Image Credit: UAA
Following two embarrassing performances that appeared to indicate the Florida Gators were nowhere close to legitimate improvement in Year 1 under head coach Jon Sumrall, a total team effort allowed Florida to overcome a slow start and overwhelm the No. 7 Texas Longhorns, 27-24, at Darryl K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Not only did Sumrall pick up his second top 10 win of the season (first time for UF since 2012), but Saturday also marked the Gators’ first road win over a top 10 team since 2012, first road win over any ranked team since 2020 and largest comeback victory over a ranked SEC opponent in a road game.
Florida was ice cold out of the gates with Texas jumping ahead 17-3 amid two special teams blunders and six penalties that cost UF 50 yards in key situations during the first half. However, one critical decision by Sumrall completely turned the tide of the opening stanza, and ultimately, the game.
Faced with fourth-and-12 at the UT 36-yard-line, a no-man’s-land situation, Sumrall decided to go for the first down. Sophomores quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. (making his first career start) and wide receiver Dallas Wilson (who broke out against Texas in his debut last season) rewarded their coach with a 17-yard conversion that kept the chains moving.
Three plays later, the Gators found the end zone, cut their deficit in half and entered the locker room with momentum they never possessed to that point in the game.
“It was huge. Momentum shifts,” Sumrall said. “The flow of the middle eight today, we needed that momentum, because we had not played very clean early. … With the way the game started, that was pretty vital.”
Despite starting 0 of 7 on third down, Jones led a total turnaround effort in the second half. Florida converted 8 of 12 attempts over the final two quarters as Jones completed 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns in the game, taking 10 carries for 41 yards rushing — all of them crucial — to keep the defense honest and take pressure off junior running back Jadan Baugh.
Baugh came alive in the second half, picking up most of his 91 yards rushing on 25 carries and rumbling into an end zone for an 11-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that ultimately served as the game-winning score. (He remains the FBS touchdown leader with 13 on the season.)
The Gators’ embattled defense was exceptional as well. Entering the game having given up 619 yards passing and seven touchdowns — plus a ton of yards rushing — over the last two contests, Florida held the over-hyped Arch Manning to 173 yards and a touchdown on 20 attempts while registering five sacks, 11 tackles for loss and two turnovers on downs.
UF also picked up its first takeaway in three games to seal the contest in the fourth quarter with junior linebacker Myles Graham jarring the ball loose from Manning’s grip before senior cornerback Kanye Clark redeemed himself with the recovery after making two bone-headed plays on special teams in the first half.
“The last couple weeks did not feel like we fought the way you have to fight when you’re in the middle of the game. … Today, the game didn’t start out very good for us. We played really sloppy, getting to several situations where we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot. They played good early. But the thing that I’m most grateful for: Our guys fought today. And we happened to win the game, too, which is huge, but the most important thing that happened today was that we fought,” Sumrall explained.
“And winning the game matters; I want us to always win. But how you play the game matters as much to me, and today, we showed a lot of character, a lot of growth, and the fact that we fought … just grateful for our guys’ response and the mental toughness and resiliency to fight.”
There were so many exemplary plays made by Florida in all three phases of the game, but what stood out most was Sumrall’s execution of a game plan concocted alongside offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and defensive coordinator Brad White.
The aforementioned fourth-and-12 decision was simply a paradigm of Sumrall’s leadership, which showed itself in this game through his players’ actions, including a refusal to get down in the dumps simply because momentum was headed in the other direction for most of the first half.
Faulkner, who struggled to put Baugh and junior QB Aaron Philo in positive positions over the last two games, did incredibly well working with a first-time starter in Jones. While Florida’s lack of offensive production frustrated early, it was clear that Faulkner was attempting to get Jones comfortable in a difficult road spot.
Once the signal caller found some semblance of rhythm, Faulkner called high-percentage throws along with designed runs and utilized as many legs as he could to keep Baugh fresh late in the game, which was particularly important given how much adversity one of the nation’s best rushers faced at the line of scrimmage.
Even with sophomore WR Vernell Brown III (knee) sidelined and senior WR Bailey Stockton (ankle) becoming ineffective after an in-game injury, Faulkner improvised with the talent he had available, creating opportunities for Jones and Baugh to thrive in key situations.
