Tailback Lamical Perine strikes a flex pose after one of his three first-half touchdowns on the way to the Gators' 36-28 victory Monday night over Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
11th Heaven: Perine, Gators Best Virginia in Orange Bowl
Tuesday, December 31, 2019 | Football, Chris Harry
MIAMI GARDENS — Think about where Florida football was just two years ago. For openers, the Gators were home for the holidays and their new coach was less than a month into a rebuild of a program and culture that was coming off a lowly four-win season.
Now, look where they are.
That was Coach Dan Mullen commanding the podium late Monday night, hoisting the Orange Bowl hardware as his orange-and-blue faithful inside Hard Rock Stadium roared with approval after the Gators, the nation's ninth-ranked team (and climbing), posted a 36-28 triumph over No. 24 Virginia that marked a second New Year's Six bowl victory in as many seasons with Mullen on the sidelines.
For the Gators (11-2), they now have the eighth 11-win season in program history, joining the teams from 1993, '95, '96, 2006, '08, '09 and '12, and it comes on the heels of last year's 10-win season that followed a 4-7 record.
"Just under a year ago, this team was born, and we talked about how going from four wins to 10 wins was special, but to go from 10 wins to 11 was going to be a lot harder — and those guys bought in," said Mullen, whose club's lone defeats during 2019 came at unbeaten and now No. 1 LSU, which will play next week for a national championship, and fifth-ranked Georgia, which will play Wednesday in the Sugar Bowl. "They started working last January, and they worked and grinded all season long in everything they did."
And were rightfully rewarded on the big bowl stage.
Make no mistake, this is a program on the rise, with a handful of seniors helping put them there and thus leaving an indelible mark. Like tailback Lamical Perine, who ran for a career-high 138 yards and scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) on his way to Most Valuable Player honors. Like fourth-year junior quarterback Kyle Trask, who came in with Perine's class. Trask overcame an early interception to throw for 305 yards and a touchdown, plus added a key rushing touchdown midway through the fourth period to put his team ahead by two scores. Like wide receiver Van Jefferson, the senior who transferred from Ole Miss and caught six passes for 129 yards in his final turn with the team. And like defensive end Jonathan Greenard, the fifth-year graduate transfer from Louisville who bet his final season on the Florida coaching staff, and won the first bowl game of his career by helping key a defense that had its collective hands full with UVA's big-play quarterback Bryce Perkins, but ultimately did enough.
"These past two years, man, have just been an amazing feeling," Perine said. "Just having a [coach] who knows how to win at Florida and has already won championships … me being able to believe in that and just trusting the process that he had for us, it's been an amazing feeling."
Senior wideout Van Jefferson (12) caught six passes for 129 yards in his final game as a Gator. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
A mix of youth joined the bowl party as well, with sophomore Evan McPherson booting three field goals and true freshman cornerback Kaiir Elam snagging a huge interception — the lone turnover of the game for the Cavaliers (9-5), the Atlantic Conference runners-up — late in the fourth quarter when UVA was threatening to make it a one-possession game.
The Gators finished with 549 yards of total offense, including a season-high 244 yards against a UVA defense that seemed hell-bent all night on selling out to defend the pass. Ultimately, UF was able to get going a running game that finished last in the Southeastern Conference at just 120.3 yards per game, while mixing in some explosive pass plays.
In the end, it was enough to ward off a magnificent game from Perkins, who completed 28 of 40 passes for 323 yards, four touchdowns and the one crucial interception, and was mostly held in check with regard to his threat as a runner (14 carries, 24 yards), As a team, the Cavs totaled 375 yards, but only 52 on the ground.
"Huge win for the program," said Trask, who hit 24 of 39 attempts with one interception. "We just continued to grind every single week, and here we are winning the Orange Bowl. It's pretty incredible."
It took all the "relentless effort" and a full night of playing to the "Gator Standard" that Mullen so frequently cites.
On the game's first snap, Trask had his pass intended for a deep-slanting Jefferson batted into the air and nearly picked off. Close call. On second down, Trask hit tight end Kyle Pitts on the left sideline for 14 yards to the UF 39. Snap three ended in the end zone, courtesy of a 61-yard dash by Perine for a quick 7-0 lead just 40 seconds in.
UVA, meanwhile, was thwarted on its first possession when Perkins, from the shotgun, took the snap and blasted toward the line on third-and-1. Linebacker David Reese and lineman Kyree Campbell walled up and forced a Cavs punt. Trask, though, gave the ball right back when he tried to force a pass to Freddie Swain on the Cavaliers sideline and was picked off by diving cornerback Nick Grant.
On first down from the UF 34, Perkins dropped into a clean pocket and let fly a pass into the end zone where wideout Terrell Jana, who'd ran past Trey Dean, made the catch for a scoring drive of seven seconds (33 less than Florida's) and the 7-7 tied.
The Gators retook the lead on the next series, but took their time doing it this time: 13 plays, 75 yards, 5:01. A 19-yard completion to Perine on a middle screen and a 17-yard dash by change-of-pace quarterback Emory Jones helped move UF to the UVA 16. On third-and-10, Trask threw short and to the left, where Perine was isolated on a linebacker and beat his defender with ease for the 14-7 lead.
