Petty's brother on Anthony Richardson's TD run: ‘Tom was with him’
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For just over three minutes, the spirit of Tom Petty filled The Swamp on Saturday night as 90,000-plus sang “I Won’t Back Down” before the final quarter of the Florida-LSU game.
And for the first 14 seconds of the fourth, with the crowd still belting the lyrics before the snap, another Gainesville native channeled his inner Petty and ran down a dream for the Gators.
It was a play — and a moment — that fired up the fans and the team, while serving as a fitting tribute to the rock-and-roll legend and his family on the inaugural Tom Petty Day at UF.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Florida trailed the Tigers 42-21 and had been shutout in the third. Petty’s family then took the field, where Tom once worked as a groundskeeper, for Gator Nation’s rallying cry.
“I know every word,” receiver Justin Shorter said, “and sometimes it just plays back in my head.”
Quarterback Anthony Richardson said he usually sings along when the Gators are winning. But since they were down, his mind was locked into the game.
“I was trying to focus on executing the next play,” said Richardson, a Gainesville native like Petty who also makes music himself.
As cellphone flashlights lit up the stadium, Richardson shared a conversation with offensive analyst Ryan O’Hara on the sidelines before the offense went back out to resume its drive.
“We were down,” Richardson recalled, “and he said, ‘We’re gonna score, make it 42-28 and put us right back in the game.’ It just so happened that I made that play right there.”
On second-and-16 from the Florida 19, Richardson scrambled from the pocket, got a lead block from running back Trevor Etienne and was off to the races. He went untouched for 30-plus yards before avoiding four LSU defenders and doing a ‘Superman’ dive into the end zone.
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“It definitely felt good,” Anthony Richardson said of his 81-yard touchdown run. “When you make a play like that, it just brings back some faith to the team and to the stands. Being down 21, a lot of people thought they were just going to run off with the score.
“It put us in a position to come back and win the game. So, it felt pretty good just to be a part of that and make it happen.”
It marked Richardson’s second 80-yard touchdown run at UF and his fifth career score of 70-plus yards. More importantly, it provided a spark for the Gators. Their defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession and Richardson orchestrated another TD drive to make it a one-score game.
“It was crazy,” Shorter said of Richardson’s long run. “When Anthony gets the ball and starts running, anything can happen. He could break four tackles and take it to the endzone like you guys saw with people bouncing off of him. I would say that’s definitely helped our sideline out a lot and motivated us. It was what we needed.”
The Gators’ comeback ultimately fell short, but their fourth-quarter rally after Richardson’s score embodied Petty’s anthem. They didn’t back down despite the deficit, and there was no easy way out of Gainesville for LSU.
Just seconds after the 81-yard touchdown, Gators Online asked Petty’s brother, Bruce, on the sideline what he thought of the game-changing play by Anthony Richardson.
“Tom was with him,” he said with a smile.
