Poised Gators Get Streak-Busting Win Over Seminoles

Running back Jordan Scarlett celebrates a 41-14 victory at Florida State to clinch a 9-3 regular season for the Gators. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

Poised Gators Get Streak-Busting Win Over Seminoles

Saturday, November 24, 2018 | Football

By: Ethan Hughes, FloridaGators.com Intern

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It's no secret that rivalry games are emotional. The Florida and Florida State players on the field here Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium grew up playing with and against each other before going separate ways for college.

Meanwhile, head coaches Dan Mullen and Willie Taggart butt heads on the recruiting trail. And there were postseason implications at stake, including a potential New Year's Six bowl berth for the Gators and FSU's historic bowl streak on life support.

A key factor was going to be which team could harness that emotion and energy and channel it in the proper way. As for the fans, well, they just don't like each other's teams.

In Florida's 41-14 victory, the Gators (9-3, 5-3 SEC) played with more poise than the Seminoles (5-7, 3-5 ACC) from start to finish. FSU committed 10 penalties for 60 yards, including eight for 50 yards in the first half. The Gators committed seven penalties for 49 yards but only two for 10 yards in the second half.

"We knew they were the most undisciplined team in America, so we were just going to take advantage of every little opportunity we had," junior nickelback Chauncey Gardner-Johnson said. "That's what we did."

Added FSU coach Willie Taggart: "That's a big part of our problem is when things don't go our way, then we didn't respond the right way."

It wasn't just the number of penalties that made a difference; it was the types of penalties and when they occurred. All of Florida's penalties were procedural errors or aggressive penalties on defense. In contrast, each of the Seminoles' penalties seemed huge.

With UF up 10-0 in the second quarter, FSU appeared to score a touchdown on a 70-yard screen pass from Deondre Francois to running back Cam Akers. However, the Seminoles had two receivers in motion at the snap, a five-yard penalty. They wound up punting instead.

On UF's opening drive of the second half, FSU stopped the Gators on third-and-7 from the FSU 13-yard line. However, defensive back Stanford Samuels III threw a punch at a Florida receiver, giving the Gators an automatic first down. Feleipe Franks found receiver Josh Hammond for a three-yard score moments later.

"We're not tough enough to walk away, and that's what we got to be," Taggart said. "That's what good football teams do, and we didn't do that."

FSU had only 10 players on the field before one play, and they had to burn a timeout. Gardner-Johnson, known as a talker, let them hear about it.

"I'm like, 'How y'all think y'all can come beat us but y'all not prepared?'" he said. "You can't be prepared with 10 guys. You've got to be prepared with all 11 guys."

At halftime, Florida had outgained FSU 264-124. Despite dominating statistically and the Seminoles' sloppiness, UF only led 13-7 due to offensive struggles in the red zone. The Gators had three red-zone possessions in the first half but only managed six points. Their only touchdown came on a 74-yard run by junior Lamical Perine (13 carries, 129 yards). It was the longest run of Perine's career and the longest by a Gator this season.

With the score closer than it should've been, the Gators didn't freak out. They stuck to their game plan and just tried to execute better in the second half.

"We came out solid," junior linebacker David Reese said. "You know, we still had some opportunities where we could have expanded the margin on offense and on defense. You know, they scored off of our mistake, but that's fine, it's football. We play the next play, and we came out in the second half knowing what we could do."

It worked, and the floodgates opened. Franks (16-for-26, 254 yards, no turnovers) threw the three-yarder to Hammond plus a 22-yarder to Trevon Grimes and a 38-yarder to Van Jefferson.

"I just think him getting comfortable in the flow of the game, and when he gets out there, he's still a young player, he's a redshirt sophomore, and you get out there in a big rivalry game, and you try to get all the looks in practice, and, you know, it's a little different sometimes when you get out there when there's real people coming after you," Gators coach Dan Mullen said. "But, I think he really settled down, and I thought he executed pretty well for the most part."

Grimes (career-high five receptions, career-high 118 yards) posted the first 100-yard game by a UF receiver since Tyrie Cleveland did so on Sept. 23, 2017, against Kentucky.

"He's done a great job of being patient and just waiting his turn," Franks said. "I told him when you get your opportunity, just take advantage of it no matter when it is -- last of the season, first game of the season. It doesn't matter. You have to always be ready for your opportunity and take advantage of it. That's what he did today. He had a couple of big catches and just turned them into big plays."

The Gators racked up 536 yards of total offense, making it the first time they have posted three consecutive 500-yard games since 2009. Florida State converted just one of 14 third downs. It was UF's third largest margin of victory ever in Tallahassee. Simply put, it was an all-around dominant performance.

"Great team win for us today," Mullen said. "We came out, we wanted to play our best offense, defense and kicking game of the year and execute in all four phases this week. We talked throughout the year about, we want to get better and better and better and better as the year goes on, playing a complete game. I really think we did."

Florida State played with zero deep safeties for much of the game, as they tried to shut down the Gators' run game and make the up-and-down Franks beat them through the air. Despite stacked boxes for most of the game, Florida still churned out 282 rushing yards at 5.4 yards per rush.

Defensively, the Gators defensive line harassed Francois into five sacks, two interceptions and a lost fumble. Junior Jachai Polite led the way with 2.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. He became just the eighth player in school history to record five or more strip sacks in a season.

"That's a man against boys," Gardner-Johnson said. "Jachai, a lot of people see Jachai as just a one-down guy. But today, you can see Jachai affected the quarterback and the runners in different ways just by being there. Like today, basically the whole protection to his side, he's got two guys blocking him, the linebacker and the running back, and he still got a strip-sack."

With the win, the Gators ended FSU's nation-best 36-year bowl streak and appear poised for a New Year's Six bowl.

"They sent us home, and we couldn't play for no bowl game [in 2017]," Gardner-Johnson said. "Not just losing that game, we had to watch them play in the bowl game. I was emphasizing like, 'Listen, we can do the same thing they did to us last year. Just go in there and grind it out and continue to practice and do what we've got to do.' "

It was UF's first victory over FSU since 2012, and it could prove to be a turning point in the future of the rivalry with Mullen and Taggart both in their first seasons.

"A lot of guys on this team has never beaten this team, and it was definitely getting emotional towards the end of the game, guys finally getting the win over this team and finally come out on top," Hammond said.