Florida football: Gators overcome early missteps in win

Everyone expected a Florida football blowout. Despite the fact the Gators pummeled the Towson Tigers, it wasn’t without some intrigue Saturday.

There was a lot of talk before Saturday that the Towson Tigers presented a trap game for Florida football.

And, there were some series that some may have thought that would be true.

However, redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Trask was ice, the Florida football running game got a little momentum and the defense … ah, the defense.

Regardless, No. 9 Florida dispatched of FCS-ranked Towson, 38-0 Saturday evening at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

It was the ninth-straight win for the Gators, dating back to last season. It’s also the first time Florida had two shutouts in a season in some time.

But, back to the defense.

Coming into Saturday, the Florida football defense was tops in the nation in sacks and led the Southeastern Conference in interceptions.

But, they had not faced a quarterback the caliber of fifth-year senior Tom Flacco.

In the first half, while they didn’t score any points, the Tigers did mount drives of 12, 12 and eight plays. That was against the Florida defense.

Flacco accounted for more than 40 of Towson’s 60 yards on the ground in the first half as he exploited blitz coverage thrown by the Gators.

Flacco added 82 yards passing against Florida football in the first half, which was enough to scare some (myself included) at halftime, despite the Gators holding a 17-0 lead.

Trask, on the other hand, was lights-out.

He went 12-for-12 in the first half with 139 yards and one passing and one rushing touchdown. For the game, Trask connected with tight end Kyle Pitts twice in the end zone — including this one in the third quarter:

https://twitter.com/IMGAudio/status/1178066659564773378

The Florida football running game also got into the action, but not from the player you would think.

Dameon Pierce led the way for the Gators with a touchdown in the third quarter:

https://twitter.com/IMGAudio/status/1178068462561832960

But, after getting beaten up in the first half, the Gator defense crushed Towson’s offense in the second.

Despite allowing Towson another 12-play drive into the fourth quarter, the defense came up big with its fourth sack of the day, dropping Flacco back for a 14-yard loss. Subsequently, the 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Adam Shuler.

On the next drive, Emory Jones came in at quarterback, replacing Trask — who finished the game going 18-for-20 for 188 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

And Jones seemed to pick up where Trask left off, starting his first drive of the game going 2-for-2 for 37 yards before he took off on a run that saw him nearly score from 30 yards out before his knee went down at the 1.

The drive was capped when Jones hit Keon Zipperer with a 2-yard strike, putting the Gators up 38-0 midway through the fourth quarter.

From there, Flacco was taken out of the game. He ended his day going 16-for-27 for 157 yards, two interceptions and he was sacked four times.

For Jones, he continued to make the most of his time on the field, starting 6-for-6 — including three passes to Zipperer.

His first incomplete pass was an attempt to Jacob Copeland that would have resulted in a 43-yard touchdown pass, but it fell just short — meaning neither Jones nor Trask could complete a deep pass against the Tigers.

Trask’s longest pass was 32 yards while Jones completed a 25-yard pass. But, the duo did combine to go 24-for-28 with no interceptions and 262 yards.

The Florida football defense finally got the upper hand of Towson’s offense, holding the Tigers to under 70 yards on the ground while the Gator rushing attack amassed 160 yards, led by Pierce’s 84 yards on six carries.

Now, No. 9 Florida football will prepare for No. 7 Auburn who comes to The Swamp next Saturday.