TALLAHASSEE — A wild, unpredictable close to college football’s regular season didn’t reach Florida’s state capitol, where the heavily favored Gators left nothing to chance against Florida State.
A workmanlike 31-11 win over the Seminoles continued UF’s recent run of big wins and ended a two-game losing streak against FSU.
On a day featuring Michigan’s stunning win at Ohio State, Miami’s loss at Syracuse and South Carolina’s win at Clemson, Florida (7-5) dominated its hapless archrival FSU (2-10). Emotions ran high when the clock expired, with players scuffling at midfield for a few minutes before order was restored.
“What happened at the end of the game is not who we want to be as a program,” UF coach Billy Napier said. “It’s embarrassing to me and a distraction from really well-played football game. We shouldn’t have done that, and we won’t do that moving forward.
“There will be consequences for everyone involved.”
The Gators’ performance wasn’t pretty, either, but it was effective against the sloppy Seminoles.
Florida’s players and coaches celebrated with cigars as smoke filled the tunnel near the visitor’s locker room.
“FSU flavor,” veteran linebacker Shemar James said.
A 65-yard touchdown run by senior Montrell Johnson Jr. iced the game and gave him more than 3,000 career rushing yards. UF ended the night with 356 yards, including just 30 during the third quarter, but didn’t need much against a FSU offense averaging just 13.3 points against FBS competition.
“We didn’t have our fastball on offense,” Napier said. “We had some missed opportunities.”
Florida’s defensive front overwhelmed a makeshift Seminoles’ offensive line featuring nine different starting combinations in 2024.
The Gators recorded a season-high 8 sacks, including 2 by defensive tackle Cam Jackson who left the game after the first offensive snap but returned with his right ankle heavily taped. Sophomore linebacker Jaden Robinson of Lake City, located 90 minutes due east on I-10, also had 2 sacks, while end Tyreak Sapp continued his recent tear with a sack and another tackle for loss, giving him 8 during UF’s three-game winning streak.
Mistakes doomed Florida State as the Seminoles ended their worst season since a 1-10 finish in 1973.
FSU fumbled eight times, with the five of them recovered by the Gators. The most costly occurred with the game still in the balance.
Facing 2nd-and-goal from the Gators’ 3 late in the third quarter, freshman tailback Kam Davis bobbled a pitch and George Gumbs Jr. recovered to end the scoring threat and preserve a 17-3 UF lead.
Florida converted two of the miscues into 10 points, while the other ended the Seminoles’ best drive when James wrestled away the ball from tailback Lawrance Toafili at the Gators’ 20 and UF leading 7-0.
Edge rusher Jack Pyburn set the tone early when he flattened FSU true freshman quarterback Luke Kromenhoek to force a fumble recovered by former Orlando Jones standout D’Antre Robinson on the FSU 14. Ja’Kobi Jackson followed with runs of 13 and 1 yard to start the scoring.
A 4-yard touchdown pass from Florida quarterback DJ Lagway to Marcus Burke stretched Florida’s lead to 14-0 and gave the Gators a cushion with 25 seconds remaining in a first half lacking offensive fireworks.
Lagway, as usual, provided most of them to become the first Florida true freshman QB in five tries to beat Florida State. The performance included another great escape, which set social media ablaze and spotlighted the 19-year-old’s big-play ability.
Early in the second quarter, FSU defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. appeared to have Lagway in his grasp and dead to rights on 2nd-and-8 in UF territory. As he was falling behind, the 6-foot-3, 239-pound Lagway maintained his balance, shucked the 6-foot-5, 330-pound Jackson, gained his footing, squared his shoulders and fired a 17-yard strike to Chimere Dike along the sideline.
But a Lagway interception in the end zone eventually ended the drive when Dike and Burke ended up in the same vicinity and Azareye’h Thomas came up with the ball.
The miscue only delayed the inevitable and gave Napier’s program a much-needed win.
A 24-15 home loss to the unbeaten Seminoles in 2023 ended a 5-7 season for the Gators, while UF’s 45-38 loss in 2022 was the fourth in season-ending five game skid.
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
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