The Florida Gators (1-0) 24-7 defeated UMass to open the season on Saturday night in the newly named Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Florida struggled for the most part on offense until late in the fourth quarter but the Gators defense dominated the game.
Next up for Florida is a home game against Kentucky to open the SEC portion of its season.
FIRST QUARTER
Florida 7, UMass 0- 12-yard touchdown pass from Luke Del Rio to Antonio Callway with 3:57 to go.
Scoring Drive: 11 plays for 71 yards, 5:31 time of possession.
SECOND QUARTER
Florida 7, UMass 7- 5-yard rushing touchdown by Ross Comis with 14:18 to go.
Scoring Drive: 9 plays for 75 yards, 4:39 time of possession.
Florida 10, UMass 7- 40-yard field goal made by Eddy Pineiro with 8 seconds to go.
Scoring Drive: 9 plays for 30 yards, 2:37 time of possession.
THIRD QUARTER
FOURTH QUARTER
Florida 13, UMass 7- 49-yard field made by Eddy Pineiro with 11:14 to go.
Scoring Drive: 6 plays for 27 yards, 2:35 time of possession.
Florida 21, UMass 7- 26-yard touchdown pass from Luke Del Rio to Brandon Powell with 1:31 to go.
Scoring Drive: 5 plays for 46 yards, 1:31 time of possession.
Florida 24, UMass 7- 48-yard field goal made by Eddy Pineiro with 2:26 to go.
Scoring Drive: 8 plays for 39 yards, 3:02 time of possession.
Go Gators: A win’s a win!!
It doesn’t take a coach (or a rocket scientist) to know we have some serious work to do. Penalties, dropped passes from our new all world RB, and some porous D concern me. But the kicking game, and our QB-nice! Scarlet appears to be the real deal-along with a few other nice surprises. After watching some of the other games and associated debacles, I don’t feel too bad.
I’ll let the coaches figure out what to do. Meanwhile-I’m proud to be a Florida Gator.