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Florida's opener was supposed to be tough, but a 35-0 halftime lead squashes that notion on the way to a 49-14 win.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 2, 2001
GAINESVILLE -- It wasn't supposed to be this easy.
For two weeks, Florida players and coaches talked openly about the challenge of playing Marshall, a Mid-American Conference power, in the season opener.
Finally, a worthy opponent to start the season. Finally, they said, a way to measure where they stood early.
Whether it was an accurate measurement remains to be seen, but the early appraisal looked good for the No. 1 Gators.
With its offense on the field just 14:29 in the first half, Florida took a 35-0 lead Saturday on its way to a 49-14 win in front of a national television audience and 85,445 at Florida Field.
Florida quarterback Rex Grossman, who entered the preseason battling for the job, wore the title of starter well. Grossman was 16-for-22 and threw for a career-high 343 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.
"I said going into this game that I was going to play with as few mistakes as possible and I did pretty good at that tonight," Grossman said. "Early in the second half I had a few mistakes and I hope to build on that and create a strong season."
Grossman gave way to backup Brock Berlin with 12:23 left, but left with impressive numbers: 20-for-30 for 375 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.
"Rex and Brock threw it really well," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said. "I was very proud of the receivers. It was a good throw-and-catch night."
Marshall played without two starters and two reserves who were suspended.
"Well, to say the least, we're very disappointed in the way we played," Marshall coach Bobby Pruett said. "I think Florida has an extremely outstanding football team. They have great athletes. They are more athletic than I thought they'd be."
At the end of three quarters, Florida had 19 first downs and 462 of its 541 total offensive yards.
And yet, Spurrier said the team could be better.
"We had some costly mistakes," Spurrier said. "We had a hold downfield on the 12-yard line, we had a push in the back on a punt, we had some careless plays that made us look pretty bad there for a while. We didn't block real super up front on the offensive line. ... It was a good opener, nothing special, nothing super. Hopefully we can improve as we go."
Florida botched its opening drive when Brendt Talcott missed a 25-yard field goal with 10:15 remaining in the first quarter. But it wasn't a sign of things to come.
The Gators scored their first two touchdowns in just over two minutes.
After Lito Sheppard's 26-yard kickoff return set up a first down on Marshall's 32-yard line, Earnest Graham scored on a 7-yard run three plays later to give Florida a 7-0 lead with 7:02 remaining in the first quarter. Graham scored the second of his career-high three touchdowns on a 6-yard run with 5:49 left in the quarter.
Grossman's 28-yard pass to former Jefferson standout Reche Caldwell gave Florida a 21-0 lead with 1:33 left in the first half.
Even the Florida defense, oft-maligned in openers, was in good form. In the first half it held quarterback Byron Leftwich to 83 yards on 12-for-19 passing and allowed 46 rushing yards.
With some of the Gators starters taking the second half off, Leftwich improved, finishing with 274 yards (27-for-43) and one touchdown.
The Gators had five sacks for 27 yards, caused a fumble (recovered by Marquand Manuel) and had several key stops.
"I thought the defense played well," Florida defensive coordinator John Hoke said. "In the first half we played extremely well, we had a lot of intensity. We fell off in the fourth quarter. We wanted to get some of our young guys in, but they are going to have to pick up that intensity."
Grossman closed the half with two touchdowns. With just under four minutes left he scrambled right while being chased by a defender, then threw a short pass to Robert Gillespie, who scampered into the end zone from 27 yards.
With 32 seconds remaining, Grossman threw a 64-yard pass to Taylor Jacobs, a careerlong reception for the junior.
Marshall scored the first of its two touchdowns with 6:30 left in the third quarter when Leftwich hit Darius Watts for a 62-yard pass. The kick failed.
The Thundering Herd later scored on a 2-yard run by Chanston Rodgers and a two-point conversion, a pass from Leftwich to Watts, made it 42-14.
Graham scored once more on a 1-yard run with 14:13 left to give Florida a 42-6 lead.
But Florida wasn't finished. With 2:43 remaining, Berlin (5-for-8 for 55 yards) connected with Carlos Perez for a 25-yard touchdown for the final score of the game. It was the first career reception for Perez.