The Gators would’ve loved to have delivered an early Christmas present to their fans and finished this turbulent season strong by beating UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on Thursday night.
Unfortunately, though, they weren’t able to get it done, as they lost to the Knights, 29-17, to finish with the program’s third losing record in the last nine years.
Here is our recap of the Gators’ first ever loss to UCF (9-4, 5-3 American Athletic) in three attempts.
How the game was lost
Trailing 19-17, Emory Jones completed a 26-yard pass to Jacob Copeland on a deep corner route. However, Copeland was flagged for offensive pass interference for pushing off, which negated the play.
A couple of snaps later, on third-and-19, Justin Shorter beat the Knights’ secondary deep on a post route for what should’ve been an easy touchdown to retake the lead. Instead, Jones overthrew him by a couple of yards, and the Gators punted.
UCF’s quarterback, Mikey Keene, didn’t miss his deep shot. He connected with Ryan O’Keefe for a 54-yard touchdown on the first play of the ensuing drive to extend their lead to 26-17.
With the Gators’ defensive inconsistencies and struggling passing game, that was a big enough cushion for UCF to control the game from there.
Player of the Game
Ryan O’Keefe
The junior wide receiver turned in a monster game, both in the passing game and on the ground.
He caught seven passes for 85 yards and a touchdown and carried the ball four times for 110 yards. He scored on the 54-yard touchdown pass, and his 74-yard rush also led to a touchdown.
The Gators had no answers for him all night.
Play of the Game
On UCF’s second drive of the second half, Keene faked a handoff to the right and flipped the ball to O’Keefe as he was sprinting to the left side of the formation.
UF’s defense bit on the fake handoff and left O’Keefe with a ton of wide-open real estate. He sprinted down the sideline for 74 yards before Kaiir Elam chased him down and made the tackle at the 4.
That play set up Isaiah Bowser’s touchdown run that gave UCF a 16-10 lead. After the Gators played pretty well on defense in the first half, O’Keefe’s long run opened the floodgates for the Knights’ offense.
Stat of the Game
14-for-36, 171 yards
That was Jones’ final stat line. While a couple of those incompletions were drops, he also missed a handful of open receivers deep down the field that could’ve been touchdowns.
UF’s inability to throw the ball made it hard for them to consistently move the ball and bought enough time for UCF’s offense to eventually come to life.
With even average quarterback play, Florida might’ve won this game by two scores.
Jones didn’t have that magical moment in his final game as a Gator that he was probably looking for.
Up next
Florida finishes the 2021 season with a 6-7 record. New head coach Billy Napier will finalize his staff over the next few weeks and then put the finishing touches on their recruiting class through the February signing period and the transfer portal.
And, of course, there will likely be some key announcements soon in regard to players entering the NFL Draft or the transfer portal.