GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The first three possessions for each team looked like this.
Alabama: Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.
Florida: Field goal, interception, downs.
With an 18-point deficit before the end of the first quarter, it should come as no surprise of what became of the 11th-ranked Gators' hyped-up Southeastern Conference-opening clash Saturday against the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide at Spurrier/Florida Field. Only the final three quarters didn't follow the script of the first, with UF ultimately falling to Bama 31-29 because, well, the clock ran out on the home team.
UF scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives spanning the third and fourth quarters, the final coming on a 17-yard run by tailback Dameon Pierce with 3:10 to push the Gators within a two-point conversion — made necessary due to a failed point-after attempt in the first half — of tying the game. The Tide, however, bowed up on the try by stuffing tailback Malik Jones at the 1. Bama took the ensuing kickoff and, by picking up one first down, was able to run out all but the final four seconds and survive a tremendous effort by UF on both sides of the ball, not to mention a bombastic showing from the sellout crowd of 90,887 that was the fifth-largest in stadium history.
"Gator Nation came out and did their part," Florida coach Dan Mullen said of the electric environment that, at times, was head-splittingly loud. "The margin for error is so small in games like these."
And Florida (2-1, 0-1) made a couple more errors than reigning national-champion Alabama (3-0, 1-0), which won its 17th straight game dating back to the 2019 season.
"We didn't play our best game the first two games," Jones of the home win over Florida Atlantic to open the season and last week's road victory at South Florida, both of them lopsided in the end. "We came out [Saturday] and didn't play our best, but we have a lot of fight in this team. It didn't turn out how we wanted, but we have a lot of confidence.
With backup quarterback and SEC rushing leader Anthony Richardson ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury, Jones got the entiire game and passed for 181 yards, plus rushed for another 80 and a touchdown. He engineered a unit that produced touchdown drives of 79, 75, 99 and 75 yards on the way to cranking out 26 first downs and 439 yards of total offense, including a whopping 258 on the ground, and thus playing to its role coming in as the No. 1 rushing team in the nation.
His counterpart, Bama's sophomore Bryce Young, was both poised and productive in the first collegiate start. In dealing with the loudest UF home crowd in years, Young threw TDs of 7, 26 and 7 yards in the first quarter — completing a pair of 75-yard drives — to stake his team to a 21-3 lead.
After that, the Tide had to hold on for dear life.
"We started to reel on defense and got tired in the second quarter," Alabama coach Nick Saban said after winning his eighth straight game in the series (dating to the 2009 SEC Championship Game), but now having won the last meetings (including 52-46 in the 2020 SEC title game) by a total of just eight points. "And [Florida] had a really good plan."
Florida's first possession was an impressive drive — 11 plays, 75 yards, aided by a couple offsides Bama penalties and a 20-yard run from Davis and 21-yard Jones-to-Kemore Gamble completion — but it faltered inside the 10-yard line. Howard's 21-yard field goal put UF on the board.
Alabama's second drive was much like the first. A couple big plays — a pass interference call on Kaiir Elam on third-and-7; McClellan with an 18-yard reception on third-and-1 — before a bigger one. Young dropped, with plenty of time, and tight end Jahleel Billingsley found himself uncovered, running right to left, after Dean was neutralized by a crossing rub route by John Metchie III. Billingsley had no one near him up the left sideline and hauled in a 26-yard touchdown to put the Tide ahead 14-3 with just over four minutes to go in the opening period.
Three Florida plays later, Bama defensive end LaBryan Lane got free up the middle and Jones, under the pressure, sailed a high pass for Xzavier Henderson that was intercepted by Jalyn Armour-Davis at the U5 38. It took Young, with the short field, just six plays to make the score 21-3, thanks to a third-and-5 completion of 15 yards to Williams to the UF 7. His swing pass to Robinson, and missed open-field tackle by Elam at the 5, put the Tide up 21-3.
Still in the first quarter.
"Crazy atmosphere," Young said. "Those fans were really loud. We knew it was going to be a hostile environment coming in and it lived up to it for sure. Fans were super loud and and there was a lot we had to deal with."
It got better in the second. For the Gators.
"We just said to keep fighting," Jones said. "We knew there would be ups and downs in the game."
After a swap of possessions, UF finally got in the end zone. First, Jones hit tight end Keon Zipperer on a nice misdirection crossing route for 30 yards to the Bama 45. On fourth and 6 from the 41, Mullen kept his offense on the field and a deep ball down the middle of the field got UF a pass interference call against Josh Jobe covering Jacob Copeland. On the next snap, Davis (10 carries, 96 yards) went into the line, broke a second-level tackle and scored on a 26-yard run with 6:34 to play in the half. The PAT was no good.
Note: Last season, Florida was perfect on all 59 of its extra points, including nine by Howard.
"We were clicking," Jones aid.
Bama's first drive of the half was more methodical (13 plays, 75 yards, 5:47) but equally as productive. It included third-down conversions of 3, 12 (another by penalty) and 9, then ended with 3-yard scoring run by Robinson, who went untouched off the left side on fourth-and-1 to put the Tide back up double digits at 28-16.
"You can only control what you can control," senior cornerback Trey Dean III said of the ill-timed penalties against the secondary. "Play the next play."
On the ensuing kickoff, Ja'Marcus Weston misplayed the ball and stuck his offense at the 1. It seemed like a brutal mistake at the time, but Jones and his offense stayed cool. An 18-run by Nay'Quan Wright (7 carries, 58 yards) got the Gators out of the hole. His runs of 30, 16 and 11 that followed and set up Jones for a 5-yard touchdown up the middle that drew UF back within 28-23 with 28 seconds to go in the third quarter.
"Coach called the plays, the o-line held up, the quarterback delivered the ball," Wright said of the second-half offense that generated 239 yards and 16 first downs "We just moved the chains."
Young, though, padded the Bama lead his next time out. Just a little, but enough.
"We had a guy line up wrong and a guy go the wrong way," Mullen said.
That left matters to the UF defense, with, again, next to no margin for error.
Bama picked up a first down while Florida burned its final timeouts. By the time the Tide were forced to punt only 10 seconds remained. The Gators got a fair-catch at their 24 with four seconds left.
There would be no "Kick 6-like" kind of ending for the home team. There would also be no celebrating a so-called moral victory. There would, however, be optimism and reason to believe in this team.
"We're headed in the right direction," Wright said.
His coach agreed and went one better.
"I hope we play them again this season," Mullen said. "It was great SEC football."
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