Florida’s Dan Mullen says the depleted Gators have chosen not to play the Cotton Bowl

Florida coach Dan Mullen said his team could have chosen not to play Wednesday night at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic based on the player’s availability but that he chose it anyway because the players wanted to compete.

After losing 55-20 blast to Oklahoma No. 6, Mullen said his depleted roster would have allowed the No. 7 players to skip the match.

“With the number of people who took part in the match, we were actually under numbers,” Mullen said. “We had the numbers for not playing.

Mullen added, “I give credit to our players … Our guys wanted to play in that match, and they wanted to have that experience and they wanted to be at that point.”

On Tuesday, Mullen estimated that he will have 60 players available for scholarships. This season the SEC has set a minimum of 53 scholarships for players to participate in the game, but teams can choose to play even if they don’t meet that number. There was also a minimum in three major locations: the quarterback (one), the defensive line (four) and the offensive line men (seven).

Mullen did not specify if the Gators were below the threshold at a particular site.

“I kind of watched – I don’t know, maybe that was a mistake – this wasn’t the 2020 soccer team I saw,” Mullen said of the Gators team who finished 4-8 after losing their last three games. “This wasn’t the 2020 football team I saw.” There were 25 players missing from The 2020 soccer team is there tonight. It was kind of a start for us for the future, and an opportunity for young people to play. “

Mullen added, “The last match the 2020 team played was 11 days ago [in the SEC championship]. “

Among the missing Gators were several entrees. The three largest wide receivers – Tony CadariusAnd the Tryphon Grimes And the Jacob Copeland – They all came out, and so was the star narrow end Kyle Bates. Grimes, Pitts, and Toney chose to exit the game as they prepared for the NFL ProjectCopeland was abroad as he tested positive for COVID-19. The Gators were also without four defensive players.

The missing pass hunters had a huge impact on the center Kyle Trask, Reached the Heisman Cup Final. The first player threw three interceptions at the highest level in the season and did not throw any relegation after entering the game with a score of 43 to his tally. His completion rate (57.1%) was also low during the season. Secondary midfielder Emory Jones He also saw plenty of time to play in the game, trying 16 passes and dashing 10 times for 60 yards and score.

Oklahoma (9-2) dominated Florida, finishing at 684 yards, including 435 yards. “We are going to be a team on a mission,” said Lincoln Reilly, the team’s coach, and “We wanted to make a statement about the way we played.”

Oklahoma Center Creed Humphrey He said, “We saw [Gators’] pulling out. We didn’t really care who was going to choose and who would stay for this game. We were ready to walk around and go out to play with it anyway, no matter who it was. We are just happy that they showed up and gave us a chance to play. “

The Sunners also said they were aware of the comments made by Florida midfielder James Houston last week, citing Oklahoma as a “good game” but “not on our level.” Oklahoma is a spacious receptionist Marvin Memms “It definitely lit a fire a little,” he said, quickly quarterback Spencer Rattler He tweeted after the match, “It was a good game.”

Rattler later said, “I would be lying if I said we don’t see what our opponent has said.” “We went there and did the job, we did, we focused on what we had to do as a group and we were on top.”