Gator Sports Daily
A daily news blog, dedicated to the sports teams of the University of Florida.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Career Days for Holston, Mann and Unroe Propel No. 5 Gators Past Texas A&M in Five-Set Thriller
Gators' Rally Comes Up Short Against Georgia
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Georgia started fast, really fast, and ultimately had enough to finish off a Florida rally for a 23-20 win in their annual Southeastern Conference series at EverBank Field.
Quarterback Aaron Murray passed for 258 yards and a score, while tailback Todd Gurley, back in the lineup after missing three games with a sprained ankle, rushed for 100 yards and scored twice as the Bulldogs defeated the Gators a third straight time for the first time in 24 years.
For Florida (4-4, 3-3), the loss was its third straight and eliminated the Gators from the SEC East Division race.
The Murray-Gurley combo helped the Bulldogs (5-3, 4-2) build a 23-3 halftime lead after cranking out 355 yards in the first two quarters. That total came on the heels of the Gators surrendering 500 yards, including 205 on the ground, two weeks ago in a loss at Missouri.
UF, though, managed to battle back into the game by scoring 17 straight points to open the second half.
The game took a huge momentum swing early in the third period when Florida defensive tackle Leon Orr picked up a Murray pass, dropped by tight end Arthur Lynch in the back and ruled a lateral. Orr returned the ball to the UGA 16 and three plays later, UF tailback Mack Brown scored around left end on a 6-yard touchdown run. That made the score 23-10.
On Georgia's next offensive possession, UF cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy sacked Murray in the end zone for a safety. It was 23-12.
After the Bulldogs free kick, Gators quarterback Tyler Murphy moved his unit 50 yards in five plays, first racing 25 yards to the UGA 14, then going 14 yards for a touchdown. His two-point conversion pass to tight end Clay Burton drew UF to 23-20 with 14:20 to go.
And four minutes later, the Gators were back in Georgia territory with a first down, but went three-and-out, with the third-down play a 14-yard sack.
Florida punted the ball away at the 8:17 mark and never got the ball back, as Georgia ran the clock out with the game's final 18 plays.
The Bulldogs needed less than three minutes to score their first touchdown, a 5-yard run by Gurley, then needed just three plays to score the second, a 73-yard Murray-to-Gurley touchdown pass. Those drives, along with three field goals from Marshall Morgan, had the Bulldogs out to a 20-point lead.
Two drives, 147 yards and two touchdowns in less than six minutes.
Murray ran 17 yards on the game's first play and Gurley, who missed the previous three games with a sprained ankle, had a 25-yard run to the UF 5 and finished it off on the next play with a touchdown run.
The Gators had a chance to bounce back on their first possession after quarterback Murphy hit Quinton Dunbar for an 83-yard bomb to the Georgia 9. But after freshman tailback Kelvin Taylor gained just two yards on third and goal, senior wide receiver Solomon Patton was flagged for a dead-ball unnecessary roughness penalty.
The infraction moved UF back 15 yards walk-on kicker Frakie Velez pushed a 40-yard field attempt wide to the right.
The Bulldogs faced a third-and-6 at their 23 when the Gators emptied their defense with an all-out blitz and left Gurley completely open for a checkdown. He caught Murray's dumpoff pass in stride and had nothing but open field for 50 yards, before evading one UF defender and taking the play the distance.
The Gators second offensive possession lasted six plays, went 18 yards and ended with a punt. The Bulldogs then drove 53 yards in 10 plays with Marshall Morgan kicking a 49-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead with just over two minutes to play in the opening period.
Morgan added a second field on Georgia's fourth possession, a 27-yarder early in the second quarter to cap a 6-play, 49-yard drive.
UF blew its second red-zone opportunity and was forced to settle for a field goal, Velez's 31-yard, that at least put the Gators on the board. That kick came six minutes into the second period.
Morgan negated the Florida's field goal with a 32-yarder, his third of the game, as time expired in the first half. Those points came after the Gators went for a fourth-and-10 at the Georgia 40 and failed to make the mark. In fact, the play failed to get back to the line of scrimmage. The pass went about six yards downfield, but Dunbar ran backward and ended up losing three yards.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
No. 5 Florida Continues Hot Home Win Streak With Sweep of Lady Vols
Playing for Each Other has Gator Soccer Playing for SEC Title Thursday
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Gator Swimming and Diving Take Down Missouri in SEC Opening Dual
No. 2 Gators Grind Out 3-1 Win at Arkansas for Seventh SEC Victory
Gators Fall in First Trip to Missouri
Redshirt freshman Maty Mauk, making the first start of his career, passed for 295 yards against the Southeastern Conference top-rated defense, placekicker Andrew Baggett tied a school record with five field goals and UF quarterback Tyler Murphy was punished and panicked all day as the 14th-ranked Tigers dominated the No. 22 Gators at Faurot Field.
