Live Updates: Florida Gators vs. Kentucky Wildcats

After a sluggish start to the season in Salt Lake City, the Florida Gators now find themselves on a winning streak. Can they extend it to four games on Saturday in Lexington, Ky.?

It won’t come easy.

No. 22 Florida is a 1-point underdog against unbeaten Kentucky.

The Gators (3-1) are the more battle-tested of the teams. The Wildcats (4-0) have, to say the least, played a light schedule thus far. But they do own a two-game winning streak over the Gators and Florida hasn’t had much success on the road of late.

Will the Gators keep things moving in the right direction Saturday?

We are about to find out.

Kickoff is at noon ET.

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SCORE: Kentucky 33 Florida 14

4th Quarter

After a turnover on down by Florida, Kentucky took advantage of the field position and just added a 50-yard field goal.

SCORING DRIVE: 6 plays, 15 yards, 3:40

With Florida down two scores, the Gators are trying to get something going early in the quarter. But quarterback Graham Mertz was sacked on first down with 12:45 left. A few plays later, the Gators failed to convert on 4th-and-4 from their own 44.

3rd Quarter

Ray Davis is having one of the best games a running back has ever produced against a Florida defense. Davis has 249 yards and three touchdowns on the day.

SCORING DRIVE: 8 plays, 68 yards, 3:57

The Gators respond on offense. Graham Mertz drives Florida down the field with big connections to Trevor Etienne and a 33-yard strike to Ricky Pearsall for a touchdown.

SCORING DRIVE: 7 plays, 75 yards, 3:37

The Gators’ defense showed signs of life on the second drive of the third quarter. Florida forced a Kentucky punt for just the second time this game.

Kentucky’s defense continues to confound Billy Napier and the Florida offense. The Gators were set up to go for it on fourth down but a false start kills that thought. Jeremy Crawshaw punts for the fifth time.

Florida has now batted down 4 Devin Leary passes, at least two at the line of scrimmage.
Florida’s defense answers the call. The Gators force a three-and-out to get the offense the ball back. Florida is down 16 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.

HALFTIME STATS:

2nd Quarter

Florida got a first down due to a penalty but their offensive drive stalls again.

The Gators’ defense just has no answer for Ray Davis and the Kentucky rushing attack. Davis has 203 yards on 10 carries with nine minutes left before halftime. He’s just the eighth player to ever rush for 200 yards on Florida.

With 203 yards (on 10 carries!!!), Ray Davis becomes just the eighth player to crack 200 on the #Gators. List includes Hershel Walker (twice), Marcus Lattimore, Willis McGahee.

— Edgar Thompson (@osgators) September 30, 2023

Ray Davis plunges into the end zone for the second time.

SCORING DRIVE: 7 plays, 80 yards, 3:56

The Gators’ offense is all out of sorts.

The Gators’ defense forced a punt for the first time on Kentucky’s fifth drive of the game. Florida has 2:49 and two timeouts. They need points if they are going to have any hope of getting back into the game.

Graham Mertz evades a sack and finds Ricky Pearsall for a gain of 20 yards — the longest play of the game so far.
Florida is moving it well and into Kentucky territory.
Caleb Douglas hauls in a long pass and stretches it to the one-yard line. Douglas is injured on the play and goes straight to the locker room before halftime.
Mertz find Hayden Hansen for a touchdown.

SCORING DRIVE: 6 plays, 75 yards, 2:15

Trey Smack’s kickoff goes out of bounds. Kentucky will start at the 30 with 34 seconds before halftime.

1st Quarter

Kentucky won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Gators will start on offense.
The Gators have given up a sack and had a holding negate a first down.
Florida is forced to punt but Jeremy Crawshaw booms it 60-yards. A block in the back pins the ball back to the Kentucky 12.

Kentucky goes to running back Ray Davis who quickly picked up 33 yards on three carries.
Kentucky needed only five plays to cross the 50 after starting on their own 12-yard line.
Barion Brown drops a wide-open touchdown. Kentucky has to settle for a field goal.

SCORING DRIVE: 12 plays, 81 yards, 5:02.

Florida’s next drive ends abruptly. Graham Mertz’s third down pass goes in and out of the hands of Arlis Boardingham and is intercepted by Trevin Wallace.

Kentucky wastes no time after the turnover and punches it into the endzone just two plays later.

SCORING DRIVE: 2 plays, 15 yards, 0:40

The Gators’ third drive results in their first first down. Graham Mertz was pressured, scrambled to his left, and found Khaliel Jackson for a 13-yard gain.
The Gators’ offense is averaging just 2.5 yards per play through the first three drives. Another drive stalls and ends with a punt.
Jeremy Crawshaw’s punt is fair caught at the 10.

Florida’s defense forces a three-and-out but is hit with a leaping penalty, which gave Kentucky a new set of downs. Ray Davis took the very next snap 75 yards to the house but the Gators blocked the PAT.

SCORING DRIVE: 4 plays, 90 yards, 0:34

First quarter stats

Florida Gators vs. Kentucky Wildcats game info

• Date: Saturday, September 30
• Time: Noon ET
• Location: Kroger Field (61,000), Lexington, Kentucky
• Channel: ESPN
• Radio: ESPN Gainesville – WRUF | The Varsity Network | SiriusXM 136 or 201 | SiriusXM App
• Mobile: ESPN App
• Gator Walk: Gator Walk is scheduled for 8:40 am 

On the call:

Play-by-Play: Joe Tessitore
Analyst: Greg McElroy
Reporter: Katie George

Game Notes

• Florida visits Kentucky in Lexington for the 34th time in the 74th all-time meeting between the two programs.
• The Gators wield a 53-20 record against the Wildcats including a 22-11 mark on the road.
• Florida has won 33 of the last 36 meetings in the series including victories in 16 of the last 17 games in Lexington.
• Prior to Florida’s 20-13 loss in 2021, the Gators had not lost to Kentucky in Lexington in 35 years (1986), owning 16 straight road wins in the series.
• From 1978-2017, the Gators claimed 31 consecutive games in the series against the Wildcats.
• Since 2018, Florida is just 2-3 against Kentucky. The wins came in 2019 in Lexington and in 2020 in Gainesville.
• Billy Napier is going for his 50th career victory including his 10th at the helm of the Gators on Saturday.
• Florida enters the Week 5 matchup ranked its highest (No. 22) since sitting at No. 20 in the Sept. 18, 2022 AP Poll.
• The Gators have been ranked inside the AP top-25 in each of the last two weeks in the team’s first return to the rankings since holding status inside the AP Top 20 in three-consecutive polls last season from Weeks 2-4.
• Florida is in the midst of its first winning streak of three games or more since rattling off six-straight SEC victories from Oct. 31 – Dec. 5, 2020 (def. Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee).