After three consecutive losses, with the Florida Gators' football season on the brink, quarterback DJ Lagway guaranteed better.
On Saturday against Texas, he delivered.
Lagway aggravated his lower leg injury on Florida's second possession, but he hobbled through his best performance: 21-of-28 for 298 yards and two touchdowns.
And most important: a 29-21 victory over the 9th-ranked Longhorns.
Here are his remarks after the game.
Q. DJ, what do you think kind of came together for you? You've come in and spoken to us two straight games where there were real struggles. How does it feel, and what do you think clicked tonight?
LAGWAY: Man, it feels great. It's always great to get a W, especially in the Swamp in front of these amazing fans.
But I'd say just our execution, what we preach during the bye week and things we cleaned up and just our overall camaraderie together as a team and as an offensive unit, I feel like just execution and having more plays, going 11 for 11, so yeah.
Q. Dallas Wilson, that 55-yard touchdown encapsulated a lot, catching it, running it, running over guys.
LAGWAY: He's a specimen, man. He's a great player to have on the field. I told him, every time you play, expect the ball; it's coming your way. He's just a great player to have on the team, and it's good to see him out there balling up and doing his thing.
Q. When you go into the medical tent there, does that rush over you like here we go again, and at the same time for you to come out and play arguably the best game of your career, how relieving is that considering everything you've been through and the bye week you just got through and all that?
LAGWAY: For sure. If I haven't figured it out yet, God always has a plan. It may not always look how you want it to look, but at the end of the day, God has a plan for you. And at the end of the day you've just got to rely on him and give it to him.
So yeah, it was just a blessing to be out there and compete with my guys. We had momentum; I couldn't let a moment like that go to waste, so I had to go out there and compete with my teammates and lean on my guys to make plays for me.
Q. Coach was talking about the fact that you had the bye week, and he wanted you to actually think about what had happened in those last previous games, but when you came back last Sunday, wipe that all out, start over again. What kind of a week of practice did you have, and was it easy to just wipe all that out and just say, hey, starting anew?
LAGWAY: Yes, sir, it's definitely hard just to kind of wipe a hard loss away, but I feel like when we're in this industry, in this game, you've got to always next day, next-day mentality. Just focus on the moment.
I feel like our execution during practice and just the way the coaches, they kind of switched little things up, that we had like simulated reps like the ones versus the twos and it was good competition and it was good getting a lot more gameday reps and stuff like that. So it was fun.
Q. Your offensive line today gave you a clean pocket the entire game. Would you talk about them?
LAGWAY: Man, my offensive line played their butts off, man. I'm thankful for a great group of guys and their leader Jake Slaughter. He's an awesome heck of a player, and I'm just thankful to have a guy like him lead the group and just see those guys battle for me. It means the world to me.
Q. Just talk about seeing the passing lanes that you see with a clean pocket?
LAGWAY: Yeah, for sure. I'd say just going back into the week and just our preparation, I feel like just seeing what the defense was doing and just kind of having the extra time just to watch their film and just seeing how they play things, how they do things, and just being able to capitalize off things, so it was great.
Q. A lot of people had given up on Coach Napier last year, given up on Coach Napier this year. Why do you guys keep fighting for him?
LAGWAY: Yeah, it's not really -- we're fighting for all of each other. It's us against the world; that's our mentality.
That's kind of how we approach every single day and keep our heads down and continue to work.
Q. When it pops, it's going to be hard to stop. Is that what you were referring to right there? Did it feel like it?
LAGWAY: Yes, sir, for sure. We got a little momentum, we've got to continue to work hard. Next week is a whole new challenge. We've got to build forth from there and just continue to work hard.
Q. Coach said he urged you guys to listen to the noise during the bye week. Did you listen to it, and what did you take away from some of the noise that was out there?
LAGWAY: Yeah, honestly, I never really listen to the noise or pay attention to the noise. I kind of — my confidence and how I believe in myself is in the Lord. At the end of the day, that's all I — I play for the Lord, and I feel like just having a group of guys around me to make plays, Jadan Baugh running the ball doing his thing, even Duke getting in there making some plays.
It's just great to have a great group of guys around me, receivers. You have Vernell Brown making some plays, Dallas Wilson and et cetera. It's just great to have great players around you to be able to just dish the ball out and watch them go.
Q. Coach talked about this being a glimpse of the team he thought you could be at the beginning of the season. It's one thing to know what you're capable of, but to see it put together in all three phases, what does that do for the locker room's mentality moving forward?
LAGWAY: Oh, it's great. There's still a lot of things we've got to clean up, especially offensively. At the end of the game we've got to be able to finish it a little more stronger than that. I'd definitely say it's just great to play good football, and just being able to play complementary football, that's kind of the thing that we've been preaching and harping on since September and stuff like that.
It's just great to go out there and get a W because it's a good team.
Q. What were you seeing from Texas' defense that maybe allowed you to try to stretch the field a little bit more outside of the recent weeks? Were they giving you any looks that you just felt comfortable with or something you had seen on film that you thought you could take advantage of?
LAGWAY: Yeah, just watching Texas's film, they give a lot of underneath stuff, so early on just taking what they're giving us, getting some early completions to get our confidence going, and then eventually they'll start creeping up, and they did a little bit, and we got over the top of them.
Q. Coach said you battled through something with your leg. What happened?
LAGWAY: Yeah, just a little something that happened during a play. Nothing too crazy. I've been here before, been in this situation. Just got to get better and continue to work.
Q. Good to go, though? Do you feel good?
LAGWAY: Yes, sir, I feel good.
Q. I think your longest completion against an FBS team was 22 yards or something coming into today. Yet a couple 50-somethings today. What does that do for the offense, for you, your confidence, just kind of getting that aspect rolling?
LAGWAY: Oh, it's great, just being able to take what the defense is giving me and just doing that early on. Our biggest thing this week was starting fast, and I feel like we started off very fast. I feel like we got on to them pretty quick and early.
I feel like that led to the success.
Q. You didn't get to play in this game against Texas last year with injury. You said you came into this week with a chip on your shoulder. How rewarding is it to get a win against your in-state team?
LAGWAY: Oh, man, it's awesome. It's a blessing. Anytime you can get a win against a top-10 team, especially an SEC opponent, it's great, but especially it being Texas.
I know a lot of guys on the team, so I've got a little bragging rights. But it's just great to be able to go out there and compete with some guys that I've competed against in high school and just seen them play all the way through middle school, high school, et cetera, so yeah.
Q. What was that process like just building the chemistry with Dallas during the off-season considering you guys were both dealing with injuries?
LAGWAY: Yeah.
Q. Did you expect him to make that sort of impact as soon as he stepped on the field?
LAGWAY: Yes, sir, for sure, I definitely expected it. But honestly, like crazy enough, we really — when I was in, he was out, so we really had a good two weeks just to work on our connection, and I feel like it paid off, and now I'm excited to see where this connection continues to go, so yeah.
Q. You delivered on your guarantee that you made a couple weeks ago. What's that mean for you? I know you said you don't listen to the noise, but a lot of people compared it to Tebow's from a few years ago. Just kind of talk about that.
LAGWAY: Yeah, you know, I don't — it's just about the work with us, man. I kind of demanded that from the guys early on, especially during the bye week, having time just to self-reflect, not focus on our opponent, just focus on us.
I felt like it was a good time for that.
Yeah, we're still trying to keep this thing going. We've still got a lot of things we've got to clean up offensively, defensively and special teams. Yeah, I'm excited.