FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Arriving at Friday's Orange Bowl practice, UF defensive coordinator Todd Grantham wondered where T.J. Slaton had gone.
A sizable chunk of the Gators' massive 358-pound seemingly had disappeared as his No. 56 jersey instead swallowed up 187-pound nickelback Kaiir Elam. Meanwhile, 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive tackle Adam Shuler was stuffed into the jersey of willowy pass rusher Mohamoud Diabate
Figuring out who was who was a head-spinning experience for the coaching staff, but all in good fun for the players.
"I'll be honest with you, that kind of jacks me up," Grantham said with a smile. "Because you're used to seeing this guy, hearing that number, and all of a sudden I see T.J. Slaton playing nickel, and I'm like ... it threw me off.
"I mean, I saw Mohamoud out there, and I'm like the dude is stretching his jersey out all of a sudden."
Staying loose and keeping things light has been a theme in South Florida for coach Dan Mullen's squad as it prepares to face Virgina at 8 Monday night in the Orange Bowl. At the same time, the No. 9 Gators (10-2) have been all business in order to finish off the 2019 season on the right note against the No. 24 Cavaliers (9-4).
UF is 14.5-point favorite against a Virginia team coming off a 45-point loss in the ACC title game to Clemson, which will look to defend its national title on Jan. 13 against LSU.
Cavaliers' offensive coordinator Robert Anae said the Gators' vaunted defense is on the same level as Clemson's formidable D.
"I think the ball bounces a few ways, those guys are in the playoff," Anae said.
But the Gators have made sure missing out on the four-team playoff semifinals did not diminish the stakes for the Orange Bowl.
Entering the offseason with momentum and off the school's first 11-win season since 2012 would give further fuel to a fast-rising program and set the bar even higher.
"Just knowing how much the program has been through the last two, three years and just with coaching changes, adversity, being 4-7, to now," senior tailback Lamical Perine said. "We've got a lot of guys that understand the program coming in, just knowing what Coach Mullen expects, having two 10-win seasons back-to-back, that's a big statement.
"More to come."
The Gators also are not getting ahead of themselves.
UF will face a team looking to make its own mark.
"The University of Virginia has one 10-win season in 130 years of football," Cavaliers coach Bronco Mendenhall said to conclude Sunday's press conference.
The Cavaliers also see Monday's game as a chance to move beyond an embarrassing effort against ACC standard-bearer Clemson.
"The bottom line is we did not play well and we did not put our best foot forward," Virginia defensive coordinator Nick Howell said. "When you watch that individually and collectively with the group and you see guys not playing, putting their best out there, that's hard to watch, and that's hard to live with."
Hard-fought losses to LSU and Georgia _ a pair of top-five teams _ stick with UF's players and coaches, too. Stumbling against Virginia, though, would be a bitter end to an otherwise exceptional season.
The Gators' level of the buy-in to the Orange Bowl reflects an attitude ingrained from Day One.
"I think it's the way we start the season, meaning that we have to develop competitive toughness, and you've got to be all in," Grantham said. "We're all creatures of habit, and if you develop those habitual traits and you have that mindset that I'm going to finish, well, then, as you go through the season, it's like anything, every week I've got to finish, I've got to compete.
"And then once you get to the end of the year, you've been doing it for 12 weeks. Now you have a reward."
Mullen makes sure his players enjoy the spoils of reaching a New Year's Six game.
But staying at a hotel with a rooftop pool on Miami Beach and receiving a swanky gift bag will be empty rewards unless the Gators leave South Florida with a win.
"The key to our team, the one thing is the focus while we're here, that we're here to win a football game, and then we're going to enjoy the time and the experience," Mullen said. "And as long as you have it in that order, you don't miss out on the preparation. Our guys, they understand that. They've taken advantage of it.
"I think they've had a lot of fun, and they've had a great week of preparation as well."