While the Gators’ secondary struggles continued, White focused on succeeding with his far more talented defensive front seven, which ravaged Manning and the Longhorns all afternoon. This aggressiveness appeared to get turned up in the second quarter after Texas saw early success throwing the ball, and once Florida started getting into the backfield with regularity, the game flipped. (There are still plenty of issues with White’s leadership of the UF defense, of course.)
The Gators outgained the Longhorns 300-137 over the final three-plus quarters after each team completed its second possession of the game.
Without its full complement of playmakers — most notably Brown, who dressed in pads but missed his third straight game with a nagging knee injury — and with teams focusing on stopping Baugh, the Gators struggled to move the ball under Philo, who had issues finding open receivers and pushing down the field.
Jones did not make many deep throws on Saturday, and the ones he attempted were not executed particularly well, but he was calm, collected and efficient, finding positive gains where they existed. His ability to tuck and run — or explode out of the backfield with the ball on a planned rush — made all the difference in fueling the offense and creating opportunities for Baugh.
Whereas Philo is a willing runner, Jones is an able runner capable of making game-changing plays with his legs, which he did often in this game. Jones still connected with eight different receivers — finding many of them while converting seven consecutive third downs from the third into the fourth quarter — and he showed tremendous arm strength, which indicates those deep balls will become connections in time.
“For his first opportunity, even when he didn’t make some throws he needed to make, he kept battling and kept fighting, and that’s when good things happen,” Sumrall said of Jones’ effort.
“I’m proud of him for staying resilient, going back to training camp when he didn’t win the job, and still being ready. … No crazy, dumb decisions. … He stayed steady and responded. He would miss a throw, and he’d come back and make a throw. And that’s going to happen at the quarterback position. You’re not always going to make every play. … If he had handled the situation poorly [this offseason], he wouldn’t have been as ready as he was for his opportunity. Very proud of him, grateful for his approach and happy for his success today.”
Florida now enters the off week with a legitimate quarterback controversy. There is no denying the success Philo had from Weeks 1-4, leading the second-best offensive start to a season in program history, but Faulkner and Sumrall must now weigh their options.
Do they continue to prioritize Philo’s familiarity with Faulkner’s system and ability to more smoothly make calls at the line of scrimmage, or do they lean on Jones’ superior arm strength and athleticism, which directly counters how opposing defenses have been attacking UF’s offense?
Given the results Saturday and the potential for Jones to improve even further with two weeks of practice, perhaps that decision should not be difficult at all. Jones became the first Florida quarterback to win a true road game over a ranked opponent in his first career start since Jesse Palmer in 1997.
“I’m going to watch the tape. The whole staff will. I am happy for Tramell and his success. He missed plenty of things today; he did some good things today. The success of our team today had more to do than just a quarterback. Our defense played a hell of a lot better. Our O-line played a lot better. So, I’m not taking anything away from Tramel. Today was a team win, not a quarterback win. It was a team win,” Sumrall said.
“… Philo didn’t cost us the last two games. I’m not going to point fingers there, but individually, Tramell did not go and win the game by himself. I’m glad we got two guys that I believe that we can go win football games with.”
Sumrall later added: “I like both guys. I love both guys. I believe in both guys. I’ve said that about Tramel for several months now. Since I saw the shift in the summer, I really felt like we could win with both guys, and that proves that we did it today.”
Anyone who follows SEC football has heard, ad nauseam over the years, that games in this conference are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. There has perhaps not been a better example of that working for the Gators in years.
Florida’s offensive line was exceptional in pass protection, giving Jones all the time he needed to make throws — and more importantly, make decisions. The unit did commit three excruciating false-start penalties in the first half — a couple backbreaking, all at critical situations — but those undisciplined miscues essentially disappeared in the second half as the Gators rallied to tie the game and take the lead. For an offensive line that was decried for imploding the last two weeks, this marked a substantial turnaround, which Sumrall acknowledged after the game.
The defensive front seven was even better. Graham and fellow five-star junior defensive lineman LJ McCray were maniacs on Saturday. Graham registered a team-high seven tackles (three solo) along with his sack-fumble that ended the game, while McCray registered 1.5 sacks (both late) and 2.5 tackles for loss, completely dominating a series to open the fourth quarter that led to a go-ahead field goal that was UF’s first lead of the game with 10:40 to play.
