FAYETTEVILLE, Ark – Florida’s 38-7 victory over Arkansas Saturday improved the Gators’ lead in the series to 7-1 since the teams first met in the 1982 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston. Arkansas won that first game 28-24 and the Gators have won the next season, including two in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. The second of those victories, 38-28, came during Florida’s 2006 national championship season.
The Gators are now 35-9 in Urban Meyer’s four seasons as head coach. Meyer is now 74-17 in eight seasons as a head coach including two-year stints at Bowling Green and Utah. Meyer is now 14-2 following a loss in his coaching career, including 7-1 with the Gators. Meyer-coached teams have dropped back-to-back teams only twice during his eight-year career. While at Bowling Green, he lost Mid-American Conference games to Northern Illinois (Nov. 9, 2002) and South Florida (when the Bulls were in the MAC before moving into the Big East) the following week. Last year, Florida lost back-to-back games to Auburn (Sept. 29) and at LSU (Oct. 6).
Junior quarterback Tim Tebow saw his string of consecutive passes thrown without an interception end at 204 when he underthrew a wide-open Tebow’s 204 passes without an interception is 83 more than the previous school record of 121 set by Danny Wuerffel during the 1995 and ’96 seasons. It is the third longest string in the Southeastern Conference, trailing the 325 passes thrown without an interception by Kentucky’s Andre Woodson in 2006 and ’07 and the 214 thrown by Georgia’s David Greene in 2004. The interception Saturday came on Tebow’s 22nd pass attempt of the afternoon.
The interception by Tebow was the only one by the Gators Saturday against the Razorbacks, who surrendered an interception (by Joe Haden) and fumble (recovered by Brandon James) to the Gators, who are now a +8 in turnovers (12 turnovers gained, 4 turnovers given away) this season.
Florida scored all three times – two touchdowns and a field goal – it got into the red zone (inside the opponents’ 20-yard line) Saturday against the Razorbacks and now is 17-of-18 and has been perfect four games. The one time the Gators did not score in the red zone was at the end of the 30-6 victory at Tennessee when Florida went on fourth-and-9 at the Tennessee 12.
Meyer noted following the game that the Gators played without “8-9” players who are considered starters. Offensively, Carl Johnson got the start at left guard with the shoulder injury to Jim Tartt; Marcus Gilbert, who would have started for Tartt, also was injured; James got the start at running back instead of Kestahn Moore and Emmanuel Moody, both of whom were injured. Defensively, neither Dustin Doe (double hernia) nor Ryan Stamper (ankle) played.
Redshirt sophomore Brandon Antwine (nose tackle) and sophomore Torrey Davis (defensive tackle) both dressed for the game as did redshirt sophomore guard Ron Wilson. Davis saw his first action of the year in the second quarter, while Wilson played on special teams.
Senior placekicker Jonathan Phillips hit a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter and now is 6-for-6 on his 3-pointers this season. He has hit 22 of 23 point-after-touchdown kicks, the one miss being the blocked PAT last week by Mississippi.
The two teams combined for 21 penalties totaling 185 yards. The Gators saw 12 yellow flags totaling 110 yards.
The Gators had the edge in possession time, 33:10 to 26:50, thanks to an 11:10-3:50 edge in the third quarter. After halftime, the Gators controlled the clock 18:36 of the 30 minutes.
A week ago the Gators were 1 of 11 on third-down conversions against Mississippi. Saturday, they were 6 of 13 on third-down plays and went 3-for-3 on fourth-down conversions.
Safety Major Wright and cornerback Joe Haden led the defense with 11 tackles. Wright had eight solo stops, Haden 7 and Brandon Spikes had 6 (7 total).
The Gators had four sacks of Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick – tackle Lawrence Marsh, end Carlos Dunlap, end Duke Lemmens and tackle Matt Patchan. The Gators now have 13 sacks for 66 yards while they have surrendered 7 sacks for 53 yards.
Next Saturday’s game against Louisiana State will be played at 8 p.m. in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and will be the second half of a CBS Sports national doubleheader. The first game will be Tennessee and Georgia from Athens, Ga., at 3:30 p.m.