Florida football's two-game losing streak came to an end on Saturday night as the Gators prevailed over the Kentucky Wildcats, 21-14, in Lexington to earn that elusive sixth win.
It was a hard-fought game on both sides, but Lady Luck smiled on the Orange and Blue just enough to give Jon Sumrall's squad the edge in the end. It was not a perfect game for Florida by any stretch of the imagination, but the Gators showed resolve and toughness despite looking lost in the first series on both offense and defense.
Following the conclusion of Florida's Week 11 victory, the Gators Wire staff submitted their instant reactions and analysis to the huge road win in good, bad and ugly format. Here is what we had to offer on what was witnessed in Lexington Saturday
night.
Adam Dubbin
GOOD: Aaron Philo was having some trouble getting his team downfield with his arm, so instead, he resorted to his legs — much like we saw with Oklahoma's John Mateer last week in the Swamp. Florida's quarterback finished with 102 yards on the ground in a Tebow-esque performance, leading his team to victory and clinching a bowl berth for the program.
BAD: The onside kick call in the third quarter may have shown some cojones on Sumrall's part, but it backfired spectacularly as Kentucky quickly scored its second touchdown of the night. Florida had the lead for a whole 2:46 — their first lead in a month — before relinquishing it until midway through the fourth quarter.
UGLY: They may not have been game-changers, but Florida had three flags thrown on their first possession of the game, including the very first play and two of the initial three. They were all procedural calls, showing that the Gators were completely out of sync to begin the game, but fortunately, those mistakes were eventually resolved.
David Rosenberg
GOOD: Jayden Woods made the play that woke Florida up. The Gators had two points at halftime and hadn’t given us much reason to expect more. Two snaps into the third quarter, Woods stripped Kenny Minchey, Brendan Bett fell on the ball at the Kentucky 30, and suddenly Florida had a short field and a chance to take the lead.
Woods finished with six tackles, two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, but that strip was the play I’ll remember.
BAD: Kentucky kept finding guys downfield, and it made this game a lot more uncomfortable than it needed to be. Five completions accounted for 107 of the Wildcats’ 181 passing yards. Willie Rodriguez’s 24-yard catch set up a touchdown, and DJ Miller’s 29-yarder had Kentucky threatening to tie in the fourth.
Florida held the Wildcats to 61 yards on the ground. You’d like to see that buy you a little more breathing room.
UGLY: Florida had Kentucky in third-and-7 at its own 17 on the opening drive, and two Gators ran into each other trying to get to Kenny Minchey. He went right up the middle for the first down. What should’ve been a three-and-out turned into an 86-yard touchdown drive, and on third down near the goal line, CJ Baxter was wide open.
Florida had three chances to get off the field on that drive and blew all three. Fortunately, the defense tightened up after that.
Michael Trim Jr.
GOOD: Whether by design or not, Aaron Philo used his running ability to help the Gator offense quite a bit, with little going on through the air. Philo led all runners with 102 yards and added a touchdown. The Florida defense was very impressive in this outing and has been for the past few weeks, getting off the field on crucial downs, especially in the fourth quarter when UK went for it.
BAD: Florida’s early offense was simply bad; without the defense getting a safety, it would have gone scoreless in the first half. The Gators had five drives in the first half, and each ended in a punt.
UGLY: Bryce Lovett, who was responsible for an early false start, would later be called for a personal foul after a big gain to mitigate what would have put his team in scoring position. Alas, the Gators would ultimately finish their march into the end zone to retake the lead and win the game.
Michael Long
GOOD: The Gators punted on all five of their first-half possessions, and quarterback Aaron Philo struggled to get his team down the field. However, the Gators' special teams came up with a huge momentum-sustaining play when Alec Clark pinned the Wildcats deep in their own territory. That starting position allowed Brad White’s defense to put pressure on the Wildcats.
Lance Heard was flagged for holding in the end zone, resulting in a safety; it was the first points scored by the Gators and their only score in the opening half. Emmanuel Oyebadejo’s pass rush caused the penalty and ultimately earned the points.
The Florida front played well all game, producing two sacks and five tackles for loss. Jayden Woods also caused a strip sack to open the first half that sparked UF’s comeback.
BAD: In addition to several position changes, Florida’s offensive line had issues with communication and discipline against Kentucky. After moving to center from right guard, TJ Shanahan's bad snap could’ve ended up much worse than it was, and the unit was flagged multiple times in the first half, with one stalling what looked like promising Gators drives.
The group did stabilize in the second half, paving the way for Aaron Philo to take over the game with his legs, rushing for over 100 yards in the victory.
UGLY: The passing attack was lackluster for the third straight week; Philo was forced to utilize his legs due to those limitations. Only 119 yards came through the air for UF on Saturday and the already banged-up receiving corps saw Bailey Stockdon go down with an injury, which is worrisome given the inability for the unit to stay healthy all season.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Instant reactions to Florida's huge Week 11 upset win over Kentucky
