GAINESVILLE – On a day when the college football world was set on its ear by those scholarly gridiron powerhouses Northwestern, Stanford and Navy, No. 1 Florida made darn sure to turn in its homework.
In other words, the top-ranked Gators made sure that Vanderbilt – first in SEC academia and usually last in the SEC East – would not spoil their evening in The Swamp by taking care of business in a 27-3 victory over the Commodores.
After a tumultuous week during which middle linebacker Brandon Spikes doubled his own half-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct in Florida’s 41-17 victory over Georgia and coach Urban Meyer, who was criticized for his original penalty of Spikes, was fined $30,000 by the SEC for questioning a no-call, late-hit of quarterback Tim Tebow during the same game in Jacksonville, the Gators (9-0, 7-0 SEC East) made sure to take care of the football and the Commodores (2-8, 0-6 SEC East), who battled valiantly but clearly lacked Florida’s speed, talent and depth.
Tebow, who rushed for one touchdown and threw for another, finished his day with just under 5 minutes left to play when he threw a quick pass to Aaron Hernandez who broke to his right looking for blockers and then cut back left while knocking over and dragging Commodores with him to the Vanderbilt 17, a 64-yard gain. It was the longest play of the night for the Gators, which somewhat concerns Meyer.
“We just don’t have the big-play production,” he said afterward. “Offensively, we were just good. I thought our defense played tremendous and our coverage units (punt and kickoffs) are playing at the highest level since we’ve been here. The best thing about being 9-0 is having a chance to go 10-0.”
Tebow finished with 208 yards on 15-of-20 passing, throwing an 8-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass to David Nelson that took a detour through Riley Cooper’s hands and over two Vanderbilt defenders. Seven of the completions went to Hernandez, a redshirt sophomore tight end who gained 120 yards with them. The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner also added 27 yards on 16 carries, including a 1-yard scoring run in the third quarter that gave Florida a 20-3 lead over the Commodores. A stunting Vanderbilt defensive line gave Florida’s offensive line, which played without Maurkice Pouncey for most of the game, fits and sacked Tebow four times for 28 yards.
“I think you have to compliment them; they had a good game plan for us,” Tebow said.
Still, Florida never trailed, taking a 3-0 first-quarter lead with 1:00 left on a 27-yard field goal by Caleb Sturgis. Jeff Demps, who led Florida in rushing with 57 yards on 7 carries (another carry of more than 40 yards was wiped out by a Florida motion penalty), took a fourth-and-one option pitch from Tebow that ended up being a 25-yard scoring run in the second quarter.
“That was a great call by Steve (Addazio, Florida’s offensive coordinator),” Meyer continued. “It’s a risky play on fourth-and-one if the defensive linemen aren’t pinching. But we knew if we executed it, there would be no one left to defend him (Demps).”
Sturgis gave Florida a 13-0 halftime lead with a 45-yard field goal that might have been good from 60 yards.
The Commodores got their only points of the evening on a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Fowler. Tebow’s two touchdowns followed to provide the final margin.
“I want to compliment Vanderbilt,” added Meyer in tipping his hat to Bobby Johnson’s team and staff. “They played us extremely hard.”
Florida controlled the clock for 34:27 and totaled 375 yards while limiting Vanderbilt to 199 yards—99 rushing and 100 passing (by quarterback Mackenzi Adams, who completed 13 of 29 passes). With Spikes standing on the sidelines, defensive coordinator Charlie Strong moved Ryan Stamper from the weakside linebacker to the middle and he had six tackles and his second career interception and return of 18 yards. His first interception came last week against the Bulldogs. Senior Dustin Doe took Stamper’s place and led the Gators with 11 tackles.
The Gators also limited Vanderbilt’s talented freshman returner Warren Norman, who has run back three kickoffs for touchdowns this season, to just under 20 yards on his five kickoff returns. The Commodores also got the first punt return yardage given up by Florida this season as Alex Washington returned two punts by Chas Henry for 13 total yards. Of course, Washington was helped a little by Henry, who had a fabulous night punting the football, averaging 52.8 yards on four punts.
The victory under the lights—Florida’s 19th straight, the longest current streak in the nation—ended a day that saw Northwestern knock No. 4 Iowa from the unbeaten list with a 17-10 victory, Stanford outscore Oregon 51-42 after the No. 8 Ducks had 600 yards the week before in routing Southern California and finally Navy stun No. 22 Notre Dame, 23-21, in South Bend, Ind.
For Florida, which has a 3:30 p.m. date Saturday at South Carolina, staying alive in the race for a second straight national championship and third in four seasons was just a matter of being more academic.
HOW THEY SCORED
No. 1 FLORIDA 27, VANDERBILT 3
At Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, Gainesville, Fla.
