Florida Gators
East Carolina
Gators Hold Off East Carolina 31-24 to Remain Unbeaten
Saturday, September 12, 2015 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- For University of Florida fans who for years have wanted better non-conference games on the Gators' schedule, this one was for you.
East Carolina quarterback Blake Kemp was looking for a game-tying score, but instead his pass attempt slipped from his hands for a fumble that UF defensive end Alex McCalister recovered with 12 seconds left, allowing the Gators to escape The Swamp with a 31-24 victory over the same team it survived in a bowl game just two games and eight months ago.
Wideout Demarcus Robinson and tailback Kelvin Taylor sandwiched second-half touchdowns around cornerback Jalen Tabor's 39-yard interception for a score, as UF -- with Will Grier and Treon Harris sharing quarterback duties -- won their second outing for new coach Jim McElwain before a raucous Ben Hill Griffin Stadium crowd.
McElwain, though, was not in a celebratory mood. Not after turning the ball over twice and watching his team get penalized 12 times for 105 yards, including twice for unsportsmanlike conduct infractions after scoring touchdowns. In fact, it was his team's brazen lack of discipline that dominated his postgame news conference.
And demeanor.
"That was embarrassing. We didn't deserve to win the game," said McElwain, whose team was hit with just one penalty in last week's 63-13 defeat of New Mexico State. "This is not how it's going to be around here anymore."
Grier, making his first collegiate start, completed 10 of 17 passes for 151 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Harris, who started the opener, went 5-for-8 for 54 yards, but led the Gators (2-0) on the drive that led to Taylor's touchdown -- and a 14-point lead -- with 6:57 remaining.
The Pirates (1-1), though, did not go away. Kemp led them on a 10-play, 66-yard drive, hitting tight end Bryce Williams with 3:04 left to draw within seven. UF needed a first down to ice the game, but instead went three-and-out and punted the ball pack to ECU.
"We've played in elements like this," ECU junior wide receiver Isaiah Jones said. "Our crowd at home is just as loud, so it was easy getting into things."
Kemp, who completed 34 of 54 throws for 333 yards, three touchdowns and the one interception, again moved his team, driving 40 yards to the UF 13. But on second-and-10, the ball just left the lefty's hand as defensive tackle Joey Ivie was bearing down. There was McCalister to scoop up the ball and start racing for the far end zone. He would have made it too, had linebacker Jarrad Davis not tackled him, thus securing the win as the Gators needed only to take a knee to seal the deal.
"Defensively, we did what we needed to do," Davis said. "We stoop up when it was time to stand up. We bent, but ultimately we did not break."
The final fumble was the fourth turnover for a Florida defense that surrendered 333 yards, but limited the Pirates to just minus-13 rushing and sacked their quarterbacks three times.
Florida finished with 373 total yards, including 168 on the ground to go with the Grier-Harris combo's 205 passing.
"Both played well," sophomore tight end DeAndre Goolsby said. "We're just figuring out what going to help this team."
East Carolina actually led 14-10 early in the third period after a well-thrown Grier pass across the middle bounced off the hands of wideout Alvin Bailey and into the hands of safety Bobby Fulp.
On the first play after the turnover, Kemp dropped and found wideout Jones open down the middle of the UF secondary for a 27-yard touchdown pass to give the Pirates their first lead since early in the first quarter.
But Grier responded by firing the go-ahead score to Robinson -- the junior and 2014 season's leading receiver who did not start the game -- at the 7:11 mark of the third period. Robinson caught four balls for 43 yards on that drive, an 8-play, 57-yard march and helped erase some frustration from having a touchdown reception called back on a penalty earlier in the game.
But with UF up 17-14, Kemp tried to stick a sideline pass into his receiver, but Tabor had blanket coverage on the play, made the interception and raced home for an easy pick-6 and 24-14 advantage for the Gators.
Then came a fumble by backup tailback Mark Herndon. The Pirates, capitalizing on the giveaway, quickly were back in the game when Davis Plowman's 30-yard field goal made the score 24-17.
That's when Harris moved the Gators 75 yards in 11 plays, with Taylor darting into the end zone for the 31-17 score.
Then East Carolina made it interesting.
And made Florida fans sweat.
"We were inconsistent offensively," McElwain said. "Defensively, we didn't get off to a fast start."
Special teams weren't that great either. The Gators had a pair of turnovers and scored just two touchdowns on five trips to the red zone. And then there were all those penalties.
And yet, "Somehow we found a way to win a game," McElwain said.
Grier fired a 32-yard score to tight end Goolsby to give Florida a 10-7 lead in the second quarter. He executed a perfect bootleg on the scoring play, ball-faking left, keeping and rolling right and finding Goolsby in the Pirates secondary. He caught the pass around the 15 and weaved his way through the ECU defense to push UF to its first lead of the night with less than a minute to go in the opening period.
The Gators had a couple great chances to build on their lead in the second quarter.
First, safety Marcus Maye, back after serving a suspension in the season opener, forced a fumble the UF defense recovered at the ECU 22. But a false-start penalty and sack of Harris on his first possession meant the Gators had to settle for a 34-yard Austin Hardin field-goal try. He missed.
On the next possession, Harris drove the Gators inside the ECU 20, but the drive stalled and Hardin again was summoned -- and again missed, this time from 36 yards.
The half ended with UF clinging to that 10-7 lead.
The Pirates took the game's opening kickoff and went 75 yards in eight plays, with Kemp lobbing a 36-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Davon Grayson less than four minutes into the game. Grayson beat sophomore cornerback Quincy Wilson, who started in place of junior standout Vernon Hargreaves III, who suffered a leg injury in Thursday night's practice and did not dress for the game. Wilson had solid coverage on the play, but the left-handed Kemp threw a perfect ball down the sideline and Grayson went up and got it.
A 9-yard sack of Grier undermined UF's first offensive possession. The Gators defense forced a punt on ECU's second possession and Grier drove his unit to a 37-yard Hardin field goal. Florida had to settle for three points after a Grier-to-Robinson touchdown strike was called back on an offensive pass interference penalty against tight end Jake McGee.
