Gators redshirt sophomore cornerback Jalen Kimber (8) races 39 yards to the end zone with a second-quarter interception during Saturday night's 31-28 win over the Bulls. (Photo: Jordan McKendrick/UAA Communications)
Gators Benefit From Late Gaffes by Bulls
Sunday, September 18, 2022 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The South Florida Bulls boarded their buses late Saturday night and must have relived (and bemoaned) a couple brutal last-minute center snaps over and over all the way down Interstate-75 back to Tampa.
Conversely, the Florida Gators no doubt appreciated the visitors' ill-timed miscues that helped the home team overcome a couple costly second-half mistakes of its own and get out of Spurrier/Florida Field with a 31-28 come-from-behind victory over their cross-state foe.
Spencer Shrader missed a 49-yard field goal that would have tied the game with 23 seconds to play, but the USF junior kicker never really had a chance, as his holder fumbled a clean snap and denied Shrader a solid sweep at the ball. That mishap came just two snaps after Bulls offensive center Brad Cecil, with 44 seconds to go, grounded an exchange past quarterback Gerry Bohanon — on a second-and-5 at the UF 18, with chance to score a touchdown and win the game — for a 14-yard loss that pushed the Bulls all the way back to the 33.
Instead, it was a 3-yard touchdown run by freshman tailback Trevor Etienne with just over five minutes left that proved the difference on a night the Gators (2-1) were out-gained 402 to 329 in total offense by an American Athletic Conference team that has beaten just one FBS program over the last three seasons. UF managed despite a second straight tough night from sophomore quarterback Anthony Richardson, who completed 10 of 18 passes for 112 yards and threw two second-half interceptions, while being held to only 24 yards on seven rushing attempts.
"We put the ball in his hands and ask him to do a lot," Gators coach Billy Napier said. "He's going to make mistakes."
All told, the Florida performance was far cry from last year's 42-20 rout of USF in Tampa, when the Gators rolled up 666 yards of total offense — the highest single-game total by the program since Tim Tebow's 2008 national-championship season — on a September afternoon when Richardson threw TDs of 75 and 51 yards to go with an 80-yard scoring dash.
What offensive punch the Gators did have this go-round came almost exclusively from their three-headed tailback monster of Montrell Johnson Jr. (six carries, 106 yards), Etienne (8 carries, 56 yards) and Nay'Quan Wright (6 carries, 36 yards). The trio combined to rush 20 times for 196 yards (that's 9.8 per carry) and each scored a touchdown, as UF finished with 217 on the ground as a team.
"We've got to get better as a team," Johnson said. "I don't think they could play with us to be honest with you. We have to get better as a team. Get better as a unit, an offensive unit."
But the Bulls (1-2), who punted just once and totaled 23 first downs and gave up just 17, did play with them (all night long) and were right there at the end. Tailback Brian Battie carried 17 times for 150 yards and a score, while Bohanon had 103 on 15 carries and a score, but also helped cancel out Richardson's big turnovers with a couple interceptions of his own, including a 39-yard first-half pick-six from redshirt sophomore cornerback Jalen Kimber, the transfer from Georgia.
"We came here to win the game," South Florida coach Jeff Scott said after falling to 4-20 in his three seasons. "This hurts."
A fumble on USF's first drive of the game led to an Adam Mihalek field goal of 31 yards and 3-0 lead for the Gators. The Bulls then made a statement with a 12-play, 81-yard drive, along the way converting a third-and-18 on a draw up the middle and a third-and-3 near midfield. Their last three plays on the drive were runs of 23, 12 and the final 10, untouched, by Battie, also up the gut of the UF defense for a 7-3 lead with 1:21 to play in the first period. Clearly, Florida was missing sixth-year senior and standout inside linebacker Ventrell Miller, out since the first quarter last week with a lower body injury.
It took the Gators three plays to retake the lead. On the first play of the second quarter, Johnson, who followed Napier from the University of Louisiana, busted off the left side for a 62-yard house-call TD to put UF in front 10-7.
The score settled the crowd down, but not for long. On USF's ensuing possession, the Bulls faced a fourth-and-inches at their own 30 and, after a timeout, opted to go for it. The play design was a perfect, with two Bulls receivers shifting from the left side to the right, taking UF defenders across the field. On the snap, Bohanon pitched left to Battie — to the weak side — where the Gators had no defenders off the edge. The play went for 51 yards to the Florida 15, where the Gators eventually made the Bulls settle for a 22-yard Shrader chip shot field goal that tied the game at 10-each inside barely four minutes into the second period.
Florida made it 17-10, but needed a gift from USF in the form of a 15-yard personal foul on safety Matthew Hill after the Bulls had stopped a Gators screen pass on third-and-15 from the 18 well short of the line to gain. Instead, Wright's 7-yard scoring run completed a 12-play, 88-yard drive, with the big hitter a 33-yard sideline strike on a second-and-20 from the UF 18 from Richardson to sophomore wideout Trent Whittemore for his first reception of the season. It was 17-10 for the home team with 4:45 to play before halftime.
Florida quarterback Anthony Richardsonhad a second straight uneven performance Saturday, including a couple interceptions that led to USF scores. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
After a couple running plays netted a USF first down — as the Bulls had 216 yards on the ground in the first half alone — Bohanon tried to stick a slant route on the right side for Holden Willis, but Kimber beat Willis to the ball, nabbed the first interception of his career and went 39 yards for the touchdown and two-score lead with 3:10 left to the break.
A 49-yard field by Shrader with 10 seconds to go sent the teams to the locker room with the Gators up 24-13.
The angst returned to the UF faithful almost instantly to start the third quarter. Richardson, with time in the pocket, hit Boyles in the chest with a pass over the middle. The backer returned the interception 37 yards to the UF 18 and Bohanon scored on a 6-yard quarterback keeper to make it 24-19. The Bulls added a two-point conversion on a razzle-dazzle double-pass, with wideout Sean Atkins taking a swing lateral and pitching to wideout Xavier Weaver wide open in the back of the end zone. It was 24-21 early in the third.
"That game showed we can play with anybody," Bohanon said.
UF went a third possession of the half without a first down and surrendered a short punt that Bohanon turned into a 10-play, 51-yard go-ahead scoring drive finished by a 1-yard scoring run by backup tailback Michel Dukes to go ahead 28-24 with 11:14 to go in the game.
The Gators appeared to have an answer — and gave themselves a shot to retake the lead, only to shoot themselves in the foot. A splendid 30-yard Richardson-to-Justin Shorter completion moved the ball into USF territory. Johnson had runs of 10, 6 and 18 yards to give UF a first-and-goal at the 5. That's where the UF bench called for a run-pass option and Richardson opted for the former.
"I have no issue with the decision. It's how he threw it," Napier said. "Simple play, got to be executed better."
Richardson tried to fit a throw to Shorter across the goal line at the left-front pylon. Bulls cornerback Aamaris Brown was all over the play and intercepted the pass in the end zone for a killer turnover and touchback right in front of the gathering of USF fans and their band in the southeast corner of the end zone.
"I just didn't give him a chance to make a play on the ball," Richardson said.
Three plays later, though, Bohanon returned the favor when he overthrew his receiver on third down and UF defensive back Tre'Vez Johnson dove to the ground for the interception at the Bulls' 28. The Gators needed just four plays — no passes this time, but rather all runs by Etienne, the last for three yards — to go up 31-28 with 5:05 to play.
USF had its one last chance, but everything turned in Florida's favor. In a snap.
Two snaps, actually.
"We got a lot of work to do. That's very obvious," Napier said. "But credit to our team for sticking together and finding a way to win."
