GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators used their offense to take control of UCF before their defense held off the Knights in the final two quarters for a 24-13 win on Saturday evening.
Quarterback Graham Mertz hit Elijah Badger with a 13-yard touchdown pass and Jacobi Jackson scored on a one-yard run before Montrell Johnson, Jr., ran in the third TD to give Florida a 21-3 halftime lead.
After halftime, UCF scored on Grant Reddick’s second field goal and RJ Harvey scored on a 13-yard run with 11:25 left to play to end a seven-play, 82-yard drive for the Knights’ only touchdown.
“I think defensively, to hold this group to 108 yards rushing and to have really got after the quarterback a little bit, two big fourth-down stops, and we were really good on third down,” said embattled Florida head coach Billy Napier.
The third-down conversions were a major chapter to this novel as the Gators were 6-of-13 while the Knights only converted four of 12.
Florida posted five sacks of UCF quarterback KJ Jefferson and also held the Knights’ running game to 108 yards as they have averaged 326 yards per game on the ground behind physical running back Harvey, who carried the ball 16 times for 75 yards and a score.
“We made a big emphasis to stay in your gap,” explained Gators linebacker George Gumbs, Jr. “We changed at the line of scrimmage and I just feel we took that from the gameplan and took it to the field.”
UCF head coach Gus Malzahn spoke of the effectiveness of the UF pass rush as six Gators combined on the five sacks, while Florida posted seven tackles-for-loss.
“In fairness, he (Jefferson) was under duress and we didn’t protect him very well,” said Malzahn.
Gumbs discussed the idea of not being worried about mistakes and each player was just finding opportunities to be playmakers.
“Nobody cared about messing up,” said Gumbs. “Everybody was ready to just fly around and do their job at a high level. Nobody was thinking about making a mistake.”
The transfer from Northern Illinois recorded one-and-a-half sacks as his individual sack came early in the third quarter when he planted UCF Jefferson for a six-yard loss.
“I’m sorry; I almost missed him,” explained Gumbs. “I got off the ball and I didn’t expect to be that free. A change of direction and I got back there to make the play.”
Early Offensive Conversions: Mertz orchestrated two of the Gators’ scoring drives. While on the third TD drive, DJ Lagway threw a 37-yard pass to Chimere Dike to set up Jackson’s one-yard run.
“(I) felt both quarterbacks were really sharp,” explained Napier. “We had good balance. I thought that overall, (we) played some good situational football before the half, and then we sputtered a little bit.”
Lagway has been spotted for every third drive, while Mertz pick up the first and second drives. Lagway, an ESPN five-star signal-caller last season, already looks like he is moving his game forward.
He found Dike on a 37-yard pass to the UCF one-yard line where he threw the ball between two defenders and into Dike’s arms in a fly pattern from the left slot.
Negative Early Joust Captured Knights: UCF head coach Gus Malzahn discussed the tough start for the Knights as Florida took an upper hand on a well-orchestrated opening drive. Mertz found Elijah Badger in the end zone on a 13-yard touchdown pass.
“We dug ourselves a hole in the first quarter,” said Malzahn. “We had trouble tackling and that led to some explosive plays. We came out the second half and had to settle for a field goal. We have to find ways to get in the end zone.”
It was another slow start for UCF, who fell behind Colorado, 21-7, early in the second quarter last week.
“To be able to be successful, we have to put the rushing yards on there and we have to be able to throw it deep,” analyzed Malzahn. “When you play on the road, you have to play good football and we didn’t.”
