Florida Gators

ARLINGTON, Texas — Even a mistake-prone Michigan team was more than enough to overpower Florida in the AdvoCare Classic. 

The 11th-ranked Wolverines served up a couple touchdowns on UF interception returns, but an offense that cranked out 433 yards and a defense that held the 17th-ranked Gators to just 192 yards did a Big Ten bow up on their Southeastern Conference foes on the way to a 33-17 victory before a sellout crowd of 75,872 at AT&T Stadium. 

The loss snapped Florida's streak of 27 straight victories in season openers, a run that was longest for any FBS program, and was not the start Coach Jim McElwain saw coming, especially in the trenches.
 
Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight passed for 181 yards and a touchdown, tailback Ty Isaac carried only 11 times for 114 yards gained over half of the Wolverines' 215 rushing yards and Quinn Nordin kicked four field goals, including two from at least 50 yards, as the Wolverines proved every bit as dominant as 20 months ago when they smashed the Gators 41-7 in the Citrus Bowl. 

With 1:37 left in the game, backup quarterback Malik Zaire, summoned to replace ineffective redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks, was sacked in the end zone and fumbled. Michigan linebacker Noah Furbush fell on the ball to make that domination complete. UM outscored UF 20-0 in the second half.  
 
But that would be it for the Gators, who could have used star receiver Antonio Callaway and top tailback Jordan Scarlett, two of the 10 players suspended for the game for off-field issues. McElwain, though, was quick to point out afterward that their absence was no excuse for the offense's performance. 
 
Florida's inability to run the ball certainly did not help Franks get settled in. Franks, the first freshman quarterback to start an opener for Florida since Kyle Morris in 1988, hit five of his nine throws for 75 yards and also had a key fumble in the third quarter when the Wolverines scored 13 points in less than three minutes to turn a 17-13 deficit into a 26-17 lead. 

After the fumble, McElwain replaced Franks with Zaire, the graduate transfer from Notre Dame who went 9-for-17 for 106 yards and was sacked five times, including that fumble for the late Michigan touchdown. Florida had just nine first downs on the day, went 2-for-13 on third down and averaged only 3.6 yards per play. Nine of UF's 12 drives were six plays or less. 

Meanwhile, the Wolverines controlled the line of scrimmage and clock. They did not look like a team in utter rebuild mode, looking to replace 16 starters from a 10-3 squad. 
 
After surrendering a seven-point lead in the first half by throwing those consecutive interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, the Wolverines and their offense drove 75 yards on 10 plays to start the second half, along the way getting an 18-yard run on fourth-and-1 and 28-yard pass completion from Speight to wideout Grant Perry that got the ball to the UF 10. Two plays later, tailback Karan Higdon bowled over from three yards out to push the Wolverines in front for good 20-17. 

On the ensuing kickoff, it was UF sophomore Tyrie Cleveland fumbling the ball away at the Gators' 16. UM got a 30-yard field goal from Nordin to go up 23-17. 

When the Gators, who managed just 91 yards and four first downs in the opening half, finally did get the ball in the second half, Franks fumbled on a scramble, with the Wolverines recovering at the Gators' 37. Again, the UF defense turned the UM offense away, but Nordin popped his fourth field goal of the game at the 9-minute mark. This one was from 50 yards (after banging a 55-yarder in the first half) for a 26-17 advantage. 

After the Gators' two interceptions, UM coach Jim Harbaugh replaced Speight with backup John O'Korn. His first series ended in a three-and-out, with Florida's Garrett Stevens blocking UM's punt. The Gators, though, could not capitalize on the field position when Eddy Pineiro was wide left on a 47-yard field goal that would have given UF a two-possession lead. The miss broke a string of 13 straight converted field goals for Pineiro dating back to the 2016 Georgia game. 

The second O'Korn possession worked out better for the Wolverines. It started with a 37-yard pass to Tarik Black, who was tightly covered by freshman cornerback Marco Wilson but hauled in the catch anyway, tight-roping the sideline at the UF 33. Michigan came away with three points when Nordin snuck that 55-yard field goal over the cross bar with 4:20 to go in the half. 

Harbaugh went back to Speight and the senior responded by helping the Wolverines to those 16 straight points.

UM opened a 10-3 lead late in the first quarter when Black ran through the UF secondary for a 46-yard touchdown that put the Wolverines out in front. The go-ahead strike came one play after senior safety Nick Washington was forced from the game due to injury. On the next snap, Speight stepped to his right after a play-action fake and chucked the ball down the middle of the Gators' defense with Black running uncovered left-to-right on a post route. It was obviously a blown coverage and even though Speight's pass was underthrown, Black was able to work back to the ball ahead of charging UF defender Shawn Davis and snare the game's first touchdown at the 3:03 mark of the first period. 

The play broke a 3-3 tie after the two team's traded field goals on their opening possessions. 

Franks' first pass of his UF career was a beautiful touch throw down the right sideline to sophomore Josh Hammond that was good for 34 yards and set up a 46-yard field goal by Pineiro that put the Gators up 3-0 just two and half minutes in. The Franks-to-Hammond throw came on the second play of the game's opening possession, led to the offense's only points and, clearly, was the highlight on that side of the ball for the Gators.