After a stellar performance last weekend against the LSU Tigers, Florida Gators Junior linebacker Vosean Joseph earned SEC defensive player of the week honors for week 6.

The Miami native recorded 14 tackles in the win, 3 1/2 tackles for a loss, along with 2 sacks against the Tigers. Joseph set career records in all three categories in the game last weekend, and was the standout performer on the Gators defense in their 27-19 win over LSU last weekend. This was Joseph's first multi-sack game of his career in Gainesville.

Through six games, Joseph is the Florida's leading tackler with 42, including 6.5 for losses. He has also recorded three sacks, two pass breakups, one quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery, which he returned for 20 yards. On the season Joseph is third in tackles for a loss and fourth in sacks for the Gators defense, which has been stout over the last few weeks with impressive wins over Tennessee, Mississippi State, and LSU.

Jospeh was also honored earlier this week, by being named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week on Sunday and presented by Generation UCAN. Joseph was the eighth Florida Gator to be named the Walter Camp National Player of the Week since 2004 and the first since Antonio Morrison did so in October of 2015.

The Gator hit the road this coming weekend to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. The game will broadcast at 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Gators enter that game with the No. 14 ranking in the AP Top25 and are a 10 point favorite on the road against Vanderbilt.

***Game Notes***

• Florida’s pass rush has picked up in recent weeks, and the added pressure has the Gators ranked tied for third nationally in total sacks (20.0) and tied for 11th in total tackles for loss (48.0) this season.

• In the last two games, Florida has 11 sacks and 19 TFLs.

• Florida is also one of four FBS teams (East Carolina, Miami, Oklahoma State) featuring three players--Vosean Joseph, Jachai Polite, Jabari Zuniga--with at least 6.5 tackles for loss this season.

• Adding in Chauncey Gardner-Johnson--who entered the year with 6.5 career tackles for loss--Florida has four players with at least six tackles for loss this year. No SEC team has more than two such players.

• UF has five-plus sacks in three games, matching the 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2015, and 2016 Gators for the most such games in a season since the start of 1998.

• Florida’s four games with eight-plus tackles for loss this season are also tied with the 2012 and 2014 Gators for the most such games since the start of 2012.

• Last Saturday, LSU entered the game allowing just 5.20 tackles for loss per game. Florida had seven at halftime, and finished with 11.

• Florida set its season high with six sacks at Mississippi State, which was its first six-sack performance in an SEC game since Sept. 19, 2015 at Kentucky.

• Florida is coming off its first win over a top-5 team since Oct. 3, 2015--when it beat No. 3 Ole Miss, 38-10.

• The Gators have won consecutive games against ranked opponents for the first time since 2012, when it beat No. 23 Tennessee (Sept. 15), No. 4 LSU (Oct. 6), and No. 9 South Carolina (Oct. 6).

• It was the first time since 2008 (won at No. 23 Florida State, beat No. 1 Alabama in SEC Championship Game) the Gators beat ranked teams in consecutive weeks.

• Florida appears to have the perfect man for the job of reviving its offense, though. Mississippi State ranked 42nd (420.4 yards per game) among FBS teams in total offense from 2009-17. The nine seasons before Mullen’s arrival, the Bulldogs were 114th (313.3 yards). • Mullen inherited the 114th-ranked total offense (276.0 yards per game) and 106th-ranked rushing offense (101.7) in Starkville, but Mississippi State finished the 2009 season ranked 69th in total offense (367.7) and 9th in rushing offense (224.58)--two huge upticks.