. I think that’s going to be what we face week to week, and this week will be no different.

BL: When you look at the Gators on tape, what is it as a head coach that makes them as good as they are?

Sumlin: “Like I said before, they’re Florida. They have a tremendous amount of pride, they have won before, they have good players and always will and they have the ability to be in big time situations. Coming to Kyle Field, we might think it’s something they haven’t seen, but they have. They have had College GameDay more than any program and been involved in GameDay games more than any program in the country.

“Those guys understand playing in a big stadium. They have seen it and know what it looks like. We have to go out and execute, so for us, it’s going to be a challenge of us being in a new situation while these guys aren’t. How we handle adversity during a game is going to be really important.”

BL: You talk about their handling of adversity and you’ve talked a lot this offseason about finishing and playing both physically and mentally tough. All of these things are things you won’t know until Saturday evening.

Sumlin: “We can talk about it all we want, we can drill them, we can run them, we can do up-downs, but until a guy is in that position, you don’t know what you’re going to get out of him. Games are completely different than practices because of the intensity level, because of speed and because of what can happen. A mistake at practice means you can line up and do it again, but a mistake in a game, and the consequences can be catastrophic.

“How guys handle all of those things and the pressure that comes with it is part of playing. The only way to see that is to get guys in those situations, and that’s probably a negative of not playing in a game before now. Like I said, we have some young players on the field, but we also have some veteran players that are going to have to carry us early in this game.”

BL: You’ve spent a lot of time this week deflecting questions in regards to this game not being about you, but your team. From a human perspective here, how excited are you? You would like to ease into the schedule like a lot of teams around the country have done, but would you have it any other way then what you’re going to get on Saturday?

Sumlin: “We’ve been through it before, but we’re definitely excited about it. When you open with a conference opponent, particularly a top-25 team and a storied program like Florida, it’s a lot easier to get your team’s attention. The sense of urgency picks up. We learned that last year with UCLA. The difficulty is the emotion after the game. Win or lose, you have 11 more games.

“Nick Saban said it best last week before they opened with Michigan. When you’re opening with some other people, you have to get some guys motivated. All you have to do now is turn that video on, and guys begin to say, ‘Hey, I better get my act together because this is a serious deal. I’m playing against a real quality opponent.’ In a way, I think it has helped our preparation even after the real downer that happened last week.

“When they came in on Wednesday and we flipped that video on, and they saw guys flying around, it definitely got their attention. You turn on a little Florida versus LSU and guys kind of sit up and seem to understand the level this game will be played at. I think from that standpoint, it created a higher energy level based on the situation we went through last week, which I think helped us.”