FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Still feeling the physical and mental effects of last Saturday’s shocking 31-30 home loss against Mississippi, Florida took its miseries on the road and passed them along to Arkansas.
Playing without key players at linebacker, offensive line and in the backfield, the 12th-ranked Gators used their speed and quickness on offense, defense and special teams to overcome a punchless Arkansas offense and scored a 38-7 Southeastern Conference victory before 70,072 fans at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Without thumpers Kestahn Moore and Emmanuel Moody in the backfield, the Gators provided quarterback Tim Tebow with enough speed from Percy Harvin, Brandon James, Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey that killed any momentum Arkansas had in moving the ball up and down the field for the first two quarters.
Both Rainey, a redshirt freshman out of Lakeland High, and Demps, a true freshman from Okahumpka, sped their way over 100 yards and totaled three touchdowns. That allowed Tebow, who vowed after last week’s setback to play hard, to overcome his first interception after 204 passing attempts with a pair of touchdown passes as the Gators rolled to 514 yards in total offense, 278 on the ground and 236 through the air.
After his third-quarter interception, Tebow came back to complete four passes on the next drive, the final one 21 yards to Percy Harvin early in the fourth quarter that began a 21-0 scoring effort by the Gators.
Tebow completed 17 of 26 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns (his first was a 2-yarder to Brandon James in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead) and added another 32 yards on 12 carries. Eight different receivers caught passes, with Louis Murphy pulling in five tosses for 70 yards. Harvin and James were next with three each.
James also was a standout on special teams – but not for making returns. He had a 94-yard kickoff return to start the second half negated by a block in the back but James also hustled downfield on coverages and ended up recovering a fumble that led to Florida’s second score.
Tebow didn’t have to carry the rushing load, however, as both Rainey and Demps finished with 103 yards on 10 and 7 carries, respectively. Demps gave Florida a 14-0 halftime lead with his 36-yard burst and added a 48-yarder for the Gators’ final points about four minutes after Rainey sped 75 yards to pay dirt. Harvin added another 37 yards on six carries but spent time on the sideline having a rolled ankle attended to by team trainers. He did return for the game and should be ready for the Tigers.
Meanwhile, the defense survived a 133-yard rushing effort (on 20 carries) by former North Florida Christian standout Michael Smith of Tallahassee and a 220-yard passing effort of Casey Dick, who completed 24 of 38 passes. Coach Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks (2-3 overall, 0-2 SEC West) totaled 361 yards but only 112 after halftime, 53 on runs by Smith. Florida dominated the second half, gaining 323 yards and finishing with a 33:12 to 26:48 edge in time of possession.
“We’re a work in progress with 8-9 starters out,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said after his team improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the SEC East heading into next Saturday night’s encounter at The Swamp against defending national champion Louisiana State, which is ranked third this week and was idle Saturday. The Tigers come into the contest which will be the second half of a CBS SEC doubleheader with a 4-0 overall mark and 2-0 in the SEC West.
“We’ve got a real one next week,” Meyer added. “(Today) the best thing we did was stop the underneath crosses and we corralled their tailback (Smith) in the second half.”
The Gators’ defense bent but did not break on Arkansas’ first two possessions of the game, stopping the Razorbacks on two fourth-down plays, and the offense took advantage to grab a 7-0 lead.
Defensive end Carlos Dunlap sacked quarterback Dick for a loss of four yards on fourth-and-4 play from the Florida 32. Harvin got a first down with rushes of 9 and 13 yards before Tebow faked a run, stepped up and threw to Carl Moore running a post pattern for 27 yards to the Arkansas 15.
From there, it took the Gators seven more plays to score. On the fourth one, Tebow snuck two yards for a first-and-goal at the Hogs’ 4-yard line. Then on third-and-goal from the 2 after a timeout, Tebow and Harvin optioned left after the snap. As the Razorbacks played Tebow and his pitchman, the Florida quarterback shoveled a pass back to a trailing James, who blasted his way into the end zone. Jonathan Phillips, whose blocked PAT last Saturday was the difference in the Gators’ 31-30 loss to Mississippi, kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 6:54 remaining in the first quarter.
Arkansas, which had eight plays on its first possession, ran another 11 on its second drive that ended when Dick’s pass on fourth-and-7 to D.J. Williams came up a yard short. Florida, however, could do nothing after the tackle by Ahmad Black and AJ Jones gave the Gators the ball at their own 22. Despite a 15-yard pass completion from Tebow to Murphy, Florida came up a yard short on third down.