In losing for the second straight week on the road, the Gators (4-3, 3-2) gained just 151 yards of total offense and now have scored just one touchdown the last two games. UF lost 17-6 last weekend at LSU, managing just two field goals.
Murphy was under siege the entire game, with the Gators mostly helpless in the running game (31 carries, 59 yards) and the offense providing no time in pass protection. Murphy finished 15 of 29 for 92 yards and an interception against a Missouri (7-0, 3-0) defense that was perpetual attack mode during the entire sun-splashed afternoon. Murphy was sacked six times and hit a bunch more.
Florida's best offensive output of the game came on a six-play, 70-yard drive that true freshman tailback Kelvin Taylor capped with a all-out effort 21-yard touchdown run, the first score of his career. Taylor finished with 74 yards on 12 carries. The rest of UF's rushing attack totaled 15 yards on 19 carries.
Mauk, meanwhile, completed 18 of his 36 throws, including a 20-yard touchdown on the game's second play from scrimmage. Mauk also had a 17-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
The foamer was a tone-setter for the day and came after Mauk hit wideout L'Damian Washington on the first play of the game for a 52-yard completion over true freshman cornerback Vernon Hargreaves. If that wasn't bad enough, UF safety Cody Riggs, who came with help on the play, was flagged for a "targeting" violation and ejected.
It was downhill from there, in Florida's first game ever in the Show Me State.
The Gators answered Mizzou's touchdown with a 23-yard field goal from Frankie Velez, thanks to a muffed punt by MU return man Marcus Murphy.
Baggett canceled out Velez's field goal with a 43-yard of his own. That score was set up after UF true freshman wideout Demarcus Robinson let a wide-open pass from Murphy skip through his arms and into the hands of MU cornerback Aarion Penton, who returned it seven yards to the UF 46.
The score was 13-3 at halftime, but UF's Solomon Patton started the second half with a 100-yard kickoff return that quickly made it a 13-10 game.
Undeterred, Mauk hit wideout Jimmie Hunt for a 52-yard completion on Mizzou's second offensive play of the half, and three plays later Josey scored on a 6-yard on third-and-5 to stake the lead back to 10.
Baggett's third field goal, a 39-yarder, pushed the margin to 23-10, but the Gators put together their best drive in two weeks: six plays, 70 yards, with Taylor dashing in from 21 yards out to make the score 23-17.
But Josey took off on a 50-yard run to set up field goal No. 4 from Baggett. His fifth came early in the fourth quarter.
If the game wasn't out of reach there, Murphy's fumble deep in his own territory did, with Mauk scoring his 17-yard run for a 36-17 lead with 6:30 to go.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Gators' Recruiting Class Ranked No. 1 by Baseball America
Rank
|
School
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1.
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FLORIDA
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2.
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Texas
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3.
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South
Carolina
|
4.
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Oklahoma
State
|
5.
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Oregon
State
|
6.
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Miami
(FL)
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7.
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Oregon
|
8.
|
Ole
Miss
|
9.
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Mississippi
State
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10.
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Oklahoma
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11.
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Nebraska
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12.
|
Cal
State Fullerton
|
Gator Swimming and Diving Take Down Missouri in SEC Opening Dual
Saturday, October 12, 2013
No. 12 Gator soccer takes 1-0 double overtime win at Mississippi State
Did You Know…
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|||
Tonight’s
score was the fifth latest golden goal in the Gator program’s 19-year
history.
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Time
|
Date
|
Match
|
Goal
Scorer
|
134:50
|
11/10/96
|
Arkansas
|
Sarah
Yohe
|
119:04
|
12/02/01
|
UCLA
|
Monica
Hoyles
|
109:07
|
9/15/00
|
Southern
California
|
Abby
Wambach
|
108.58
|
11/7/04
|
Tennessee
|
Monica
Hoyles
|
108:51
|
10/11/13
|
Mississippi State
|
Savannah Jordan
|
106:50
|
11/16/03
|
Mississippi
|
Ashley
Kellgren
|
106:30
|
10/5/97
|
Butler
|
Angie
Olson
|
106:12
|
8/20/10
|
Miami
|
Taylor
Travis
|
106:02
|
11/9/07
|
LSU
|
Shana
Hudson
|
|
|
|
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