Florida football: Gators more complete in 45-0 win over UT-Martin Skyhawks

I know they weren’t playing Miami, but Florida football seemed to have a more complete performance Saturday night in a 45-0 win over the UT-Martin Skyhawks.

Florida football quarterback Feleipe Franks went a long way to silencing his critics Saturday night against the UT-Martin Skyhawks.

Franks went 25-for-27 with two touchdowns and 270 yards as No. 11 Florida demolished the Skyhawks, 45-0 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Saturday night.

But, the game did come with some cost.

The Gators did see injuries to wide receiver Kadarius Toney and corner C.J. Henderson. The prognosis of those injuries is not yet known.

But, the injury to Toney, opened the door for Jacob Copeland, who pulled down three catches and this touchdown — from Kyle Trask no less, in the fourth quarter.

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The night, however, didn’t belong to just one player.

Franks started the game going 15-for-15 with a pair of touchdowns. He would end the game in the third quarter, going 25-for-27 for 270 yards and two scores — much better than his outing against Miami, where he went 17-for-27 with a pair of interceptions.

Even though the offensive line still struggled a bit, Lamical Perine found a bit of his game — getting 51 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

Perine got his first score of the season from five yards out, capping an 11-play, 66-yard drive late in the third quarter.

Overall, after rushing for just 86 yards total two weeks ago, Florida football more than doubled that tally against the Skyhawks.

On defense, the Gators just carried over their dominance of the Hurricanes in Week 0 by stifling the UT-Martin running game and never letting quarterback John Bachus get any kind of momentum.

For the game, the Skyhawks had 194 yards of total offense — including just 54 yards on the ground —  while the Gators added four more sacks to their 10 against Miami.

It was a slow start, but the Gators scored on their first possession when Evan McPherson booted home a 32-yard field goal.

Then, in the second quarter, Franks and the Florida football offense found a groove.

After UT-Martin was forced to punt, Franks marched the Gators 92 yards on five plays, capped by a 69-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson.

Just 3 minutes, 35 seconds later, Franks completed a 4-play, 55-yard drive with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Tyrie Cleveland, putting the Gators up 16-0 with five minutes left in the first half.

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The Gators held the Skyhawks to minus-12 yards rushing and just 66 yards in the air. The Florida offense, on the other hand, had 160 yards in the air, thanks to Franks’ pinpoint precision on 15-for-16 passing.

Florida football got the ball to start the second half and wasted no time building its lead.

Using just 3:01 off the clock, the Gator offense went 51 yards on seven plays before Malik Davis rushed over the left side for a 1-yard score. It was Davis’ first score since 2017 — Davis suffered a season-ending injury last season against after just three games.

Meanwhile, the Gators’ defense continued to manhandle UT-Martin and quarterback John Bachus.

After Bachus went 4-for-4 to start the game, he was 8-for-15 after that, including throwing an interception to Kaiir Elam in the end zone early in the fourth quarter.

After Franks called it a night in the fourth, back-up quarterbacks Trask and Emory Jones both got in the mix.

Trask hit Copeland for a 9-yard touchdown in the opening seconds of the fourth and Jones closed out a 6-play, 78-yard drive with a rushing touchdown from 16 yards out.

Florida football closed out the game with 231 yards on the ground and 312 yards in the air.

Just what they need to propel them into their first true road game of the season when they travel to Lexington to take on Kentucky in the SEC opener next weekend.