But after being beaten in every phase of the game for a half, Tennessee opened the second half with five touchdowns before Florida recorded a single first down, riding a 38-0 run to a 38-28 win that took eleven years of history with it.
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Tennessee and Florida are trading punts with 3:36 to play in the first quarter. Lately, this rivalry has been a one-sided affair, as Florida has won 11 straight games in this rivalry, with the last two being close calls, some saying Tennessee choked both games away. Defensively, Tennessee football is yielding 18.7 points per game against the opposing team.
The win ends the streak and proves this is a different Tennessee team.
“I think what it does is really test who you are as a person and as a man”, McElwain said. It felt as if Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs wasn’t just throwing touchdown passes – four in barely 10 minutes – but tossing aside a decade’s worth of bad karma. Josh Malone caught four passes for 91 yards and one touchdown. “We know how much of a threat he is and how much he can hurt you if you allow him to”, Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis said.
“It was terrifying, just knowing as an athlete, there’s nothing you can do about it”, said running back Kerryon Johnson, who led Auburn with 93 yards rushing.
“I think Cortez and Bates (Dillon) did a great job stepping up behind me”, Reeves-Maybin said.
This was a stunning turn of events for Tennessee, which appeared doomed to another frustrating loss against its SEC East rival after trailing 21-3 at halftime. Josh Dobbs rallied back from a sluggish start finishing with 16/32 for 319-yards, averaging 10-yards a play, and threw 4-touchdowns.
Florida’s defense dominated the first half, holding the Volunteers scoreless twice when Tennessee had a first down and goal.
“We’re definitely humbled”, Wilson said. We’ve got a lot to watch (on tape), a lot to fix. Graduate transfer from Purdue, Austin Appleby was also doing his fair share of trash talking before the game saying the crowd would not play a factor and he has played in big games before.at Purdue (Go ahead, laugh). “We were moving the ball on them the whole game”. And down 21-17 early in the fourth quarter, Dobbs hit Jennings deep down the sideline.
Chad Kelly threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score to lead the Rebels to the victory over the visiting Bulldogs.
Florida plays at Vanderbilt (2-2, 0-1) on Saturday, then returns home to face LSU (2-2, 1-1) on Oct. 8 and Missouri (2-2, 0-1) on Oct. 15 before getting an off week, then taking on Georgia in Jacksonville on Oct. 29. One of Morrison’s friends emailed me Saturday to say that Morrison had a sly sense of humor and told his family shortly before his death that he wanted to be buried on the 50-yard line at Neyland Stadium.
How long has it been since Tennessee beat Florida in college football?
McElwain admitted afterward, he was “nervous” about UF’s starting field position in the first few drives of the second half and didn’t want to do anything too risky.
Dobbs finished with five touchdowns, four with his arm, one with his legs.
King, a freshman recruited to play quarterback, is playing at wide receiver while Greg Ward Jr. directs the offense. Then, with 3:15 to play in the third quarter, Trey Burton broke off an 80-yard run to tie the game at 20. He completed 20 of 26 passes for 289 yards.
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Barnett passed for 55 yards and a touchdown.
