GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida defense held the Texas A&M up-tempo offense to a season-low 26:42 time of possession Saturday night in the "Swamp." The Gators allowed quarterback Kellen Mond to complete a season-low eight pass attempts.
They Gators limited a team that ran for at least 175 yards in five of its six games to only 83 yards on the ground. When it was done, A&M had only 263 yards of total offense — 45 less yards than they had against Alabama last week and 162 below the Aggies' average.
And the Gators lost.
The final score: A&M 19, Florida 17. Four field goals from Aggies kicker Daniel LaCamera, the last for the go-ahead points with just 58 seconds to play, and an early second-half touchdown run from Mond was enough.
The defense gave up 16 of the 19 points in the second half, but none of the drives were end-to-end, as A&M won the hidden-yardage battle with better special teams play. The UF offense, meanwhile, couldn't move the chains with any consistency, despite a seven-minute advantage in time of possession.
The defensive line was constantly getting into the backfield and making Mond uncomfortable.
Taven Bryan had a monster day and set career highs in tackles and sacks, with seven and 1½, respectively. He single-handedly ruined an A&M series in the third quarter. Mond had a 38-yard rush to start the drive from the team's 21-yard line, but it was called back due to a penalty after left guard Ryan McCollum was called for holding Bryan. Two plays later, on 2nd-and-17, Bryan beat the right guard and stuffed Mond for a gain of one. The very next play, Bryan went back against the left guard and beat him easily again, this time getting the sack.
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Bryan has emerged as a force up front and an anchor for this defensive line. His second sack of the game was split with redshirt senior end
Jordan Sherit.
Sherit has had a solid season with 2.5 sacks and a team-high nine QB hurries. Unfortunately, he was injured in the second half and UF coach
Jim McElwain said afterward, "It looks like it may headed into surgery shortly."
Defensive end was possibly the deepest position on this roster last week, but with Sherit now out and
Jabari Zuniga banged up (he did not play Saturday), the Gators are now thin there.
The secondary played well, only allowing Mond to complete only eight of his 24 pass attempts, but did surrender three pass plays of at least 30 yards.
Jeawon Taylor filled in nicely at safety for injured
Nick Washington and recorded an interception in his first career start.
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"I feel like the defense always does enough (to win)," defensive end CeCe Jefferson said. "I'm a defensive player, so that's just how I feel."
Two such defensive performances in back-to-back weeks have been neutralized by an offense that is rolling up rushing yards, but can't seem to get anything going through the air. The last two games, both losses, both coming at home, the Gators have combined for just three touchdowns.
Yet, UF's players swear they're unified in the locker room.
"We're not a team that points fingers at each other," Jefferson said. "We win together and we lose together."
