Depleted Florida Gators Dominated, Lose 49-17 at Texas

A depleted Florida Gators team nearly saw its 456-game scoring streak end in a blowout loss to Texas.

Nov 9, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive back Jaylon Guilbeau (3) sacks Florida Gators Aidan Warner (16) during the first half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

AUSTIN, Tx.-- The nation's longest scoring streak in college football history nearly to an end.

The Florida Gators, which held a 456-game scoring streak heading into Saturday, kicked a 23-yard field goal with 7:06 left in the third quarter to keep it's record alive. A chance for a win, however, was dead by point.

By the time kicker Trey Smack put points on the board, the Texas had already scored 42 of their own behind a career-high five touchdown passes from Quinn Ewers, and the Longhorns eventually left the field with a dominating 49-17 win over the Gators.

The loss, which moves UF head coach Billy Napier to 15-19, comes days after athletic director Scott Stricklin confirmed his plans to keep Napier as the head coach amidst calls for change from Gator Nation.

It was also the most lopsided loss for the Gators since 2020, which saw a 35-point loss to Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, and the most points given up since the 2021 season, which saw a 49-42 loss to LSU.

Meanwhile, Ewers threw for 333 yards and five touchdowns, and the Longhorn defense completely shut down a depleted Gator offense, which was without two quarterbacks, starting running back Montrell Johnson Jr., two starting receivers in Eugene Wilson III and Elijhah Badger and starting guard Damieon George Jr.

The Longhorns out-gained the Gators 562-329 and forced four total turnovers including a missed field goal in the first half.

"You’re not going to win turning the ball over four times against a team like that," Napier said. "We had two tipped interceptions, we had a fumble, short field missed field goal. Any chance of momentum, we missed a field goal early. Look, I do think the kids continue to play with fortitude in the second half but not good enough. I think, overall, it got out of hand in the first half. You looked up and the game was over."

After being a game time decision, freshman quarterback DJ Lagway did not play, leading to walk-on transfer Aidan Warner to make his first career start. Mostly relying on the run game and short passes, Warner completed 12 of his 25 passes for 132 yards and two interceptions.

In a run-heavy offensive, the Gators found success behind the legs of Ja'Kobi Jackson, who rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown, alongside Jadan Baugh, who added 95 yards of total offense and a score. It was Jackson's first 100-yard performance as a Gator.

Despite a rough overall performance, the Gator defense came to play early after forcing a missed field goal on the opening drive set up by a tackle-for-loss from Bryce Thornton and a sack from TJ Searcy. From there, though, the wheels fell of for Florida.

Florida was forced to punt on its opening possession, and Texas capitalized with a seven-play, 85-yard touchdown drive that ended in a 29-yard pass from Quinn Ewers to Matthew Golden. The Gators fumbled on the ensuing possession, and Ewers found tight end Gunnar Helm for a 22-yard touchdown two plays later.

The Gators found offensive success on the next drive with a 39-yard pass from Warner to Chimere Dike, but Florida wasn't able to capitalize after Trey Smack missed a 30-yard field goal.

"Just early in general we didn’t do enough to slow them down," Napier said. "Then we go fumbling and bang, bang you look up and it’s 14-0. Then here we go, we’re moving down there and we have an opportunity to make it 14-3 and we miss a field goal. I think that affected the momentum a little bit, no question about it.”

Texas continued to keep its foot on the gas against the Florida defense in the second quarter with two more touchdown passes from Ewers, a 50-yard score off a backside screen to Quintrevion Wisner with 5:54 left in the half and a 32-yard score to Golden with 1:19 left in the half.

Trailing 28-0 with a little over a minute left in the half, Warner threw an interception, which led to another Texas touchdown. With 23 seconds left, Jaydon Blue scored from five-yards out to give the Longhorns a 35-0 lead.

“I didn’t think we tackled well. I didn’t think we played the perimeter plays well. And I don’t think when it was pocket-pass, we’re not landing. We didn’t affect the quarterback," Napier said. "That’s one of the things we’ve been doing well. We’ve been affecting the quarterback, and the rush and coverage have been working well together. We did not do that well today. That paired with some of the tackling and the way we played on the perimeter, that’s when you look up and it’s 10 yards a play in the first half.”

Warner threw another interception off a tipped pass to open the third quarter, and Ewers hit Isaiah Bond for a 34-yard touchdown on a screen pass for his fifth touchdown pass of the afternoon, giving Texas a 42-0 lead.

Florida's offensive finally found points from Smack's third-quarter field goal, which was set up by 21 rushing yards from Ja'Kobi Jackson and 32 total yards from Jadan Baugh, who later scored on a two-yard run the following drive.

The teams traded points in the fourth quarter with a 14-yard run by Jerrick Gibson for Texas and a seven-yard run by Jackson for the Gators.

Next week, the Gators return home for a matchup against LSU. Kickoff against the Tigers, which have won the last five matchups in the rivalry, is at 3:30 p.m. EST.