Florida football scored a critical win on Saturday night inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium over the visiting UCF Knights, 24-13, in what was a solid showing for the Orange and Blue.
Coming off a bye week and a win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville the weekend prior, the Gators were well-rested and prepared for their Sunshine State opponent, who had beaten them the last time they met in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl. Suffice it to say, revenge was had in the Swamp.
Following Florida’s third win in five tries this fall, the Gators Wire staff convened to offer our respective Good, Bad and Ugly assessments from Saturday night’s gridiron action. Take a look below at what we said.
Adam Dubbin
GOOD: The passing attack was impeccable for Florida again in this one, with Mertz and Lagway once again assuming the Batman and Robin roles en route to an obscenely efficient outing on offense. 23-for-28 combined passing for 229 yards? I will take it.
On defense, there were times when it looked like UCF would mow over Florida on the ground, but unconventional play calling by Malzahn was not enough to break through early on. By the time RJ Harvey scored his fourth-quarter touchdown, it was too late to matter.
BAD: The Gators’ defense may have held up to the stress, but there were still moments where UCF’s rushing attack looked like it would break free, making the corps still a bit suspect. Smack’s missed field goal attempt was not the greatest moment either, even if it was from beyond 50 yards.
UGLY: The no-call targeting play by UCF on DJ Lagway in the fourth quarter. It was the right call but it was an ugly hit to see your future star take in a game that is pretty well under control. Otherwise, there was a little bit of other beef on the field, but nothing too egregious.
David Rosenberg
GOOD: For the first time this season, Florida’s defense looked like an SEC defense. Seven tackles for loss, five sacks and one touchdown allowed. UCF’s offense looked dysfunctional at times, but that doesn’t take away much from Florida’s performance. The question is whether they can keep it up with the gauntlet portion of the schedule coming up.
BAD: Florida’s offense looked good in the first half, but things deteriorated after halftime. The Gators didn’t score in the second half and put up just over 100 total yards after going for 251 in the first half. The 24 points scored in the first quarter were enough to get the win, but things were a bit tighter than they needed to be in the fourth quarter.
Still, this win never truly seemed in doubt for the Orange and Blue, and that’s because of a strong open.
UGLY: There’s no need for an ugly this week. Let the good times roll because the bad times might be right around the corner with Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss still on the schedule.
Aidan Gallardo
GOOD: Florida’s defense came prepared. We knew UCF’s offensive focus was running the ball and given the history of struggles for this Florida defense in stopping the run, the Gators had no problem with it in this game. Florida was all over the UCF backfield and gave up just 75 yards to running back RJ Harvey.
Quarterback KJ Jefferson was getting hit by Florida defenders all night. Jefferson was credited with minus-18 yards rushing, in part, due to Florida racking up five sacks. It’ll be interesting to see how this defense looks against Tennessee next week, but I’ll get to that later.
BAD: There weren’t a ton of bad things to take away from this game on the Gators’ side, so bear with me here. Florida did have a total of eight penalties. Granted, some of them were questionable–given the rare emotional reaction from Billy Napier on a running into the kicker penalty–but others were easily avoidable.
The penalties weren’t ridiculous in the sense that you question why the player even thought of doing it. They were just your common false starts and holding penalties that you’d like to see get cleaned up.
UGLY: Florida, unfortunately, is in for a rude awakening as they head up to Knoxville to play the No. 4-ranked Volunteers next week. And, it doesn’t help that it’s a night game in Neyland Stadium.
So, the Gators really need to prepare for what will be a challenging road contest. Communication is absolutely crucial on both sides of the ball, as that stadium is as loud as any in college football.
I’m sure Florida will be celebrating their win against UCF for just a brief moment, but then it’s all about preparing against the Volunteers.
Next up for Florida
The Gators head to Knoxville next week to resume Southeastern Conference play against Tennessee. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.