Four Takeaways from Florida’s Win Over Texas
Florida saved its season Saturday in a 29-21 win over No. 9 Texas. The Gators played its most complete game all season, winning in all three facets of the game. Florida welcomed Texas back to The Swamp for the first time in 85 years and was able to secure its first win against the Longhorns in program history and first SEC win this season.
Coming off a bye week, there was a lot of doubt that Florida could actually pull off a win of this magnitude. But Gators coach Billy Napier said his team never lost faith even when adversity hit, which he commends the team for.
“Man, you’ve got to give these kids some credit. Nowadays in college athletics, maybe there’s a little bit of a black eye about the sport, what it can teach, what locker rooms are like, and I can only speak for ours. I’m not giving up on the team. That’s a football team,” Napier said postgame. “I’m humbled to be a part of it. For them to do what they’ve done over the last couple weeks is to be commended in today’s world. They didn’t blame anybody else. They took ownership, and they went back to work.”
Here are the biggest takeaways from Florida’s win over Texas.
Loading ...Balanced Offense
The health concerns at quarterback coming into the year meant Florida’s offense needed to run through its running backs, especially behind four returning starters on the offensive line. Another reason for that is the stable of backs they have: Jadan Baugh, Ja’Kobi Jackson, Duke Clark, KD Daniels and Treyaun Webb.
But for most of the season, people have criticized Napier’s offense for being too pass-heavy and the numbers backed it up. Entering Saturday, Florida ranked 107th in rushing and its best running back, Baugh, averaged 12 carries a game despite rushing it for nearly six yards a carry. The lack of run game affected the pass game, too, with no real rushing attack; the explosive plays that Florida prides itself on were not happening due to being one-dimensional offensively.
All that changed against Texas at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, where Florida controlled the line of scrimmage and ran wild against the Longhorns. Two backs down, Baugh stepped up in a big way with his best game of the year with27 carries for 107 yards and one touchdown. The 27 carries were more than Baugh’s LSU and Miami total carries combined (22).
“I’m going to give him a sponge bath tomorrow, I can tell you that,” Napier said postgame. ” No, you’ve got a player like that, you’ve got to give him his opportunities. This is our formula. When we’re playing at our best, the guys up front are ready to go.
“They’re mixing it up and we’re able to be physical, and there’s a cumulative effect to that, and we feed off of that. He’s a marquee back, and he deserves a number of carries each week.”
UF ran the ball 37 times for 159 yards, which allowed for the passing game to open up down the field. With the running game working, quarterback DJ Lagway had one of his best games as a Gator, throwing 21 of 28 for 298 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. More importantly, the explosive passing game returned in a big way — Florida had four passes of 20 yards or more, including passes of 55 and 60 yards.
Wilson’s historic debut
It was a historic night for wide receiver Dallas Wilson, who made his much-anticipated Gators debut Saturday. The 6-foot-3, 213-pound freshman from Tampa had been sidelined with a lower-body injury since August, which forced him to miss the first four games of the year. Despite all the missed time, Wilson’s confidence never wavered.
“I got banged up a little bit,” Wilson said. “But I just know if I kept being motivated and kept going, everything would be good.”
Wilson was a factor from the jump, hauling in two catches for 19 yards on UF’s opening drive. As the game went on, it became harder for Texas to stop him. In the second quarter, Wilson made a nice catch down the right sideline for 18 yards and followed it up a few plays later with a 13-yard touchdown — the first of his career.
But the play of the game came in the fourth quarter when Lagway found Wilson again down the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown pass that featured him tightroping the boundary and pulling defenders with him into the end zone.
“That was a crazy play, actually,” Wilson said. “I won off the line, off my release with the corner. Corner had fell to the floor. Lag(way) threw the ball up to me, caught it, and after that, I just let my talent take over. It was just boom from there.”
He finished the night with six catches for 111 yards and set the Florida records for most receptions in his first career start, most yards in his first career start and most touchdowns in his first career start. Wilson’s presence back in the lineup instantly makes Florida’s passing attack one of the better now in the conference.
“Yeah, he’s really unique – size, play strength, catch radius. And then I would say just his presence as a person. I think he’s got incredible energy,” Napier said during his Monday press conference. “You look forward to being around him, and he brings a competitive spirit to the practice field. It’s very evident he’s out there. He’s got good juice, and I think that rubs off on the other players.”
Swarming Defense
Not only did Florida’s offense have its best game of the season, but so did the defense. Not that the defense has been poor, far from it, but for most of the season, the Gators have been bending and not breaking. But Saturday, all that changed, as UF suffocated this Texas offense, making life miserable for Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
There is blitzing, and there is doing what Florida did, which was generating constant pressure all game. The unit came into this game with three sacks on the season and sacked Manning six times, along with seven tackles-for-loss, eight quarterback hurries, forced two turnovers, 52 yards rushing allowed (held the running backs to 15 total yards) while holding the Longhorns to 3 of 11 on third down.
While the whole unit played well, backup defensive lineman Brien Taylor Jr. really stepped up when his number was called with three total tackles (two solo), 1.5 sacks and two quarterback hurries. With so many pieces out on the defensive line, Napier was super impressed with the former junior college transfer.
“BT played the best game of his career for sure and stepped up in a major way. I mean, a guy that moved from the edge to inside, gained significant mass on that frame, went from being a 260 guy to 290 plus guy, and he’s got length and he’s got ability to rush,” Napier said. “So we needed the guy to step up. Joseph (Mbatchou) was out. His rep count went up, and he made the most of his opportunity.”
The only area the Gators struggled with was keeping Manning from leaving the pocket at times, which he took advantage of, including a 36-yard run. Florida will face another dual-threat quarterback again Saturday in Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, who gashed the Gators a season ago with 83 yards on the ground.
Hostile Environment
Earlier in the week, Napier challenged the Gators fanbase that had and still has reached its boiling point with the lack of success from this program to show up in a big way. Napier urged Gator Nation to conclude the tailgating earlier than usual to get in the stadium and make The Swamp as hostile an environment as its ever been.
“Look, this is a 3:30 kick. So this is one of those where we need people to kind of wrap the tailgate up and get in there early,” Napier said on Oct. 1. “Let’s get in there and be prime when that first kick is teed up. It’s going to be critical.”
Well, all 90,714 fans got the memo and made Ben Hill Griffin Stadium the place to be this past Saturday. Between the constant pressure Florida’s pass rush was getting and the pre-snap penalties, the noise level continued to climb. Texas has eight penalties, with six of them being false starts or delays of game.
Credit a fanbase that could have left this team in the dust after its 1-3 start to begin the year. That loyalty does not go unnoticed by the players or staff, either, who expressed their appreciation postgame.
“Pure loyalty,” cornerback Devin Moore said. “As players, we have pure gratitude, and Coach has pure gratitude for this fanbase, staying loyal, showing up, making The Swamp one of the hardest places to play in. That had a big effect on the game.”
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, SEC
