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Florida DL Desmond Watson delivers first career carry in Gasparilla Bowl
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Florida soundly defeated Tulane, 33-8, in Friday’s Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, continuing its late-season surge right through a bowl blowout in its home state. And, you might say the Gators had a good time while doing it.
With a little over 4 minutes left in the game and UF up 26-0, Florida lined up at the Tulane 26-yard line. No big deal, right?
Wrong. Because there was an extra-large running back lining up in the backfield who isn’t a running back. It was 6-foot-5, 449-pound senior defensive lineman Desmond Watson, who to nobody’s surprise had never recorded a carry in his Florida career. The crowd was roaring in anticipation of Watson getting that first carry in a no-pressure situation.
The fans and the gushing announcers on ESPN2 got what they wanted, as Watson took the handoff and rumbled for 1 yard. Well, 1 yard was all the Gators needed on the 3rd-and-1 play. First down Florida, and an all-time memory in Florida football history for everyone at Raymond James Stadium, except maybe the Tulane players, coaches and fans.
Watson’s run — or rumble is more like it — led to a 9-yard touchdown run by Anthony Rubio with 1:11 left in the game that gave Florida a 33-0 lead.
Tulane ruined the shutout with 29 seconds left, but it hardly ruined the wonderful afternoon for Florida and the moment when the ground in Tampa might’ve shook a little on that Watson carry.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
