BATON ROUGE, LA — After two sustained drives, one ending in a field goal, the Florida Gators offense was stuck in neutral. Three-consecutive three-and-outs had a familiar, sickening feeling for the team in all orange. They needed a spark coming out of the locker room.
“Deuce Right, Off Hack, Rippy Dribble.”
That was the play call Jim McElwain and Doug Nussmeier dialed up from their own two-yard line, trailing LSU 7-3.
“That’s what it’s called,” McElwain said to a roomful of skeptical reporters. “It’s amazing it’s like 12:30 in the morning, one in the morning, the names you can come up with for stuff. It’s actually pretty cool.”
The Gators had called the play earlier to no avail.
“The first time we ran it, incomplete. A little bit overthrown by me. I got hit as I threw it,” starting quarterback Austin Appleby said. “He came right back to the bench and said ‘This guy cannot hang with me’ and in case anybody didn’t know, they do know. Tyrie’s got some legitimate speed. He’s a weapon for us, and coach Nuss had the confidence to call it again.”
Backed up in the shadow of their own goal post, with just 60 yards of total offense after the first 30 minutes of play Nussmeier dialed it up again. It probably caught LSU off guard. Appleby dropped back into a sea of yellow paint and fired a ball to freshman Tyrie Cleveland.
“They have a tendency actually dropping eight and we felt like we could get by the corner. Tyrie ran by him a couple of times, so it was automatic what we going to go to and that’s the call coming out (of the locker room),” McElwain said. “It was good to see him make the play and good to see him get the ball in the playmakers hand.”
Appleby hit Cleveland in stride the second time. LSU defensive back Donte Jackson threw himself on Cleveland’s back at the 40 but the true freshman shrugged off the sophomore cornerback. Cleveland was off to the races for 98 yards. It was the second longest touchdown in Florida football history (Cris Collinsworth to Derrick Gaffney in 1977) and the longest play in Tiger Stadium history.
SEE YA! 👋
Austin Appleby ➡️ Tyrie Cleveland = 98 yards TO THE HOUSE! @GatorsFB up 10-7. https://t.co/y8fJwl5vqV pic.twitter.com/3JUf7S6pfo
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 19, 2016
“It gave us the lead and then we were able to put our foot on the gas pedal a little bit,” Appleby said. “I’m more proud of the way that when we needed to run the ball late, it was sweet.”
The play was Tyrie’s tenth of the season. He had one catch for 13 yards in the first quarter prior to the record-breaking reception. It was exactly what the Gators needed. It gave the offense life, allowed them to rely on Jordan Scarlett, who rushed for over 100 yards for the second week in a row, and win their first game on the road against a SEC West opponent since 2012.
“I’m just a kid from northeast Ohio trying to play a little ball and if you told me that I’d be a quarterback for the SEC East champs, I’d have told you you were crazy,” Appleby said “It’s been an unbelievable ride.”
It’s not over yet