Not for long.
The Florida defense had its hands full with UVA quarterback Bryce Perkins, but did manage three sacks, including this one keyed by senior linebacker David Reese at the bottom of the scrum. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
The Cavs showed they could put together a lengthy drive, with Perkins and Hasise Dubois (10 catches, 83 yards, 2 TDs) finishing it off in spectacular fashion. After converting both a fourth-and-1 and third-and-8 on pass plays, Perkins faced a third-and-8 from the UF 9 on the first play of the second quarter. The Gators got a monster rush on the big QB, who jumped over one tackle attempt, bought time moving to his right and lobbed the ball into the back of the end zone. That's where Dubois, locked up in man-to-man coverage from cornerback Marco Wilson, jumped, snared the pass and came down in traffic with both feet in bounds to tie the game at 14.
"Their quarterback was pretty slippery," UF sophomore defensive tackle Zachary Carter said.
Added Greenard: "He made our jobs a lot harder, so hats off to him, but hey, we got a 'W,' so ain't got to worry about him no more."
Florida made it 17-14 with a 23-yard field goal by McPherson. The Gators, who got a 27-yard run from Perine on their 14-play march, had to settle for three points when the offense bogged down after a first-and-goal from the Virginia 6. That sequence was followed by a second stop by the Florida defense, with Ventrell Miller and Khris Bogle combining for UF's first sack of Perkins on a third-and-6. UF took the ensuing punt and quickly got a 37-yard completion from Trask to Jefferson to the Virginia 37. The Gators faced a first-and-25 after Pitts was called an offensive pass interference penalty, but they got the yardage back, with Trask hitting Swain on fourth-and-7, to keep the march alive. An 8-yard Trask-to-Jefferson completion kept it going some more, and Perine finished things off with a 10-yard touchdown, his third score of the game, with 2:13 left in the half to put the Gators up 24-14.
The third quarter basically was an exchange of punts — five straight, starting with the Cavs' opening possession — until the Gators cobbled together an eight-play march of 58 yards that ended with McPherson's 49-yard field goal and 27-14 advantage.
UVA didn't go away. On the first play of the next series (and last snap of the quarter), Perkins hit tight end Tanner Conley for a 52-yard gain to the UF 23. Six plays later, on third-and-5 from the 7, Perkins brought his offense to the line in something resembling the "Emory & Henry" formation of Steve Spurrier fame. Perkins flared a pass into the right flat that wideout Joe Reed took into the end zone to make the score 27-21 with 13:05.
Just like that, it was a one-possession game.
Then it wasn't, thanks to a huge fourth-down conversion and another big run from Perine.
UF faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 44 when Mullen elected to go for it. An option left by Trask, who audibled to the play at the line, and pitch to Perine got two yards.
"He checked to the pitch to the outside because they had everybody lined up inside," Mullen said. "It was a great check by Kyle, great job by Lamical, obviously a veteran player knowing what he needed to do to get the first down and all those things."
On the next snap, Trask hit Tyrie Cleveland down the middle seam for 30 yards to the UVA 24. Then Perine took off for what officials first ruled to be a 24-yard touchdown run, until a review showed the back's top stepped out of bounds at the 1. Perine was denied his fourth touchdown when Trask kept the ball on a run-pass option and scored himself to make it 33-21 inside 10 minutes remaining, as an attempt at two-point conversion failed.
Freshman cornerbackKaiir Elam (5) makes a leaping interception near the goal line on a Bryce Perkins pass intended for wideout Hasise Dubois with just over five minutes in the game. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Back came Perkins who nudged the Cavs to the Gators' 17 and was threatening to pull his team within a single possession until his fade route up the right sideline for Dubois was picked off by a leaping Elam at the UF 3 with just over five minutes left. Elam, remember, replaced All-American CJ Henderson, the junior standout who begged out of the bowl game to begin concentrating on the NFL draft.
"The biggest thing I learned this year?" Elam said, repeating a question he was asked in the postgame locker room. "I had to grow up, had to be a man early because I was thrown in as a freshman, and that's what was expected."
After Trask hit Jefferson for 53 yards on first down, UF managed to work to the Cavs' 25, where McPherson made the score 36-21 with his third field goal of the game, a 43-yarder with 2:32 remaining. Perkins and UVA tacked one more score on the board, with his fourth touchdown strike of the game going to Dubois with 38 seconds left to close the Florida lead to eight. Just enough time to for an onside kick attempt that was covered up by Swain to ice the game.
"We were a few plays short," UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall said.
The Gators, yes, were a few plays better than the Cavs, but also a handful of plays better than a very good team of a year ago. That's the idea. That was the plan when Mullen came on board a little more than two years ago.
UF is 21-5 since.
Defensive tackle Kyree Campbellshares a season-ending embrace with teammate Adam Shuler in the aftermath of UF's win Monday night. (Photo: Anissa Dimilta/UAA Communications)
"I believe that in the future the Gators are going to be a problem," Jefferson said, turning his head toward his coach. "He brought the Gator standard back."
The next goal, of course, is to build on it.
"We've got to work harder next year than we did this year and try to get from 11 to 12," Mullen said. "Once you get to 12, you might get a chance at a couple extra ones."
