Freshman running back Malik Davis rushed for a career-high 124 yards in Saturday's win over Vanderbilt. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Gators Run, Run, Run Over Vanderbilt
Sunday, October 1, 2017 | Football
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Florida rushed for a season-high 218 yards and running backs Lamical Perine and Malik Davis accounted for five rushing touchdowns.
By: Tyler Savitsky, Writing Intern
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Five Touchdowns.
Coming into Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, the Gators had only two rushing touchdowns this season. Both were against Kentucky and neither was scored by a running back.
In fact, a running back had not reached the end zone for the Gators in the last 10 games, when Jordan Scarlett had a two-yard touchdown run against Georgia.
That all changed in a big way in No. 21-ranked Florida's 38-24 win over the Commodores.
Sophomore Lamical Perine had three rushing scores and freshman Malik Davis scored the first two touchdowns of his young career.
The Gators stayed committed to the ground game all day, which helped ease the burden on quarterbacks Luke Del Rio (season-ending injury in the second quarter) and Feleipe Franks.
They ran the ball 51 times, their most attempts in three years. The Gators' 218 rushing yards were the highest since they ran all over Missouri in 2016.
They even ran the ball on all three of their fourth-down plays. Before this game, they passed the ball on five of their six fourth-down plays. Running paid off, and the Gators were successful on all three attempts.
Running back Lamical Perine does a Gator Chomp after his first touchdown run on Saturday. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
"In those situations, I have total trust and confidence in those guys," Gators head coach Jim McElwain said.
The offensive line was effective at clearing space against a Vanderbilt defense that was gashed for 496 yards rushing in a 59-0 loss to Alabama the previous week.
"I thought our guys ran hard," McElwain said. "And the guys up front are starting to get it."
Offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor said: "Coach Mac told us 'just do our job and everything will work out, our running backs will create plays."
Create plays, those running backs did.
Perine looked good, but Davis stole the show in the fourth quarter. He had nine carries for 87 yards in the final quarter, including a 39-yard touchdown run with 1:42 left to extend the Gators' lead to 38-24.
Davis finished with a game-high 17 carries for 124 yards. He flirted with 100 yards in his last two games, with 94 and 93 yards, respectively, but was finally able to hit the century mark on Saturday.
Defensive end Jachai Polite was not surprised by Davis' performance.
"You see him do it in practice wondering if can he do it in a game, and the game gets here, and he does it," Polite said. "It's not anything new."
Perine had a pair of 1-yard scoring runs to go with a 13-yard touchdown in the first half. Perine believes this game introduced Davis to a much larger audience than those at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Saturday afternoon.
"Now the nation should know about Malik Davis," he said. "He's going to score a lot of touchdowns in the Swamp."
Through four games Davis is averaging 7.4 yards per carry and is UF's leading rusher with 319 yards.
If Davis keeps up this pace, he will be in special company.
No UF player has led the team in rushing yards while averaging more than 6.5 yards per carry since Elijah Williams averaged 7.5 yards per carry in 1995.
Perine's three rushing touchdowns were the most by a Gator since Jeff Driskel in 2012.
Perine finished the game with 15 carries for 58 yards, with two crucial fourth-down conversions on fourth-and-1. Both plays resulted in touchdown drives.
Perine gave a lot of credit to the offensive line for the improvement of the running game.
"The offensive line has juice," Perine said. "We are feeding off of those guys."