Tebow then stepped behind center Maurkice Pouncey to take a direct snap and try to get the Hogs to jump on a fourth-and-foot hard count. But the strategy didn’t work, and Florida took a timeout so Chas Henry could take advantage of the brisk winds coming out of the NNW at 9 miles per hour. The sophomore did, booting a 55-yarder to back the Hogs up at their own 19.
Once again, the Razorbacks moved the ball downfield on the running of Smith. He carried five times for 41 yards on the drive, giving him 80 yards on 11 rushes to that point of the game. But once again the Gators’ defense held and this time the Razorbacks punted, Jeremy Davis’ kick being down inside the Florida 1 early in the second quarter.
Tebow got the Gators out of trouble immediately by delivering a 15-completion to Riley Cooper. A personal foul penalty against Arkansas eventually gave Florida a first-and-10 at the 39. But then the penalty flags started flying against the Gators. Two holding penalties sandwiched around a false start had Tebow and the Gators facing a first-and-35 back on their own 14.
Florida eventually had to punt, and Henry’s wobbly kick was fumbled by Smith, who had signaled for a fair catch. James was there for the recovery at the Arkansas 16. Two more penalties against the Gators gave them a first-and-30 at the Arkansas 36.
This time, Florida converted quickly. On the snap, Tebow handed off to Demps, another one of the impressive speedsters on the team. The freshman, who came close to qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in the 100 meters, sped through an opening of the line provided by center Maurkice Pouncey, left guard Carl Johnson and left tackle Phil Trautwein and ran into the end zone untouched. Phillips kick was true and Florida was up 14-0 with 7:19 left before halftime.
Another late drive by Florida reached the Arkansas 36 before Meyer elected to punt again, but Henry’s boot went into the end zone. The Hogs had 1:01 left and got moving immediately when Dick hit Smith for 18 yards. Then after a sack by Florida’s Lawrence Marsh, Dick hit Joe Adams for 31 yards down to the Florida 32. Another 7-yard completion to Williams gave Arkansas a second-and-3 at the Florida 25 with 22 seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Dick went for the end zone, but Florida’s Joe Haden, playing the nickel back, stepped in front of the pass and intercepted. Naturally, a 12-yard illegal use of hands ruined Haden’s nice return. Tebow then took a knee to send the teams to the locker room.
On the second-half kickoff, James fielded the ball at the 6-yard line and broke free for a 94-yard return, but a block in the back call against Chris Pintado on kicker Jeremy Davis negated the possible touchdown and gave Florida a first down at its own 34. Nevertheless, the Gators drove downfield before a 7-yard sack of Tebow by Malcolm Sheppard forced Florida to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Phillips at 9:17 of the third quarter gave the Gators a 17-0 lead.
The Hogs used a 38-yard kickoff return by Dennis Johnson to set themselves up at their own 47, and Dick finally got his team into the end zone by engineering a 7-play, 53-yard drive. Smith went the final 6 yards on the drive for the touchdown, but it was Dick’s passing – he was 4-for-4 for 41 yards, two of them to Adams totaling 22, that dominated the drive. Shay Haddock’s PAT cut the Florida lead to 17-7 with 5:50 remaining in the third quarter.
Florida responded with a 10-play drive which consumed most of the remaining time in the quarter. It was kept alive when James rushed 10 yards on a fourth-and-1 fake punt from the Florida 44. But on first-and-10 from the Arkansas 34, Tebow underthrew a wide-open Harvin and his pass was intercepted by Jerry Franklin, who returned it 5 yards. Tebow’s last interception came against Florida Atlantic in the second quarter and stretched over six games and 204 pass attempts.
The Gators’ defense stiffened, however, and Davis punted 48 yards on the second play of the fourth quarter, Florida taking over at its own 17. Chris Rainey immediately gained 10 yards and then Tebow hit the first of four completions for 74 yards, the final 21 to Harvin on a post pattern to the end zone. Phillips kick was good and Florida was back in control at 24-7 with 11:58 remaining in regulation.
Arkansas moved the ball once again, reaching the Florida 11 where Haddock came in to attempt a 29-yard field goal. But Ahmad Black broke through a hole on the outside and blocked the attempt with a hand with 7:24 remaining.
Moments later, Rainey sealed the victory when he took a handoff from Tebow, went right, spun and made linebacker Wendel Davis miss and then cut back left behind his blockers to find open field. Rainey barely made it to the end zone as Arkansas’ Jerell Norton made a valiant effort 75 yards later but it was too late and Phillips’ PAT gave Florida a 31-7 lead with 5:07 remaining.
