ATLANTA -- Florida football has come full circle.
Just 16 months after their embarrassing loss to Michigan in the 2017 opener, the Gators have bounced back to beat the Wolverines 41-15in the Peach Bowl on Saturday.
Dan Mullen's side did it in true Mullen style.
Florida's offense started slow, only managing two field goals in two trips to the redzone. Meanwhile, the Wolverines were able to put Florida's defense on its back foot with an up tempo offense. Shea Patterson found Donovan Peoples-Jones for the 9-yard touchdown, then added a field goal in the second quarter to take the 10-6 lead.
But then UF's offense found a spark through Feleipe Franks.
The Florida quarterback led the team down field, rushing for 30 yards, scrambling for 15 yards, and then finally finding the endzone with a 20 yards dash for the 13-10 lead.
A nice break up by Amari Burney on the ensuing drive ensured the Gators would keep the lead heading in the break.
Then came the moment that turned the momentum to Florida.
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson picked off Shea Patterson and returned it 53 yards, setting up the game swinging drive for Florida.
Facing fourth-and -one, Mullen decided to go for a jet sweep to Kadarius Toney. Toney rushed for 30 yards putting the Gators near the goal line. Franks took full advantage and found Perine for the five-yard touchdown. The Gators extended their lead to ten.
UF was now rolling, and Mullen was just having fun.
An option pitch to Jordan Scarlett leads to a one-yard touchdown and a 17 point lead for the Gators.
The Florida defense continues to make stops, while the Florida offense continued to move the ball with ease.
After a nice haul by C'yontai Lewis, Lamical Perine needed any tricks to add to the Gators' lead. The junior running back switched gears and sped his way down the field 53-yards for a touchdown.
Gardner-Johnson's pick six would round off the scoring.
Michigan never had a chance at a come back, while one can argue Florida completed its come back to national prominence.
GAME BALL: There were plenty of candidates, but I'm giving it to Feleipe Franks. Franks led the team to the endzone in the Gators' first touchdown scoring drive in the second quarter that allowed the offense to build momentum. That was huge.
GAME CHANGER: Dan Mullen's decision to go for the jet sweep to Kadarius Toney on fourth-and-one in the third quarter is my game changer. The Chauncey Gardner-Johnson pick led to this opportunity, however, that ballsy, smart call put Florida down at the five yard line and set up Lamical Perine's five-yard touchdown.
QUOTEABLE:" I want to thank all those seniors, also, for believing in me. I told our guys, the sooner everybody bought in, the sooner we'll start winning. It's evident. It started with the seniors. Those guys believed from day one," said Florida head coach Dan Mullen. "Nobody questioned, nobody resisted, everybody tried to do whatever we asked them to do. And you see, and I told everybody, you know, today we wanted to peak today. That's what you want to do, peak on the final game of the season. You're always getting better. We want to continue to improve.
"You ask what a successful season is, and it's you got better every single day. I would call this season a success. I'm proud of all these guys up here on stage with me. But the whole team and those guys bought in to believing what we're trying to build and to get that Gator standard back."
QUOTEABLE: "All my teammates are smiling," said defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. "We got that feeling back we had my freshman year. I came with Perine and Feleipe. Like he said, Coach Mullen didn't recruit us, but we all made a collective effort, we're going to buy in, this is our team. A lot of the guys will be around next year, and they can lead the younger guys.
"We told them all week, the playoff's going to be here. Like Coach Mullen said, the playoff's going to be here so if you act like a big-time team, perform like a big-time team, you'll be here next year on a bigger stage.This game right here, like I said, one step closer to the program being back to where it was."
WHATS NEXT: The Gators will have a few days off, meanwhile, we will await decisions from several underclassmen on whether or not they will return for another year or head to NFL. Jachai Polite, Jordan Scarlett, Jawaan Taylor and Vosean Joseph are some of the names we will be keeping an eye on moving forward.
Stay with Gators Territory as we will update this story with quotes and have plenty of coverage from Atlanta.
