Gators chomp Owls 41-3 in Muschamp’s debut

By Adam Silverstein
September 3, 2011

No one really doubted that the No. 22/23 Florida Gators would take down the Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday evening at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL. The question was how Florida’s offense and entire team would look in its first game since former head coach Urban Meyer resigned.

Will Muschamp’s new squad got off to a quick start, overwhelming Florida Atlantic on both sides of the ball and eventually capturing a 41-3 victory.

The Gators started out with an explosive kickoff return for a touchdown by senior running back Jeff Demps; unfortunately it was called back due to a holding penalty and the team had to start from scratch. They subsequently drove the ball down the field, but a snap over the head of redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley eliminated some of their gains and forced redshirt junior kicker Caleb Sturgis to kick a 51-yard field goal, which he made.

After forcing a three-and-out, Florida completed a 12-play, 67-yard drive that ended with Brantley tossing a 14-yard swing pass to redshirt senior RB Chris Rainey for his first of three touchdowns Saturday.

The Owls did not run more than three plays in a series in their first four possessions, allowing the Gators to get the ball back quickly and put more points on the board. A 35-yard run by Demps on the first play of the second quarter resulted in Florida’s second touchdown of the game, and a thrilling 14-yard touchdown run including a dynamic spin move by Rainey capped a nine-play, 91-yard drive.

UF’s victory was not without a few mistakes. Freshman QB Jeff Driskel, inserted late in the second quarter for Brantley, sailed a ball for an interception on his first career pass. FAU drove the ball inside the five but was pushed back and settled for a 27-yard field goal. On the Gators’ subsequent possession, Brantley had a pass tipped for a pick but Florida Atlantic missed a 34-yard attempt and the half ended with Florida leading 24-3.

[EXPAND Click to expand and read the second half of OGGOA’s game story.]Putting a drive together to start the third quarter, the Owls got four first downs but were forced to punt at midfield. Sophomore wide receiver Solomon Patton was able to block the attempt, and Rainey picked it up, returning it all the way for the touchdown. With the score, he became just the third player in the country since 1996 to notch a rushing, receiving and return touchdown in the same game.

Again threatening to score late in the third quarter, the Gators failed to do so after committing their third turnover of the evening. Brantley – via multiple completions to Demps and Rainey and a few stellar rushes by the same two players – drove Florida from their 14 to FAU’s six. However, on first and goal, he was picked off in the back of end zone trying to fit the ball into traffic.

Forcing a punt to start the fourth, the Gators began taking it to the Owls again. Brantley’s 17-yard pass on third-and-seven to redshirt senior WR Deonte Thompson kept the drive alive, and Demps’s 20-yard rushing touchdown completed Florida’s 78-yard series.

Eleven total players caught passes from Brantley and Driskel, the latter of whom returned late in the fourth quarter and led the team on a 10-play, 52-yard drive capped by a 29-yard field goal by Sturgis.

Demps and Rainey were dominant all game, combining for 272 yards of offense and five total touchdowns. Brantley finished 21/30 for 229 yards and one touchdown, but his two interceptions – including one negating a scoring opportunity – will certainly be a concern for offensive coordinator Charlie Weis heading into preparations for next week.

The Gators posted 468 yards of offense Saturday compared to only 137 from the Owls. (UF outgained FAU 264-62 in the first half alone.)

The announced attendance of 88,708 broke the University of Florida’s 137-game sellout streak, but Florida did win their 22nd straight season opener.

Florida Atlantic head coach Howard Schnellenberger, who will retire at the end of this season after a storied career, lost his fifth-straight game in Gainesville and has not led his team to victory at Florida Field since 1983 (31 years).

The Gators will remain at home for their next contest, a 7 p.m. showdown with Alabama-Birmingham on Sept. 10. The game will air live on FSN.

Check back with us later for news, notes and quotes following the game.[/EXPAND]

12 Comments

  1. Ken (CA) says:

    It was a great debut in all 3 phases. The only thing that really disappointed me was that we couldn’t manage to force a turnover. I guess they didn’t have a whole lot of opportunity, with so few plays by FAU, but being -3 in TO ratio after game one isn’t pretty. I am sure mschamp isn’t happy about that either.

    Like you mentioned, 147 straight sellouts also got blown. FAU didn’t sell their entire allotment, and the athletic dept didnt take them back and sell them, so we lost that string… I would have thought the Athletic dept would have been more proactive in Coach Boom’s debut to make sure they got the sellout.

    • GatorCooken says:

      Agreed, I figured the UAA would’ve been more prepared. Although, I can’t help but wonder that if BHG has an official seating capacity of 88,548 and we sell 88,708, by definition isn’t that a sellout? Just curious.

  2. Aligator says:

    I think we looked solid and intentional, that is far better than I can say about our team last year.

  3. GatorRx says:

    We looked a LOT better than our opener last year. I’m a little more optimistic about our season than I was.

  4. jay d says:

    Obviously brantley’s passing woes are very present still…he needs to sharpen up if we expect to contend for an sec anything….our line looked ok…but we won’t know for sure until they face an sec D-Line…our recievers looked promising….and for all the people who didn’t think demps would shine in the pro-style….you can’t stop a baller from balling out….just remember..this kid is a world class athlete!!

  5. CeeThree says:

    Brantley is Brantley, no shock there. Rainey (especially) and Demps are going to have monster seasons.

  6. I think the team looked great! I think they can play with any other SEC team.
    It did seem like the linebackers had trouble covering the pass.

    Who has more check-down passes this year Brantley or Chad Henne? (just sayin)

  7. aziatic41 says:

    The defense looked good in our first game which is expected with Will Muschamp and Dan Quinn on board. We want know how good our team really is until SEC play begins. Nonetheless, every win builds confidence for a young team. My concerns are still John Brantley. I’m still not confident in him completed passes on 3rd and long situations against SEC defenses. Also, I wonder if Rainey and Demps, being small scat backs, can avoid injury for entire year with the amount of touches these guys are scheduled to get. Would also like to see linebackers Bostic and Jenkins deliver more punishing tackles and make more plays. But to me the main concern is still JOHN BRANTLEY..

  8. Jesse C says:

    For the first game of the season, I thought we looked pretty good. There were a few things, all previously mentioned, that I was not happy with but I’m gonna try to just look at the positives… especially when we get a Win. So…Brantley looked more comfortable and performed better, Demps and Rainey were awesome and just fast, fast, fast, the DL minus Floyd was disruptive, the play calling wasn’t flashy but it was effective, Sturgis was perfect and the team looked like it was having fun again. If we repeat that perrformance against UAB, cut down on the TO’s and penalties, we should be fairly well prepared for UT. AND… I will be praying for the NCAA to reinstate Floyd today. GO GATORS!!!

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