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Jake Rudock, Michigan rout Florida in Citrus Bowl runaway
Jake Rudock, the fifth-year quarterback Iowa benched and Harbaugh embraced, capped the most prolific season of his career, ending it with an impressive win in the same stadium where he won the national championship as a high school senior.
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Someone forgot to tell MI that this was supposed to be a struggle between defenses.
When Jim Harbaugh agreed to become the head coach at the University of MI, the football team was coming off a disastrous 5-7 season which had much of the college football world calling the program a dumpster fire.
With the play of Harris throughout the season, it’s hard to see the offense generate points and yards especially against the Wolverine defense. “And our defense was magnificent”. This was a five-win team a year ago that lacked an identity and he has absolutely given them that. “It was really good”.
No. 17 MI (9-3) is looking to notch its first bowl victory since 2012.
But for all of McElwain’s attempts at being upbeat, it’s impossible to sugarcoat how lackluster and inept Florida looked over the last three quarters in getting pummeled 41-7 by MI.
Rudock credited the coaching staff’s game plan and scouting efforts with putting him and his teammates in optimum situations.
“All the advice I’ve gotten from family, friends, from my parents, it’s just been, hey, play as long as you can, because you’re not going to be able to play forever”, Rudock said.
“When I look back over this year it’s been a joy to coach this team, love the players, great bunch of guys”.
The Wolverines were able to pitch multiple shutouts during the season and were involved in one of the most freaky plays of the season when Michigan State beat them on a botched punt. Kelvin Taylor chipped in 50 yards on the ground.
UF was flagged for too many men on the field during one third-quarter defensive possession – then had only 10 defenders present when MI punched the ball in for a 2-yard touchdown on its next drive.
One major injury concern for MI heading into this game is the 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jabrill Peppers. The Wolverines rolled up 233 yards of total offense in the first half and the Gators totaled 245 yards against the No. 4-rated defense in the country.
McElwain said Davis “got his eggs scrabbled”, while Jefferson “blew a wheel”.
“He’s worked his tail off”, McElwain said Thursday. That would have been enough of an eye-opening sequence, but the way Callaway tossed the ball – underhanded – really took the cake. The offense picked up 245 yards in the first half, but just 28 in the second.
In a late season swoon since climbing to 10-1 overall and 7-1 in SEC play – claiming the SEC East title well before the regular-season ended – Florida’s limited offense caught up with it in the final games of the year. If the Gators weren’t “dead fish” against MI, they sure resembled the closest thing to it.
Senior quarterback Jake Rudock completed 20 of 31 passes for 278 yards and three touchdown and rushed four times for 29 yards to earn MVP honors. Chesson used a double move, initially faking an inside slant, to strand and separate from star cornerback Vernon Hargreaves. The Gators’ offense had sputtered for most of the season, and on Friday, it was facing one of the nation’s elite defenses.
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Florida appeared poised to keep pace early on, tying the game at 7 in the first quarter with an efficient eight-play, 75-yard drive. DeMarcus Robinson and Antonio Callaway accumulated 1,108 yards and six touchdowns in receiving. The pass was intercepted by Jarrod Wilson. “I don’t know anything else I can say”.