Florida Football: Six plays that could have flipped Gators season

Florida Football: Third-and-Toney

If we are speaking strictly of one play, that if flipped, would have guaranteed victory for Florida then the end-of-game hail mary would be the choice. But that is a low percentage play and it’s unrealistic to cling to flipping that.

For a normal defense that isn’t last in the country at third down conversions, stopping third-and-ten on Tennessee’s 12-yard line should have had a higher percentage. But with 1:15 left in the first half and Florida football winning 14-10, Hendon Hooker escaped a sack from Brenton Cox and found Princeton Fant for 10 yards to keep the drive alive. Tennessee would go on to finish off the 99-yard drive for a touchdown and we know what happened from there.

If Cox gets the sack there, or Florida just knows how to play zone defense, then Richardson would have gotten the ball back around midfield with over a minute left to work with. At a minimum, it’s reasonable to think that Florida gets a field goal in that situation and goes into the half with a 17-10 lead. A quick TD and Florida could have led 21-10 at the half.

But no, instead Florida was trailing 17-14 and it was a completely different game in the second half because of the failure to stop Tennessee on third-and-ten from the 12-yard line.