Gators Get Reality Check in the Swamp

Saturday, September 10

Gainesville, Fla.

7 PM

Florida Gators

1-1 , 0-1

Kentucky

2-0 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Kentucky

Florida

Billy Napier was handed his first loss on the UF sidelines Saturday night.

Gators Get Reality Check in the Swamp

Sunday, September 11, 2022 | Football, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The mood in the "Swamp" late Saturday night was decidedly different than it was exactly one week earlier.

It's back to the proverbial drawing board for the Gators.

Kentucky quarterback Will Levis passed for 202 yards, ran for a touchdown and threw for another, but it was cornerback Keidron Smith's 65-yard interception return of an Anthony Richardson pass for the go-ahead score that keyed the 20th-ranked Wildcats' 26-16 upset of the No. 12 Gators at Spurrier/Florida Field. Even after the gut-punching pick-6, the home team had its chances to tie the score, but the UK defense flummoxed Richardson and made his heroics from last week's big win over Utah a distant memory.

Richardson finished 14 of 35 (just 40 percent) for 143 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, both of which led to Cats' TDs. And after dazzling for 106 rushing yards and a career-high three scores against the then-No. 7 Utes, including a 45-yard scoring dash, "AR" ran just six times for four yards against a UK defense that held UF to just 279 total yards, four of 16 third-down conversions and no points after halftime.

"We made mistakes tonight. Anthony made mistakes. I made mistakes," Florida coach Billy Napier said after suffering his first loss on the Gators' sideline. "That's the beautiful thing about the game of football. It requires hundreds of people to have success, but hundreds of people contribute when you don't maybe get the result that you want. I think sometimes the quarterback position, you get that spotlight put on you. Reality is there's things around you that can be done that will contribute to quarterback play. One thing I know about Anthony is he's a fighter. He's going to show back up and he's going to work hard to improve. He has that level of investment and commitment to the players and the people in the organization."

Richardson showed up at the post-game podium and took the bullets.

"I feel like I let everybody down, especially the defense," Richardson said after overseeing an offense that managed just 91 yards on 31 plays after halftime (or 2.9 yards per play). "I looked everybody on the defense in the eye and I told them I got them and I was going to put up points for them. Obviously, I didn't."

Levis only put up 19 points, but it ended up being enough, especially with how his defensive mates rolled into a hostile environment and took control. Levis, a projected top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, hit 13 of his 24 attempts for 202 yards, but also heaved a 55-yard touchdown to wide receiver Dane Key (3 catches, 83 yards) and rushed two yards for a score, both plays coming in the second quarter. Tailback Kavosiey Smoke carried 14 times for 80 yards.

Then there was the Cats' defense, which fashioned a second straight victory in the UF-UK series, something that had not happened since the 1976 and '77 seasons. And after losing 31 straight in the series from 1987-2017, Kentucky (2-0, 1-0) has now won three of the last five, dating to 2018.

"You've got to be a tough son-of-a-bee to come into this place and win," Coach Mark Stoops said after winning his 61st game at Kentucky and moving past the iconic Paul "Bear" Bryant and into the top spot on the Cats' all-time victory list. "That's what we showed. We may win or lose, but we're tough."

They won despite trailing 16-7 late in the second quarter and by forcing Richardson into big mistakes.

The Gators (1-1, 0-1) found the scoreboard first on a 37-yard field goal from Adam Mihalek after Richardson moved the offense 30 yards in five plays, with a 24-yard completion to Ricky Pearsall accounting for almost all of the drive.

The next four drives were empty ones, but the Wildcats got on the board — and grabbed the lead — after Levis hit a 12-yard competition to tight end Keaton Upshaw to the UK 45, then dropped a 55-yard bomb over the top of the defense. Key was on the receiving end, skying over defensive back Jalen Kimber and coming down with the football for a spectacular scoring catch and a 7-3 Kentucky lead at the 12:25 mark of the second quarter.

