Gators quarterback Graham Mertz shouted to the sky with excitement after his 50-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Pearsall late in the third quarter.
The ball floated in the air and dropped into Pearsall’s hands in stride as the crowd erupted in The Swamp. Although the game was already out of reach,
as the score extended the Gators’ lead to 40-0, it was a perfect pass on a close-to-perfect night for the Florida Gators football team (1-1).
The team only punted once and held the McNeese State Cowboys (0-2) to just 112 yards of offense.
Additionally, six rushing touchdowns were scored by four different Gators and the team totaled 327 yards on the ground.
It was an impressive bounce-back game from head coach Billy Napier and Florida, who suffered a disappointing Week 1 loss to Utah.
“We did some things that were significant statistically, but it wasn’t really about that,” Napier said. “From the players in the locker room just now,
I appreciate the response that we saw from the players after last week. We’ll enjoy tonight, wake up tomorrow and get ready for the big one next week.”
Run Game Comes Back to Life A run game that was nowhere to be found against the Utes in Salt Lake City was rejuvenated against the Cowboys Saturday Night in the team’s dominating 49-7 victory.
Montrell Johnson Jr., who had only six rushing yards against Utah, quickly opened the scoring for the Gators,
punching it in from two yards out. A blocked extra point caused the Gators to settle with a 6-0 lead.
Later in the first, despite being forced to start at their own one-yard line, the Gators managed to go on an 11-play, 99-yard drive.
Quarterback Graham Mertz, finished off the drive on a quarterback sneak, extending the Florida lead to 13-0 with 28 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The ground game didn’t take their foot off the pedal. Treyaun Webb earned his first rushing touchdown as a Gator on a two-yard run to increase the lead to 19-0.
Then to cap off the first half, Florida went on a 10-play, 74-yard drive which was ended by a Trevor Etienne eight-yard touchdown.