Rapid Reaction: Florida nearly blows it at home, hangs on to beat Mississippi State
Published:
All eyes now turn to the Florida administration.
Heading into Saturday’s contest with Mississippi State, reporting suggested that embattled head coach Billy Napier would not “survive” another loss. Well, Florida didn’t lose on Saturday, but in the aftermath of a 23-21 win over the Bulldogs, we’re about to see how committed the Gators are to the current regime.
Florida held a 20-7 lead on the Bulldogs after a touchdown run from KD Daniels with 13:41 to play in the fourth quarter.
Mississippi State scored with 2 minutes to go to climb within 2 points, then it forced a 3-and-out in just 13 seconds to get the football back. Florida gained 4 yards on first down and 5 yards on second down.
On third-and-1, Napier lined quarterback DJ Lagway up in the gun and had him roll to the right. Lagway was sacked for a 7-yard loss and the Gators punted the ball back to Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs drove down to the Florida 29 and looked to be in range to attempt a game-winning field goal before inexplicable late-game management bit another head coach in the rear.
On first-and-10 from the 29 with 34 seconds on the clock, Mississippi State ran its quarterback, Blake Shapen, up the gut for no gain. For a moment, it seemed like Mississippi State was content to set up a potential game-winning field goal.
Rather than force Florida to burn any of its remaining timeouts or just take the clock down, Mississippi State called a quick timeout — its last of the half — to stop the clock at 29 seconds.
On second down, Shapen was picked off by Michai Boireau to end the game.
Neither team will feel particularly good about itself coming out of the game.
In the second quarter, with Florida leading 10-7, “fire Billy” chants rained down from The Swamp. Those chants came back in the fourth quarter, just seconds before Boireau’s interception.
The Gators moved to 3-4 on the season and got back to .500 in conference play with the victory, but it was by the skin of their teeth against a team that hasn’t managed a win over another SEC opponent in just under 2 years.
No, Mississippi State’s near-miss in Gainesville extended its winless streak in SEC play to 15 games. The last time the Bulldogs beat a conference opponent was on Oct. 21, 2023, when they beat Arkansas 7-3 on the road.
Mississippi State hosts Texas next Saturday. Florida travels to Jacksonville to face Georgia.
Florida 23, Mississippi State 21
Here’s the Mississippi State-Florida box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
DJ Lagway vs Blake Shapen
A statistical breakdown of how Florida quarterback DJ Lagway played compared to Mississippi State’s Blake Shapen:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
