On the surface, it might’ve seemed like the Gators had nothing to play for in their regular season finale against Florida State on Saturday.
Head coach Dan Mullen was fired earlier in the week, and a new coach will be hired soon. That new coach will likely bring in an almost entirely new staff. So, the players didn’t have the motivation of trying to impress their coaches and improve their standing heading into the offseason.
There was no championship at stake, just a spot in a lower-tier bowl game.
But, as the Gators proved on Saturday, though they’ve been battered and beaten this season, they haven’t been defeated. They played one of their most energetic and passion-fueled games on both sides of the ball in a while.
Beating an instate rival, sending the senior class out with a win and earning a spot in a bowl game was all the motivation that they needed.
They got it done, defeating the Seminoles, 24-21.
“I tell you what, man, this has been a week to remember,” Florida interim head coach Greg Knox said.
“It was tough, but our seniors made it much easier. They came to work every day. They held everyone accountable, and we did it as a team, a great win in a rivalry game. What a big, big showing today. Was it our best? No, but it was a win, and it was a great win. And I’m excited for this senior class, the great sendoff for the senior class, and we get one more game. We always talk about we’re guaranteed 12, and, anything after that, we’ve got to go to work for. We get one more game. We’re headed to a bowl game.
“I think it was the fact that we had a great senior class with some leadership. They understood the situation they were in, and we talked about opportunity in chaos. In a chaotic situation that started Sunday with Dan getting dismissed and me being put in place and then all the things coming from the outside, I think they pulled together, and [it] made them stronger. It made me stronger because I pulled with them, and we held this thing together. And today, when we watched our highlight video [and] we came out of that meeting at that hotel, I knew when we walked out of that room they were ready to play, and they were.”
Tight end Kemore Gamble credited Knox for creating the best culture possible within the locker room this week.
“He just let us play loose,” Gamble said. “And all the seniors went up this week and talked to the team, told them how much this game means to us and how it was our last game, stuff like that.”
If the 1997 Florida-Florida State game was the best game ever played in the Swamp, this one was on the shortlist for the worst game ever played in the Swamp. Both teams made a myriad of sloppy mistakes that probably would’ve gotten them blown out if they had played against anybody but each other.
There were a combined 22 accepted penalties, 14 tackles-for-loss, six turnovers, 11 punts, a shanked punt, a muffed punt and a whiffed onside kick.
The Gators (6-6, 2-6 SEC) found a way to make fewer mistakes than Florida State, something that hasn’t happened for them often this season.
“It means everything, especially with how much we’ve been through this year,” defensive end Zachary Carter said. “Took a lot of losses this year; a lot of people don’t know how that can affect you and wear you down, but we continued to fight and stick together, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
UF seemed to take control of the game in the third quarter. A 14-yard punt return by Xzavier Henderson combined with a targeting foul to give them the ball at the FSU 40 to start their opening drive of the half.
Anthony Richardson replaced Emory Jones as the Gators’ quarterback two plays into the drive – Jones threw three first-half interceptions, all in FSU territory – and converted a third-and-8 with a 14-yard completion over the middle to Jacob Copeland. That led to Chris Howard’s 36-yard field goal that gave Florida a 10-7 lead.
The Gators were forced to punt out of their own end zone on their next possession, and Jeremy Crawshaw launched a missile off of his right foot that traveled 61 yards in the air. Ontaria Wilson muffed it, and Henderson recovered.
A sack put them in a third-and-21 situation at the FSU 44. Richardson found running back Malik Davis near the right sideline about 10 yards down the field. Davis made the catch, broke a tackle and somehow stayed inbounds for a 22-yard gain and a first down.
Five plays later, Richardson lofted a perfectly placed pass to Justin Shorter on a corner route to extend the lead to 17-7.
“It was good just for my teammates to be able to trust me,” Richardson said. “For them to be able to trust me to go out there and get the victory, it feels good because it lets me know that guys believe in me. So, I really appreciate that.”
After freshman cornerback Jason Marshall intercepted Jordan Travis for his first career pick, Dameon Pierce received six carries for 49 yards, the last carry resulting in a 3-yard touchdown to make it 24-7.
“I just told them this: 30 minutes,” Knox said of his halftime message. “You’ve got 30 minutes, and, if you want this game, go get it. I looked every one of them in the eye, and I said, ‘If you want it, we’ve got a second half to go get it.’ They did.”
The Seminoles (5-7, 4-4 ACC) didn’t go quietly, though. A 19-yard touchdown run by Treshaun Ward made it a two-score game early in the fourth quarter.
They made it a three-point game by going on a 16-play, 92-yard drive that featured five penalties, three replay reviews and a fumble that FSU recovered.
Trailing 24-21 with only 49 seconds to go and only having two timeouts, FSU had no choice but to attempt an onside kick.
Parker Grothaus ran up to kick the ball but missed and just clipped the top of the ball, causing it to barely fall forward off of the tee. He then picked up the ball. The officials correctly ruled that he had indeed kicked the ball and illegally touched it.
The Gators were awarded possession, and they ran out the clock from there.
Pierce and Gamble were the offensive stars for Florida. Pierce rushed a season-high 12 times for 62 yards and a touchdown, but his most impressive play was when he ran over a couple of defenders and barreled into the end zone without his helmet, even though it cost his team 15 yards.
“I don’t know how it came off; I just knew I was three yards from the touchdown, so I got there,” Pierce said. “I don’t know why it’s a flag. I don’t know why you want me to stop running if I’m in motion, I see the goal line and I see the end zone. I’ll do that 50 [times] out of 50 if it ever happens again.
“Coach [Garrick] McGee said he wanted to get me rolling, and that’s what happened. The offensive line went to clicking, and we just feed off each other’s energy. If the O-Line sees me turned up, that turns them up. When I see them turn up, I want to turn up for them. Everything was just clicking. It felt good out there.”
Gamble caught three passes for 80 yards, including a career-long 47-yard touchdown reception from Jones on their first drive of the game.
Brenton Cox was a monster on the other side of the ball, racking up four sacks and forcing a fumble. Those four sacks were the most ever recorded by a Gator since sacks became an official NCAA statistic in 2000, though Alex Brown famously made five sacks against Tennessee in 1999.
“He came to play,” Knox said. “He was one of those guys that I could tell in the pregame he was going to play. I could see it in his eyes; I read his body language; and I knew coming into this game today he was going to play, and he did.”
Much of the next few days and weeks figures to be spent talking about the future of the program under a new head coach. But for four hours on Saturday, the Gators focused on the present and delivered a big win for themselves, their coaches and their fans.
Pierce is excited about the win and what lies ahead for the program.
“Hopefully, we can add on to this performance, get better from this performance,” Pierce said. “We’ve got a couple weeks of rest, a couple weeks to chill, get our bodies back right. The vibe was back in the locker room. I feel that vibe, and I feel very confident that way now. I probably couldn’t say that three or four weeks ago, to be honest, but the only thing that matters is that we were who we are as a team and as a program. Hopefully, we’re just going to carry that over to the bowl game.”