The Florida Gators upset No.9 Texas 29-21 inside the Swamp on Saturday evening, snapping a three game losing streak to improve to 2-3 (1-1 SEC) on the 2025 season.
Gator Country provides five early takeaways from the win.
Florida set the tone early
From the jump Florida’s offense was playing at a higher level than they had all season. There was an energy and confidence within the group that has been missing through four games of the 2025 season. The Gators set the tone early with a dominant 13 play, 85 yard touchdown drive to open the game. It was the first time Florida had scored a touchdown on their first offensive possession in a game against a power four opponent since UCF on October 5th of 2024, almost exactly a year ago today.
The Gators were a perfect 3-3 on third downs, making a clear effort to get the ball in the hands of their play makers in space. Jadan Baugh, who’s name was called 27 times in contest, carried the rock eight times on the opening drive before finding the end zone on a five yard run.
Dallas downs Texas
Freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson made an immediate impact in Gainesville. The 6’3, 213 pound receiver led Florida in receiving with six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Among true freshman making their first career start, Wilson set the UF record in all three statistics.
The highlight of his game was a 55 yard touchdown to put the Gators up two scores near the end of the third quarter. Wilson has real run after the catch ability which is unique for someone his size.
Florida has been without Wilson due to a lower body injury, but the dynamic receiver provided the Gators’ offense a spark in week six with his ability to make game changing plays.
People around the program will refer to Wilson as the best receiver on the team, which certainly looked like the case in his Gators’ debut. Florida made an effort to get Wilson the ball early and often in the victory.
Defense swarms Manning
The Gators’ defense continues to impress. Florida swarmed redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning all evening, sacking him six times in the contest. Even when they weren’t bringing Manning down for a loss, they were constantly putting him on the ground and making his job very difficult. The Gators also got creative on defense, sending several cornerback blitz’s that Texas had no answer for. Cornerbacks Devin Moore and Sharif Denson both had a sack in the contest.
Outside of a few long scrambles from Manning, Texas couldn’t get anything going in the run game. The Longhorn running backs ran the ball 11 times for just 15 yards. This routinely put Texas in third and long which allowed for Florida’s front seven to get after the quarterback.
Career day for DJ Lagway
It’s been a long offseason and start of the 2025 season for sophomore DJ Lagway. The 6’3, 247 pound quarterback hadn’t looked like himself through four games, but week six was a different story. Lagway had a career day, tossing for 298 yards, two touchdowns, one interception. Lagway’s 298 passing yards was a career high vs power four competition.
Lagway’s pocket presence improved as well. The sophomore wasn’t sacked in the contest and was seen progressing through his reads, taking deep shots down the field, all while battling through another lower leg injury he suffered in the first half.
Florida also played well around Lagway, starting with good pass protection up front.
The additional reps during Florida’s bye week seemingly helped Lagway. If things start to click for Lagway, the Gators’ offense has plenty of weapons to drastically improve.
Florida didn’t slam the door shut
The Gators did enough to win on Saturday, but the conservative approach in the second half nearly costed Florida what was otherwise a fairly dominant win. Leading 19-7 in the middle of the third quarter, Billy Napier decided to call a run play on 3rd and nine, settling for three points instead of trying to make it a three score game which would have essentially put the game away. This is just one example of several we saw in this game and in the Napier era. This game really had no business being a close, yet Texas had a chance to tie the game on their last possession of the game.