Florida defense slams door on Hurricanes
Florida defense slams door on Hurricanes
The Florida Gators offense may have struggled against the Miami Hurricanes in the first half of Saturday’s showdown in the Swamp, but the Gators defensive unit left no doubts about who was in control. They never allowed Miami inside the their 30 yard line, while holding the Canes to a single field goal on their way to securing the Gator’s first win in the big rivalry game since 1985.
Florida held the Hurricanes to just 33 rushing yards and sacked their freshman quarterback three times.
Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow was out of sync in the first half but rallied in the second half to help lead fifth ranked Florida to the 26 to 3 win over the University of Miami.
The Canes pressed Tebow on every snap, forcing him to scramble out of the pocket and to throw several errant passes. That pressure by Miami allowed their offense to keep pace with the Gators in the first half. The teams headed to the locker rooms with Florida leading 9 to 3.
Florida’s first half scores came courtesy of mistakes by the Canes special teams. The first came after the Canes shanked a punt and gave the Gators the ball with a short field. Tebow capped the 35 yard drive with a 14 yard pass to Aaron Hernandez. Their other score of the first half came after a blocked Canes punt bounced out of the end zone for a safety.
Tebow and his offensive unit found their rhythm in the fourth quarter with two scoring drives of 86 and 95 yards to put the game out of reach.
The Gator’s quarterback connected with an end zone completion to Louis Murphy to finish off Florida’s longest drive of the game. The 95 yard, five play drive locked up the win. Percy Harvin added to the Gators total when he ran for one touchdown, after grabbing the pitch in the back field.
Jonathan Phillips’ 29-yard field goal with 25 seconds to play was the Gators final score.
The two schools used to play every year until the Gators dropped Miami in 1988 to play a more national schedule. The rivalry was renewed in the Sugar Bowl in 2001 and the teams have met a few times since. Until Saturday’s win the Gators haven’t been able to end the losing streak.
Gator Head Coach Urban Myers will use the upcoming bye week to get his squad ready for another big rivalry game. Florida is slated to travel to Knoxville on September 20, when they will go head to head with the University of Tennessee Volunteers.