Scoring 1 2 3 4—Final
Vanderbilt Commodores 0 0 3 0—3
Florida Gators 3 10 7 7—27
FIRST QUARTER
FLA—FG Caleb Sturgis 27 at 1:00. Drive: 13 plays, 75 yards, 4 first downs, 7:23 time elapsed following Vanderbilt punt. Key plays: Tebow ran for 9 yards and completed a 14-yard pass to David Nelson to convert two third-down plays into first downs; Tebow and Aaron Hernandez hooked up on a play-action pass for 21 yards to the Vanderbilt 18. Score: Florida 3, Vanderbilt 0.
SECOND QUARTER
FLA—Jeff Demps 25 run (Sturgis kick good) at 12:43. Drive: 5 plays, 34 yards, 1 first down, 2:39 following Ryan Stamper interception and return of 18 yards. Key plays: On third-and-11 at the Vanderbilt 35, Tebow scrambled for 10 yards and Florida elected to go for it on fourth down. On the play, Tebow optioned to his right and when everyone converged on him pitched back to Demps, who put on the jets and scooted untouched into the end zone. Score: Florida 10, Vanderbilt 0.
FLA—FG Sturgis 45 good at 6:08. Drive: 9 plays, 45 yards, 3 first downs, 4:30 time elapsed following Vanderbilt punt. Key plays: Tebow completed a 13-yard screen pass to Brandon James, a 7-yard pass to Riley Cooper and a 16-yard pass to Deonte Thompson for first downs. But on third-and-5 at the Vanderbilt 25, he was sacked for a loss of 3 yards. Score: Florida 13, Vanderbilt 0.
THIRD QUARTER
VU—FG Ryan Fowler 32 good at 8:40. Drive: 9 plays, 54 yards, 3:58 time elapsed following Florida punt. Key plays: Mackenzi Adams completed a 9-yard pass to Brandon Barden for a first down, rushed for 9 yards and then Warren Norman scooted 30 yards for a first down to the Florida 15. Score: Florida 13, Vanderbilt 3.
FLA—Tim Tebow 1 run (Sturgis kick good) at 1:52. Drive: 11 plays, 64 yards, 3 first downs, 6:48 time elapsed following Vanderbilt kickoff and 24-yard return by Brandon James to Vanderbilt 36. Key plays: Tebow completed a pass for 9 yards to James to start the drive and then picked up 12 yards on a rush around right end for the first down. But he lost 8 yards on the next play but Florida overcame a 2-and-18 with a 8-yard run by Emmanuel Moody, a 9-yard Tebow to Hernandez completion and Tebow’s 3-yard run on fourth-and-1 at the Vanderbilt 34. James then rushed for 6 yards, took a pass from Tebow for 17 yards and a first-and-goal at the 8. After Hernandez was whistled for a false start, setting the Gators back to the 13, Demps ran for 9 yards. Two Tebow rushes ate up the final four yards. Score: Florida 20, Vanderbilt 3.
FOURTH QUARTER
FLA—David Nelson 8 pass from Tebow (Sturgis kick good) at 9:22. Drive: 5 plays, 13 yards, 1 first down, 1:32 time elapsed after Vanderbilt punter Brett Upson fielded a low snap and his knee touched the ground at the Vanderbilt 13. Key plays: Florida overcame a first-and-17 at the 20 when James rushed for 12 yards to the Vanderbilt 8 and Tebow’s pass to Riley Cooper hit off his hands and went over two Vanderbilt defenders into the hands of Nelson all alone in the end zone. Score: Florida 27, Vanderbilt 3.
GAME SUMMARY
Attendance: 90,694.
Weather: Clear skies. Temperature at kickoff was 67 degrees. Winds from the ENE at 8 miles per hour. Relative humidity was 67 percent.
Coin toss: Vanderbilt won and elected to receive. Florida defended the north end zone.
Officials: Steve Shaw, referee; Brent Sowell, umpire; Gary Jayroe, head linesman; Jim Kelley, line judge; Rich Martinez, back judge; Mike Washington, field judge; Chuck Russ, side judge; James Allison, replay official.
Start of game: 7:20 p.m. End of game: 10:18 p.m. Total elapsed time: 2:58.
Records: Vanderbilt 2-8 overall, 0-6 SEC East; No. 1 Florida 9-0, 7-0 SEC East.
Next game: Vanderbilt plays host to Kentucky Nov. 14 at 12:21 p.m. (SEC Network); No. 1 Florida travels to South Carolina Nov. 14 at 3:30 p.m. (CBS).
To see the unofficial final game statistics from ESPN.com, click below:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=293110057
For a look at Saturday’s other college football action, click below:
https://www.gatorcountry.com/football/article/sec_college_footbsll_report_for_nov_7/7566