Rapid Reaction to Florida's 24-13 win over UCF
GAINESVILLE, Fla — The Florida Gators improved to 3-2 on the season Saturday with their 24-13 win over UCF. With that result, UF has outscored the Knights 124-40 and is 3-0 in three Gainesville meetings.
The duo of Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway finished 23 of 28 (82.0%) for 229 yards and one touchdown after going 26 of 28 (92.8%, UF single-game record) for 277 yards and four TDs in their last game at Mississippi State.
Florida did not allow a single sack on offense and registered a season-high five sacks against the Knights. The Gators held UCF’s No. 2-ranked rushing attack to a season-low on the ground and won the rushing battle, 130-108.
In the video above, Gators Online shares our rapid reaction to Florida’s win over UCF.
Billy Napier on the Florida Gators win over UCF
“I think today was a product of a lot of hard work the past two weeks. I think we made a ton of progress in the open date. I know we talked specifically about that, but I can’t compliment the players and the staff enough in terms of their attitude towards the work we’ve been doing the last two weeks and then I thought that carried over.
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I think defensively, to hold this group to 108 yards rushing and to have really got after the quarterback a little bit, two big fourth down stops and we were really good on third down, you know, so I think defensively, took some steps in the right direction. We played a good half of football on offense. Felt both quarterbacks were really sharp. We had good balance. I thought that overall played some good situational football before the half and then we sputtered a little bit. They had the ball quite a bit in the second half and I think we had three real possessions and we struggled to move it.
A few undisciplined penalties that we need to clean up I think on offense, but overall I think the kids showed up with a mentality tonight and I’m very thankful for our players and how hard they’ve worked and for them to take that momentum we felt to the park tonight and play the way that we would want them to play and the way they want to play, right?
Now, we are still a work in progress. We’ve got a lot of areas where we need to continue to improve. We need to improve the football, and we need to continue to improve our mentality and approach. We had a lot of people throughout the entire organization that contributed. I think our scout teams did a great job, offense, defense, special teams. We got a lot of players that contribute during the week and I thought they did a really good job, so good day and we’ll enjoy this thing tonight. We’ll turn the page and get ready for the next one.”
![A touchdown is celebrated with fireworks in the first half at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 17, 2022. [Cyndi Chambers/Gainesville Sun] Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs Usf Bulls](https://on3static.com/cdn-cgi/image/height=215,width=393,quality=90,fit=cover,gravity=0.5x0.5/uploads/dev/assets/cms/2023/08/27214921/Untitled-design-4-4.png)
![Florida Gators wide receiver Eugene Wilson III (3) hauls in a pass while taking balls from a throwing machine during University of Florida Gators’ Spring football practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, March 28, 2024. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]](https://on3static.com/cdn-cgi/image/height=215,width=393,quality=90,fit=cover,gravity=0.5x0.5/uploads/dev/assets/cms/2024/08/01212103/Untitled-design-80.png)
