GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- So much for Florida’s struggling offense.
The Gators moved the ball more than well enough yesterday, slashing Appalachian State’s defense early and often on the way to a 48-10 victory at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Any thoughts of another big-time upset by the Mountaineers were over relatively early. The Gators (7-4), who sputtered a week earlier with 226 yards in a loss to South Carolina, rolled up 547 yards yesterday.
ASU (9-2) will move on to the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Pairings for the 20-team field will be announced today. The Mountaineers, ranked No. 2 in the FCS, are expected to get a high seed and first-round bye despite yesterday’s loss.
“It was really a tough time to have to play these guys (after the loss to South Carolina),” said Coach Jerry Moore of ASU. “I knew that they would really be well prepared. And they were. They are a terrific football team.”
Moore said that his goal going into his team’s regular-season finale was not to take a step backward.
“I don’t think we did,” Moore said. “If you see the score, you just say, ‘Well, the Mountaineers got a knot on their head.’ But if you were here and watched our kids play, particularly the second half…. We would have liked to have won the game. But, if somebody’s beating you 40-10 or whatever, there is a tendency to say, ‘Hey, let’s go get on the bus.’ That wasn’t the case. They played as hard as they could play. That’s what I was looking for. I think the bucket was empty when they got in the dressing room.”
The Gators led 21-0 before the first quarter was over but, while ASU’s defense couldn’t match Florida’s offense, ASU’s offense moved the ball well enough at times, although its running game was stifled early (36 yards in the first half). The Mountaineers had 20 first downs.
“A lot of it was just stopping ourselves,” said quarterback DeAndre Presley of ASU. “We knew it was going to be tough coming into the game, but the thing that blew me away was that we were able to move the ball as easily as we did at times. But at times we stopped ourselves with penalties and long-yardage situations.”
Receiver Matt Cline said: “It’s tough that we didn’t come away with more points than we did.”
The Mountaineers had seven penalties in the first half, and finished with 80 yards worth, which negated much of the progress.
“It’s seems like every time we’d have a plus, we’d have a penalty,” Moore said.
Coach Urban Meyer of the Gators said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We needed this one,” Meyer said. “That team beat Michigan a few years ago… I was worried about this game going into it.”
Florida scored on its first three drives, and piled up 327 yards in the first half. First-quarter scoring drives of 55, 70 and 87 yards resulted in an early three-touchdown lead, and a fumble by the Mountaineers set the Gators up for a short 28-yard drive and 28-0 halftime lead. The Gators opened the second half with another scoring drive, one of 64 yards.
“Our offense has been criticized the whole season and we just wanted to prove to everyone that we could do it,” said center Mike Pouncey of the Gators.
Florida’s ground game was particularly effective, amassing 311 yards rushing, and quarterback John Brantley added 222 passing.
“We just blew assignments and made some mistakes, and they capitalized on those mistakes,” said defensive end Jabari Fletcher of ASU. “They’re a good team, and they have a great history at the BCS level.”
Moore said he thought his defense would play better.
“They kept hurting us with underneath routes, little short routes, and it seemed like they came up with those on critical downs like third-and-7,” he said.
ASU, already missing interceptions leader Mark LeGree in the secondary because of a hamstring injury, lost cornerback Ed Gainey in the second quarter. He was ejected along with Florida’s Carl Moore, for fighting.
The Mountaineers got on the board in the third quarter with a 33-yard field goal by Jason Vitaris, and followed with a fourth-quarter touchdown — on a 9-yard pass from Presley to Cline.
