For the first time since 1959, both the Florida Gators (4-7, 3-5) and the Florida State Seminoles (5-6, 3-5) entered the Sunshine Showdown with a losing record. That one stat really sums up the season and the day for these two proud programs.
At half, the Noles led 24-13. Of those 24 FSU points, 21 came of turnovers and Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks (18-of-39 for 184-yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions) was directly responsible for 12 (fumble and interception).
“Turnover wise, yeah,” Franks responded when asked if it was his toughest day on the football field.
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“I don’t think I’ve ever thrown three interceptions and a pick six and obviously another pick six. I don’t think I ever did that…it’s part of the game. It’s something for me to learn from and get better at it. The guys have confidence in me, that’s all that really matters. I’m not worried about everybody in the nation having confidence in me. I’m not really worried about that. The guys have confidence in me. Then we’ll go from there.”
It was like watching an uneven boxing match. The Gators came out in their first drive swinging aggressively. Adarius Lemons took the opening kick off back 37 yards, Lamical Perine picked up a first down thanks to his line pushing him across and interim head coach Randy Shannon elected to go for it on 4th and two. The defense quickly followed by forcing a three and out. It was an aggressive statement meant to tell the Florida State Seminoles that the Gators were frustrated and ready to take it out on their hated rival.
That bottle rocket flared out quickly though and the Gators much like a boxer who dances around too much in the first round, began to flounder. Franks was hit by Brain Burns, forcing a fumble for an easy scoop and score.
The Gators landed a punch of their own thanks to a interception by Duke Dawson on his senior day—due largely in part to Marco Wilson’s pas break up—which gave Florida possession on the FSU 23 yard line. Three plays later Mark Thompson, also celebrating senior day, punched it in for a tie ball game.
But then Franks threw his first of three interceptions on the day and the Noles were able to capitalize yet again, going up 14-7. The old adage of “Win the turnover battle, win the game” proved true for FSU as they scored 28 points total off of four Gator turnovers.
“Any time you play any type of game you can't have turnovers like that,” explained Shannon.
“We got some turnovers ourselves, but there was just too many for touchdowns, that was the biggest part of the turnover battle."
Added Josh Hammond, “You know, we turned the ball over four times. Gave them 21 points out the gate. So, you know, it’s hard to win ball games when you have to come back from a deficit like that. We’ve just things to grow on and get cleaned up and work on for next season.”
They even got to Johnny Townsend—one of the nations leading punters statistically—sending one that rolled back only accumulating 29 net yards; when asked about the punt, Townsend laughed and ended his press conference with—“Ohhhh … see you guys [later].”
At the end of the first half the Gators led a drive that went 74 yards in 12 plays, using 3:11 on the clock. It began with a 14 yard run from Thompson then went on to include nine passing plays; slants, crossing patterns, sideline passes, it was all Gator fans have asked for and it ended with a beautiful pass to the Gators senior do-it all man Brandon Powell, his first of two touchdown passes on the day.
And then…Eddy Pinero’s PAT was blocked; his second blocked extra point of the season. It was a snapshot of Florida’s entire season. One-step forward, one step backward.
With two offenses that rank 108 and 109 nationally, it wasn’t going to be too hard for the defenses to look good, but the Gators truly committed to their defensive plan and held FSU to 216 total yards.
After a methodical ‘Noles drive that looked to take over the game, Randy Shannon’s defense held their opponent to a field goal. FSU was only able to convert 4-13 on 3rd down.
Said linebacker David Reese, “Our defense never quit. Even when they had the ball on the one-yard line and tried to punch it in. it took them time to score. Those guys never quit. That just showed the character of those guys. I love those guys. I wish I could play with all of those guys again but unfortunately some of those guys are moving on. They played well. I’m proud of our defense.”
At the end of the day though, between two teams who came in 4-6, it was just a matter of who shot themselves in the foot the least. The second to last scoring sequence of the day encapsulated that when Franks threw an interception that originally seemed to be returned 30 yards for a Pick-Six…until it was determined Matthew Thomas went down at the 1-yard line. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty (one of seven from the day) moved the ‘Noles back to the 16-yard line. It took longer than necessary but FSU eventually scored making it 38-16.
Mercifully for Florida, the clock wound down as the Gators scored one more in garbage time to make it more respectable and the team—who last showed a spark with a 63-yard touchdown pass against Tennessee—was able to close the book on the 2017 season.
Hammond summed it up saying, “I mean, it sucks. A lot of guys are really hurt right now. But we’re a young team. We’ve got a lot to build on. We’ve got a big future ahead of us. So I think that’s pretty much the focus right now, and sinking it in now that it’s over. We’ve gotta come to work this offseason and be ready for next year.”
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