Florida had an ugly outing on Saturday night, but the Gators still delivered a win.

The Gators looked to continue the momentum they built last week with another game in The Swamp — and this time was much less dominant. They had a tough battle against a Charlotte team coached by Biff Poggi, a former offensive lineman under Steve Spurrier at Duke.

The 25th-ranked Gators, who upset then-No. 11 Tennessee, got their first 3-game winning streak in 3 years. But in a game that was much closer than it should have been, the Gators suffered a few too many white-knuckle moments in the 2nd half as Charlotte extended drives. But the Gators prevailed, 22-7.

In the 2nd half alone, Florida had 5 drives, and they ended with a pair of field goals, a punt, a fumble and a turnover-on-downs.

Ricky Pearsall’s catch

The Florida wide receiver made an eye-popping catch early in the game, and it helped setup a scoring drive for the Gators.

At the end of the 1st quarter, Pearsall had 4 catches for 79 yards, but the one-handed grab, in which he absorbed an incredible hit, stood out. Pearsall spead out his right hand and stuck the ball as if he were Spiderman.

Troubling 2nd quarter

Florida mustered just 19 yards during the 2nd quarter, including minus-1 rushing, which was a complete opposite of last week’s effort in the same frame against Tennessee. They had 9 total plays and were 0-for-3 on 3rd down. Was it a let down against an inferior opponent? The silver lining was the Gators somehow got 6 points out of the deal on a pair of field goals. It was quite a contrast from the 1st quarter when Florida rolled up 225 yards.

3rd down struggles

Graham Mertz had a solid outing and was 18-for-21 passing with less than 5 minutes remaining in the game. But the Gators overall struggled on 3rd down as they were 1-for-9, and even Mertz had to wrestle for a short yardage attempt with 2 and a half minutes remaining, and he still didn’t get it.

The Gators return to action next week at Kentucky.