Florida Gators
New Mexico State
Big Mac Attack: Gators Give McElwain 61-13 Welcome Win
Sunday, September 6, 2015 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The first offensive series of the Jim McElwain Era wasn't very good.
They got a whole lot better after that.
The two-quarterback tandem of sophomore Treon Harris and redshirt Will Grier accounted for 379 passing yards and five touchdowns while helping the Florida crank out 606 yards of offense of their new coach's debut, as the Gators roared to a 61-13 rout of New Mexico State in their 2015 season opener Saturday night at The Swamp.
The sellout crowd of 90,227 was thoroughly pleased with their introduction to McElwain, who lit up scoreboards and stat sheets as offensive coordinator for two national champions at Alabama and for the last three years as head coach at Colorado State.
"The fans were awesome," McElwain said. "They were really into it."
And really appreciative of the product on the field. Florida's 61 points were the most scored by a coach in his first Gators' game, topping the 51 Ron Zook put up in 2002 and the 50 from Steve Spurrier in 1990.
Both McElwain and the UF offense (1-0) was easily forgiven for a first series low-lighted by 13-yard loss on a poor snap out of the shotgun formation. The Gators had to punt away that first possession.
They didn't punt again.
Instead, the Gators' QBs combined to complete 29 of 36 passes for 379 yards and four scores. Harris hit 14 of his 19 throws for 215 yards and two touchdowns, while Grier was 15 of 17 for 164 yards and two TDs. He also ran for one.
"They both played great," senior tight end Jake McGee said. "I couldn't really tell any difference who was on the field."
Defensively, UF had some breakdowns, allowing the Aggies (0-1) to hit a couple big plays, but the Florida defense absolutely walled the opponet in the second half, as NMSU was held to minus-1 yard after the break.
Across the board, the Gators appeared thoroughly prepared, displayed diversity on offense -- nine different players had rushing attempts, 14 caught passes -- and showed remarkable discipline by being flagged for just one penalty.
"Coach Mac told us tonight was the night we get to go out and paint our own picture," sophomore wideout Alvin Bailey said.
Granted, the dominating performance came against a team with just four wins over the last two seasons, but this night was about setting a tone with a new sheriff in town.
"I wanted our team to come out and may prove something to themselves; that it's OK to go out there and play hard and make some plays," McElwain said. "Attention to detail and understanding the importance of practice and why we do things, I think there are a lot of things we're going to be able to point to on video and say, 'This is the why. This is why we harp on little things every single day.' For the most part, I thought we played a good, clean game."
Harris got the Gators on the board with a four-play, 63-yard drive ignited by an 18-yard run from junior tailback Kelvin Taylor down to the Aggies' 37. On the next play, Harris dropped and fired a corner route for sophomore Brandon Powell, the running back-turned-slot receiver, who stretched out for the ball, made the catch, then reached the ball to the pylon at for the second touchdown of his career.
Harris put UF in the end zone each of his series, also. After Taylor got free for a 42-yard catch, he finished the drive with a 9-yard scoring run.
The next six Florida possessions went to Grier, the heralded redshirt rookie from Charlotte, N.C. He threw an ugly incompletion on his first toss, but then led the Gators 50 yards in five plays, including a pretty sideline pass to sophomore tight end DeAndre Goolsby for 23 yards. He capped the march by sticking a TD in the chest of freshman tight end C'yontai Lewis, who was well covered a few yards in the end zone.
New Mexico State got on the board late in the second period when Grier's second possession ended with a sack by linebacker Terrill Hanks that forced the UF quarterback to fumble the ball away at his own 20. The Aggies scored six plays later on an 8-yard run by tailback Larry Rose III.
Grier atoned for his miscue on his third series; and several others.
Under pressure in the pocket, he dashed up the middle for a 37-yard run, then hit Callaway for a 23-yard completion down to the NMSU 4. Grier finished the drive -- a 6-play, 74-yard march -- with a QB keeper into the end zone.
After the Aggies scored on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Rogers to Teldrick Morgan on a fourth-down heave that cut the UF lead to 28-13, Grier cancelled out the score he hit Lewis down the seam for a 32-yard pass with just 24 seconds left in the half to stake the Gators to a 34-13 lead at the break.
At intermission, the Harris/Grier duo was 16 of 18 for 244 yards and the three TDs through the air and one rushing. UF had 361 yards of offense through two periods.
"Whatever happens from here on, we're going to be behind both of them," third-year sophomore guard Antonio Riles said.
Grier started the third quarter, with UF's first possession ending with a 36-yard Austin Hardin field goal and the second with 3-yard touchdown run by freshman tailback Jordan Cronkrite.
Back McElwain went with Harris, who in the fourth period pushed the Gators to a couple of scores. The first came on freshman tailback Jordan Scarlett's 4-yard run and the second on a 6-yard touchdown throw from Harris to sophomore C.J. Worton with 4:23 to play to push UF to the 60-point threshold.
As it turned out, the 61 points were the most ever scored by the Gators in a new coach's opening game, beating the 51 from Ron Zook in 2002 and the 50 from Steve Spurrier in 1990.