On Florida's first snap of the next drive, sophomore tailback Montrell Johnson Jr. broke a 40-yard run off left tackle before being forced out of bounds at the Kentucky 35. The next three plays, though, netted zero yards and the Gators had to settle for a field goal, albeit a 50-yarder from Mihalek, playing in just his second collegiate game. The score was 7-6 with 10 minutes left in the half.

Four minutes later, the Gators had the lead, courtesy of big plays on both sides of the ball.

**Gervon Dexter Sr**. (9) comes off the field after his first-half interception that set up the Gators' lone touchdown of the game. (Photo: **Courtney Culbreath**/UAA Communications)

Defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. bull-rushed into a sack of Levis, with the ball popping into the air and into the diving arms of defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr., giving UF a first down at the UK 34. On third-and-4, freshman tailback Trevor Etienne broke off the right side for 15 yards to the 13, and on second down from the 11, Etienne's scoring run gave the Gators a 12-7 lead. On the UF sidelines, Napier gave it next to no thought and kept his offense on the field for a two-point conversion.

Richardson stuck a short pass into Etienne's chest to make it 14-7 with 5:49 to go before the break.

The lead went to 16-7 after Kentucky's ensuing three-and-out when long-snapper Cade Degraw airmailed the ball about two stories over the head of punter Chance Poore, who turned and raced some 40 yards to boot the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety at the 4:12 mark.

Few would have figured that from that point on it would be all Kentucky.

"This place was rocking," Stoops said.

Then it wasn't so much. After giving the Gators the ball via the post-safety free kick, the Wildcats flipped the field. On third-and-3, Richardson rolled right and tried to throw a short pass for tight end Keon Zipperer that was intercepted by linebacker Jordan Wright. He went 18 yards on the return before being wrapped and downed by Richardson at the UF 5.

Four plays later — and a roughing-the-QB call against blitzing defensive back Trey Dean III— the Cats were in the end zone on a 2-yard keeper by Levis to make it 16-13 with 1:25 to go. That's how it stayed because another bad snap, this time low, blew the point-after.

The Cats threatened to take the lead midway through the third quarter, but the UF defense stiffened and Mark Ruffolo's 24-yard field goal tied the score at 16 and capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive keyed by a right-place, right-time Levis-to-Chauncey Magwood 25-yard completion off a tipped pass.

Then came the play of the game.

After benefiting from some good luck on their last offensive possession, the Cats benefited from some bad communication by the Gators' on their ensuing possession. UF had a first down at the UK 39, when Richardson dropped, turned, and immediately fired a pass for tailback Nay'Quan Wright, who was split out wide right. Richardson apparently was expecting Wright to check up. Instead, Wright kept running upfield.

Smith did not.

"I threw it right to the dude," Richardson said.

Smith step right into the throw, picked it and went 65 yards for the score and 23-16 lead with 3:25 left in the third quarter.

The Gators had three possessions with a chance to tie the score, and were even gifted a missed Ruffolo field goal from just 38 yards, to breathe life into the home crowd. Those three possession opportunities went like this:

* Four plays, 17 yards, punt.
* Six plays, 20 yards, failed fourth down.
* Four plays, four yards, failed fourth down.

"We had some opportunities early. We had some issues in protection," Napier said. "I think they did a good job of defending us, in particular in the third quarter. We had them in position. We had miscues, we turned the ball over."

That latter drive ended at the UF 24. The Wildcats took over and moved to the Florida 8, where Ruffolo didn't miss this time. His chip shot, put-away field goal made it a 10-point cushion with 1:24 left and sent the scattering of blue-and-white-clad fans by the visitors' tunnel into celebration.

"I think coaching is a lot like teaching," Napier said. "When the students don't perform as well as you want them to, I think as a coach and as a teacher, you got to take a good look in the mirror. That's exactly what I'm going to do, what our staff is going to do... I think when we evaluate this game there is no question, we didn't earn the right to win. We made too many mistakes. I think the film will say that."