Florida football pulled off its second-straight upset of a top-25 team — both Southeastern Conference peers, no less — over the Ole Miss Rebels inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, giving the Gators their sixth win of the 2024 campaign and ostensibly clinching a postseason appearance.
The game was an exciting one from the opening possession, with the two squads matching each other on the scoreboard through the first three quarters. It was in the final 15 minutes that the Orange and Blue made some crucial plays that led to the glorious triumph.
Following the Week 13 win for [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s program, two of the Gators Wire staff offered their takeaways in Good, Bad and Ugly format. Here is what we had to offer.
There is so much good to talk about
GOOD: There is so much good to talk about it’s hard to believe I’m writing about the Florida Gators. [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] has turned this team around, but it’s the running backs who deserve the praise on offense this week. They ran all over an elite run defense and it’s fitting that Montrell Johnson Jr. took in the game-deciding touchdown from the wildcat formation.
On defense, Caleb Banks led the pass rush to force a pair of important turnovers on Ole Miss’ final two drives. Bryce Thronton coming up with two interceptions can’t be overlooked either.
All cylinders are firing for this team and the Gators aren’t even close to healthy.
BAD: Ole Miss burned the secondary for 323 yards through the air, and the Rebels added another 141 yards on just 35 rushes. Holding an elite offensive team under 500 total yards might be a moral victory in some parts of the country, but not in the SEC.
This Gators team can play good defense. They’ve proven that, but it took until the fourth quarter to really see Florida step up on that side of the ball. Better late than never, right?
UGLY: Jaxson Dart in the clutch…. need I say more. Florida didn’t commit any egregious penalties this week and no one stunk it up bad enough to warrant an ugly, so I’m going with the guy who blew his team’s chances at a College Football Playoff spot. — David Rosenberg
Special mention to the running game
GOOD: The Gators scored their second-straight top-25 upset, which earned them win No. 6 and a presumptive bowl berth as a result. The pundits had predicted a 4-8 finish for the Orange and Blue this fall — which was not unfathomable looking at the schedule ahead of the season — and Napier and Co. have bucked that trend.
Special mention to the running game, which totaled 184 yards against a defense that had allowed 79 yards per game coming into the weekend. Lagway was not going to be able to do it all alone, and his running back room came strong for the program.
BAD: Florida’s secondary allowed a lot of yards — 323 in fact on 24 attempts. There were times that Ole Miss looked unstoppable through the air, but the Gators caught a few breaks that mitigated this aspect of the game.
Dart also gained 71 yards on the ground on 14 attempts, which included a 35-yard outburst in the fourth quarter that ended up going for naught. The bend-don’t-break defense broke a bit more than one would prefer, but you cannot argue with the overall outcome.
UGLY: It is hard to pick something for this segment when your team just earned its biggest win of the season and possibly in Napier’s two-plus-year tenure. Allowing Ole Miss to convert two of four fourth-down conversions is not pretty, but one must remember this is one of the best fourth-down teams in the country.
Nothing ugly about a potential winning season for the Gator Nation. — Adam Dubbin
Next up for Florida
The Gators wrap up their 2024 regular season schedule next Saturday in Tallahassee in the annual rivalry game against the Florida State Seminoles. Kickoff is slated for either 7 or 7:30 p.m. ET inside Doak Campbell Stadium and the broadcast details are still to be determined.
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