Florida stuns Texas with 7-minute TD drive to open play in Gainesville
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Florida started Saturday’s showdown with No. 9 Texas about as well as it possibly could, taking a 7-0 lead with a 13-play, 84-yard drive to start the game.
That stunning drive took 6 minutes, 52 seconds off the clock, keeping Arch Manning and the Longhorns offense off the field while Florida marched down the field to grab the early momentum. Sophomore running back Jadan Baugh finished off the drive in style, breaking right to the outside on 3rd-and-1 and beating the Texas defense to the corner of the end zone to make sure the Gators didn’t have to make any decisions on a potential 4th-down play.
Instead, it was the touchdown that Billy Napier and his team needed badly to start things in Gainesville in the national TV game on ESPN. Suddenly, there were 7 minutes gone in the first quarter and UF had taken control, at least to start with.
Here is Baugh’s scoot around the right side for 6 points, which also put him over 1,000 career rushing yards:
Sure, there was still a very long way to go on Saturday for Florida and its embattled head coach, but it couldn’t have scripted things any better to begin the crucial Week 6 game at The Swamp.
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.