Tebow was through for the day, turning over the QB duties to redshirt freshman Johnny Brantley, but the Gators weren’t finished scoring. Brantley completed 2 of 3 passes on the 7-play scoring drive. Demps put an exclamation point on the victory with 1:04 remaining when he burst through a hole provided by blockers Jamaal Deveaux and Mike Pouncey and ran 48 yards to the end zone.
HOW THEY SCORED
FLORIDA 38, ARKANSAS 7
At Fayetteville, Ark.
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
Scoring by quarters 1 2 3 4 — Final
Florida 7 7 3 21 — 38
Arkansas 0 0 7 0 — 7
FIRST QUARTER
UF—Brandon James 2 pass from Tim Tebow (Jonathan Phillips kick) at 6:54. Drive: 10 plays, 64 yards, 3 first downs, 5:03 time elapsed after Carlos Dunlap sacked Arkansas QB Casey Dick on fourth-and-4 play at Florida 32 for loss of 4 yards. Key plays: After two Percy Harvin runs netted 22 yards, Tebow hit Carl Moore for 27 yards to the Arkansas 15; Tebow kept drive alive on fourth-and-1 from Arkansas 6 with 2 yard gain; following timeout, Tebow and Harvin optioned left and then Tebow shoveled a pass inside to James, who scored. Score: Florida 7, Arkansas 0.
SECOND QUARTER
UF— Jeffrey Demps 36 run (Phillips kick) at 7:19. Drive: 1 play, 16 yards, 1 first down, 0:38 time elapsed following Brandon James recovery of Arkansas punt returner Michael Smith’s fumble. Key plays: After two penalties totaling 20 yards moved Florida back to the 36, Tebow took the snap, handed to Demps and he sped through a small hole at the line of scrimmage and sprinted untouched into the end zone. Score: Florida 14, Arkansas 0.
THIRD QUARTER
UF—FG Phillips 37 at 9:17. Drive: 12 plays, 46 yards, 3 first downs, 5:32 time elapsed following second-half kickoff return by James, who ran 94 yards for a touchdown was flagged when Florida was penalized for an illegal block in the back. Key plays: Tebow had completions of 14 to Deonte Thompson and 12 to Percy Harvin and also rushed 3 yards on fourth down to get the Gators those three first downs. Score: Florida 17, Arkansas 0.
UA—Michael Smith 6 run (Shay Haddock kick) at 5:50. Drive: 7 plays, 52 yards, 4 first downs, 3:27 time elapsed following 38-yard kickoff return by Arkansas’ Dennis Johnson Key plays: Dick completed all four passes he threw on the drive for 41 yards, including two to Joe Adams for 22 yards. Score:Florida 17, Arkansas 7.
FOURTH QUARTER
UF—Percy Harvin 21 pass from Tebow (Phillips kick) at 11:58. Drive: 6 plays, 83 yards, 4 first downs, 2:43 time elapsed following Arkansas punt. Key plays: Rainey gained 10 yards on the first play and then Tebow completed four passes for 76, the first two to Louis Murphy totaling 36 and the third to Deonte Thompson for 19. Score: Florida 24, Arkansas 7.
UF—Chris Rainey 75 run (Phillips kick) at 5:07. Drive: 4 plays, 80 yards, 1 first down, 2:17 time elapsed following Arkansas punt. Key plays: The touchdown run by Rainey, who spun away from one Arkansas defender and then cut back left behind a wall of Florida blockers before breaking free and speeding to the end zone. Score: Florida 31, Arkansas 7.
UF—Demps 48 run (Phillips kick) at 1:04. Drive: 7 plays, 73 yards, 3 first downs, 2:29 time elapsed following Arkansas punt. Key plays: Johnny Brantley completed 2 of 3 passes for 19 yards and then Demps rushed 4 yards for a first down to the Arkansas 48 before breaking free on the next play for the touchdown behind blocks from Mike Pouncey and Jamaal Deveaux. Score: Florida 38, Arkansas 7.
Game summary
Officials (assigned by SEC): Penn Wagers, referee; Thomas Floyd, umpire; Lane Thomas, head linesman; Terry Walters, line judge; Stan Murray, back judge; Brad Freeman, field judge; Bobby Moreau, side judge; Frank Pinter, scorer.
Attendance:,/b> 70,072 (72,000).
Weather: Cloudy skies, 62 degrees, winds from the South at 10 miles per hour gusting to 20, 84 percent humidity.
Records: Florida 4-1, 2-1 SEC East; Arkansas 2-3, 0-2 SEC West.
Next games: LSU at Florida, Oct. 11, 8 p.m. (CBS); Arkansas at Auburn, Oct. 11, 5 p.m. (PPV).