Nov 15, 2026 12:00 PM
Jon Sumrall's squad clinched bowl eligibility by stifling Kentucky with dominant ball control and a revitalized rushing attack.
Other than the Ole Miss game, this Florida Gators squad doesn't have a notable win at home.
Make no mistake about it, taking down the then-ranked No. 4 Rebels, 52-28, was a monumental victory, but Jon Sumrall and Co. followed it up by dropping home games to unranked South Carolina and Oklahoma.
Everyone expected this team to take care of business against Florida Atlantic and Campbell, but Florida opened some eyes with its 44-39 win at Auburn.
Roughly one month later, the Gators went to Austin and took down the No. 7 Texas Longhorns, 27-24.
Related stories
Nearly one month after that, Florida traveled to Kentucky and clinched bowl eligibility against the No. 11 Wildcats, 21-14.
Florida finally could run the ball again
For as good as both Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. are, neither QB is expected to throw for 300+ yards per game.
In fact, Florida hasn't finished a game with more than 172 passing yards since Saturday, Oct. 10.
Going back even further, the Gators have only had one game with a 200-yard passer since Saturday, Sept. 26.
Offensive line struggles have plagued this team, and they've made Jadan Baugh look like a shell of himself compared to how he started the year.
Against Kentucky, this team got its identity back. Philo returned to his role as the starting QB, but managed to shock everyone with his 102 rushing yards.
For Baugh, he had a team-high 18 carries that he turned into 69 yards. Duke Clark added 42 yards as well, 21 of which came on one carry.
Gators dominated time of possession
In order to win against ranked teams, taking care of the football and putting together long drives means everything.
At Kroger Field, the Gators ended the game with 34:07 in the time of possession category. That's a massive difference from Kentucky's 25:53, as Florida had the ball for nearly 10 extra minutes.
The game featured only one turnover, and it went against Kentucky, not Florida, so the Gators also had that going for them.
Florida was 9/17 on third down
Both teams combined to go 0/3 on fourth down, but the thing that made the biggest difference in this game was Florida's 52.3% conversion rate on third-down.
The Wildcats finished at a 50% rate themselves, but had seven fewer attempts on third-down.
Florida's nine third-down conversations are the most its had in a game all year For reference, the Gators ran just nine third-down plays in the entire game against Oklahoma last weekend.
Comments
Powered by RoundtableAn AI/DeFi-powered Enterprise Media Operating System. Learn more at Roundtable.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


