How It Happened: No. 11 Tennessee loses 29-16 at Florida

GAINESVILLE —  No. 11 Tennessee was in a 19-point hole at halftime and the Vols couldn’t dig their way out in the second half against Florida Saturday night, losing 29-16 to Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Here’s how it happened, as it happened:

First Quarter

Florida 0, Tennessee 0 (7:34, 1Q): Florida drove 46 yards on 14 plays on its first possession of the game, but Adam Mihalek’s 46-yard field goal attempt came up short. The Gators converted twice on third down during the drive, but the Vols had two tackles for loss, resulting in six yards lost, before Florida attempted the field goal.

Tennessee 7, Florida 0 (5:33, 1Q): The Vols got the ball after the missed field goal and went 71 yards in six plays for a quick-strike touchdown. Joe Milton III hit Squirrel White for a 41-yard gainer down the Tennessee sideline then threw an 11-yard fade to the corner of the end zone to Ramel Keyton to open the scoring. The drive took just two minutes, one second off the clock. Jaylen Wright converted third-and-4 with an 11-yard gainer on a swing pass from Milton to set up the deep shot to White.

Tennessee 7, Florida 6 (4:10, 1Q): The Gators needed four plays to respond. Trevor Etienne ran 62 yards for a touchdown to get Florida on the board. Mihalek’s extra point attempt was blocked. Florida converted on third-and-5 on the play before the long touchdown run.

Second Quarter

Florida 12, Tennessee 7 (9:28, 2Q): Florida went on another marathon drive and this time cashed in. The Gators went 82 yards in 14 plays, taking 7:28 off the clock, and Montrell Johnson capped it off with a 4-yard touchdown run. Florida converted two more third downs on the drive — third-and-5 and third-and-12 — to make the Gators 6-for-7 on third down. Florida’s two-point attempt failed.

Florida 19, Tennessee 7 (7:20, 2Q): Two plays after Florida took the lead, Milton was hit while throwing deep and was intercepted. The Gators took the pick back 39 yards to the Tennessee 18 and scored three plays later to extend the lead. Mertz scored Florida’s third rushing touchdown of the game on a quarterback sneak on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line.

Florida 26, Tennessee 7 (2:22, 2Q): The Vols had another quick three-and-out after a false start on first down and then a sack, setting up third-and-20. Florida answered with another quick touchdown. Mertz faced pressure up the middle, but threw complete to Johnson and he did the rest on an 18-yard touchdown, breaking a tackle and making another Tennessee defender miss on his way to the end zone.

Third Quarter

Florida 26, Tennessee 19 (9:37, 3Q): Charles Campbell hit a 32-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half for Tennessee. The scoring drive took 14 plays to go 46 yards over five minutes, 29 seconds. The Vols had to use to timeouts during the course of the drive.

Fourth Quarter

Florida 29, Tennessee 10 (9:55, 4Q): After stopping Tennessee on fourth at the Florida 44, the Gators kicked a 27-yard field goal to build the lead back to 19. The drive went 46 yards on 10 plays.

Florida 29, Tennessee 16 (8:41, 4Q): The Vols finally got back in the end zone — for the first time since their opening drive of the game — when Milton threw complete to Bru McCoy on a 55-yard touchdown down the Florida sideline. The two-point attempt failed when Milton rolled right and was forced out of bounds.

Final Stats

Milton completed 20 of 34 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once. Wright led Tennessee on the ground with 63 yards on 16 attempts. The Vols rushed for 106 yards as a team on 29 rushes.

McCoy caught five passes for 94 yards and the touchdown in the fourth quarter. White caught three passes for 68 yards, Dont’e Thornton had three catches for 53 yards and Keyton had three catches for 39 yards, including the touchdown on the opening drive.

Tennessee’s defense gave up 339 total yards, with Florida rushing for 173 yards and passing for 166 yards. Mertz completed 19 of 24 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. Etienne rushed 23 times for 172 yards and a touchdown. The Gators converted 7 of 8 third downs in the first half while building a 26-7 lead at the break.