Senior DL Brendan Bett registered a ferocious fourth-down stop at midfield that created the opportunity for Baugh’s touchdown; junior LB Aaron Chiles swarmed to the ball with regularity; and fifth-year DL Emmanuel Oyebadejo made his impact felt earlier. Even though sophomore EDGE Jayden Woods was relatively quiet (other than a facemask penalty that gave the Longhorns an early field goal), everyone else took Texas to task, ensuring the game was not decided by the porous secondary.
Florida’s special teams unit met both definitions of the word on Saturday, though the latter portrayal was largely the fault of Kanye Clark, who seemingly could not do anything right in the first quarter.
After the Gators went three-and-out on their first possession, senior punter Alec Clark booted the ball 74 yards down the field (longest in the SEC this season) with it appearing to land stationary inside the ‘Horns’ 2-yard-line. However, due to what can only be described as a “brain fart,” Kanye Clark touched the ball while simultaneously being present in the end zone, leading to a touchback that eliminated tremendous field position Florida had created for itself.
Kanye Clark similarly whiffed as the first man attempting to tackle a punt returner in the second quarter, leading to a 64-yard score that appeared to break open the game and dash UF’s hopes before the game truly started. That’s why his six tackles (second-most on the team) and late-game fumble recovery were so great to see; he took advantage of the opportunity to find atonement deep in the heart of Texas. (Especially since he was also responsible in man coverage for the 62-yard gain that led to the ‘Horns final touchdown on a fourth-and-7 play that shoud have ended the game two drives earlier.)
Otherwise, the Gators’ special teams were largely phenomenal as the unit has been for most of the season. Alec Clark averaged 51.8 yards per punt with three of 50+ yards and another boot downed inside the 5. Senior kicker Patrick Durkin connected on field goals from 45 yards in the second quarter and 28 yards in the fourth quarter. With Brown out, senior RB London Montgomery did well bringing back kick returns and putting UF in solid field position.
Florida improved to 2-3-1 all-time against Texas with its first-ever win in Austin (1-2-1) … the Gators have won consecutive games against the Longhorns … Florida won a true road game against a top 10 team for the first time since 2012, and it won a true road game against a ranked team for the first time since 2020 … UF registered its largest comeback against a ranked SEC team in a true road game ever and its largest comeback against any SEC team in a road game since 2018 … Sumrall avoided becoming the first UF coach to lose three straight games before the off week in Year 1 of his career since Will Muschamp, who served as UT defensive coordinator … the Gators forced a turnover for the first time in three games and have now done so in 27 of the last 31 contests … Florida has allowed opponents to score 21+ points in 15 of the last 16 games … Sumrall is 2-1 on the road and 2-1 against ranked opponents at UF … the Gators have two top 10 wins in the same season for the first time since 2012 … Florida has scored in 480 consecutive games, an NCAA record
The Gators can bounce back. Most thought that would come last week when a relatively poor South Carolina team visited The Swamp, but Florida and its coaching staff apparently needed more time and opportunity to get right. Sumrall noted last Monday that he was adjusting the Gators’ practice schedule to ensure players had more energy at the end of games, and despite an 11 a.m. local-time start, it appears this approach was successful.
Florida is nowhere near a finished product, and it’s quite likely to experience head-scratching failures against better-passing teams over the duration of the season, given its horrific secondary. However, the Gators avoided going from 4-0 to potentially 4-4 at the start of the season, and this was the type of victory that gives credence to Sumrall’s methods and shines in the eyes of recruits making tough decisions between top programs.
The team also gets to carry much-needed momentum into an off week that otherwise might have been a funeral of sorts for the season. Sumrall and his staff now have proof that some of their adjustments worked with an extended opportunity to figure out how to take those learned lessons and extrapolate them into success before the year is out.
Florida may well return to the top 25 rankings on Sunday, but even if it does not, its College Football Playoff chances remain alive considering its two ranked victories are far better than its lone unranked defeat. That’s not to say the Gators should be considered a legitimate playoff contender; rather, they have every goal remaining in front of them, which is a string coaches love pulling week to week.
Florida will benefit from a much-needed off week, giving many of its banged-up players — particularly on offense — additional time to heal before it faces No. 1 Georgia in two weeks. The game will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, as EverBank Stadium is undergoing a two-year renovation. This will be the first time the Gators and Bulldogs have played outside Jacksonville, Florida, since 1996 and the first time they have played a neutral-site game at a different location since 1930.
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