Nothing Doing on Offense in 31-13 Loss at FSU

Saturday, November 26

Tallahassee, FL

8 PM

Florida Gators

8-3 , 6-2

Florida State

9-3 , 5-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Florida

Florida State

Tailback Jordan Scarlett has nowhere to go against an FSU defense that allowed just 207 yards and kept the Gators' offense out of the end zone for the second straight year. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/For UAA Communications)

Nothing Doing on Offense in 31-13 Loss at FSU

Saturday, November 26, 2016 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery by Courtney Culbreath, Tim Casey, Jay Metz, & James Metz

The Seminoles' four-game winning streak in the series is their longest since 1987-90.

By: UAA Communications

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The offensive woes of the Florida Gators were masked a week earlier in that epic win at LSU.

They stuck out like a flaming spear Saturday night against rival Florida State.

Junior tailback Dalvin Cook continued his mastery of UF by rushing for 153 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Deondre Francois passed for a score and ran for another, the totality of which was easily enough for the No. 15 Seminoles to beat the 13th-ranked Gators in their annual rivalry game at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Florida (8-3), which still has a date with No. 1 Alabama (12-0) next week in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, failed to score an offensive touchdown against the Seminoles (9-3) for the second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons in becoming the first UF team to lose a fourth straight in the series since the 1990 squad. The Gators have now dropped six of their previous seven against the Seminoles, dating to 2010.

In this case (and again) there was no secret as to why. Florida finished with just 207 yards of total offense, with more than a quarter of those yards (55) coming in the final 60 seconds after Francois dashed for an 8-yard touchdown run with exactly one minute remaining. The Gators averaged just 3.2 yards a play and were an astounding 0-for-12 on third down.

Fact: The last time FSU held an opponent without a third-down conversion was 1998 against Florida (0-for-13).

"That was a disappointing ballgame for us," UF coach Jim McElwain said. "I thought our guys were ready. They came out and played their tails off. We didn't take advantage of some things we needed to. No explosive plays on offense and, obviously, on third down you are not going to be successful."

UF quarterback Austin Appleby completed 19 of 35 passes for 149 yards. He was sacked six times and fumbled the ball away twice. Francois went 15 of 26 for 138 yards, including a pivotal 46-yard touchdown strike in the third quarter and also threw an interception. Cook, who came into the game with 327 yards and two rushing touchdowns in two games against the Gators, basically carbon-copied those previous outings on 26 carries. In doing so, he became the first FSU back since Sammie Smith (1986-88) to reach 100 yards rushing in three straight game against the Gators.

"This is the game you put on your calendar at the beginning of the year," said Cook, who after becoming the Seminoles' career rushing leader last week also became the program's all-time leader in rushing TDs when his first-quarter score broke the mark he started with Greg Allen (1979-82). "You prepare for them and take advantage of the moment."

Of the Gators' 207 yards, 73 came on the game's opening drive — and they came away with nothing to show for it. UF took the opening kickoff and drove to the FSU 2, where the Gators faced a fourth-and-goal. McElwain opted to go for it — and with his defense and that field position, hardly an unreasonable gamble at all — but no receiver was open on the fourth-down play and Appleby's pass fell incomplete.

"We started fast, like we wanted to," Appleby said. "We just didn't punch it in."

Florida State drove out of the shadows of its goal posts, only to miss a Ricky Aguayo field goal. The Florida offense came back on the field and promptly gave the ball back to the Seminoles when Appleby was sacked by Josh Sweat and fumbled the ball away to defensive end DeMarcus Walker. Two plays later, Cook zipped through the UF defense for a 17-yard touchdown into the end zone at the 4:46 mark of the opening period.

The Seminoles tacked on three more points after a UF three-and-out — the Gators had six series of three plays or less — by moving 44 yards on nine plays before settling for Aguayo's 22-yarder on the second play of the second quarter, making the score 10-0.

The Gators answered with a 16-play, 54-yard drive that consumed nearly 7 1/2 minutes and included two fourth-and-1 conversions along the way: a 1-yard sneak by Appleby and 3-yard run by tailback Jordan Scarlett (14 carries, 53 yards). When the march stalled, Pineiro came on and nailed a 38-yard field goal with 7:19 to go in the first half. FSU had a chance to extend the lead in the final minute-plus. The Seminoles went 32 yards on six plays and were on the verge of going back up by 10 points when Joey Ivie blocked Aguayo's kick with 55 seconds remaining. The play marked the first blocked kick of any kind for the Gators since late in the 2012 season (against Louisiana-Lafayette), a run of 46 games.

Pineiro's second field goal was set up when freshman defensive back Chauncey Gardner intercepted Francois in the third period and returned the ball 15 yard to the FSU 27. Once again, though, the Florida offense could not capitalize. The Gators went three-and-out (gaining just three yards) and Pineiro was true from 41 yards to make the score 10-6 at the 10:26 mark of the third quarter.

On the ensuing series, the Seminoles went 75 yards in nine plays. On third-and-10, Francois found Rudolph wide open on a crossing route — left to right — about 20 yards down the middle of the field. He caught the ball in stride and scored untouched to make it 17-6.

Florida punted on its next possession and FSU was on the move again, going 77 yards in nine plays against an exhausted defense before fullback Freddie Stevenson shot up the middle on third-and-1 for a 27-yard touchdown and 24-6 lead with 12:51 left.

The Gators' next possession lasted just five plays and 15 yards before Johnny Townsend was on for one of his six punts. This one was fielded inside the 20 by FSU's Nyqwan Murray, who fumbled when wrapped up by UF's Chris Thompson. The ball slipped out and Florida's Marcell Harris was there to grab it and return it 12 yards for a touchdown that made the score 24-13 with 10:45 remaining.

It was UF's first touchdown against FSU since Treon Harris hit Clay Burton for a 15-yard touchdown in the second period of their game in Tallahassee in 2014, a span of nine quarters.

The Gators got the ball back on the next possession when Marcell Harris stuck Francois with a jarring hit that forced a fumble recovered by cornerback Teez Tabor. Florida's next three plays: Sack for minus-12 yards; completion for five yards; sack for minus-5 yards, plus a fumble recovered by FSU at the UF 26. Francois scored four plays later and FSU's seniors commenced celebrating becoming the first senior class to go unbeaten against Florida and Miami during their careers.

"We're heartbroken," Ivie said. "Obviously, we all wanted this win really badly. It just didn't work out."

For UF, it has six days now to figure out what's been playing the offense for, basically, the entire season before going up against the Crimson Tide juggernaut next Saturday at the Georgia Dome.

"I know this Gator team," Appleby said. "We'll go back, get it fixed and be ready to go play for a championship next week."