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Florida pours it on in second half to beat UK

By ANTONYA ENGLISH

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 23, 2001

[Times photo: Jim Damaske] Former Jefferson standout Reche Caldwell, left, celebrates his fourth-quarter touchdown catch with fellow receiver Taylor Jacobs.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- There were three lost fumbles, a few miscues and some noticeable first-half struggles. And the defense still didn't get a turnover, much to its dismay.

Yet, it's hard to argue with a 34-point win.

On a day when second-ranked Florida arguably wasn't as good as it has shown it can be (at least in the first half), and Kentucky was playing maybe its best of the season, the Gators still won 44-10 in front of 66,126 at Commonwealth Stadium.

Florida quarterback Rex Grossman passed for 302 yards, his third consecutive 300-yard game. The Gators had 25 first downs, 565 yards and scored 28 points in the second half.

"We played pretty well," Grossman said. "It was 44-10. It was sort of an ugly 44-10, but we'll take it and get better."

Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC) converted all three fourth-down conversions and found a way to balance its offense the way it wants, with the running game -- led by Earnest Graham and Robert Gillespie -- generating 168 yards on 32 carries.

"We're proud of the effort of our guys," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said. "Kentucky was tough, played well and played hard. We were fortunate to score as many points as we did. We didn't really go up and down the field the way we'd hope, but our defense gave us a lot of opportunities."

Nobody said a word all week, but this was a game the Florida defense had been anxiously looking forward to.

It was personal, the players said. Kentucky made it that way.

With Kentucky's weeklong comments about Florida's inability to stop its offense -- based on 500-plus yards in last year's meeting, -- Florida players said they felt they needed to make a strong statement about the defense.

The Gators held Kentucky to 288 yards, 85 on the ground, and to three points in the first three quarters. Kentucky was 1-of-14 on third-down conversions and 0-for-3 on fourth-down conversions.

"We were emotionally ready to play this game because a statement was made in the newspapers about how they could score points on us," defensive coordinator Jon Hoke said. "Well, two years ago in 1999, they scored two points on us. So our guys were pretty focused; they wanted to play this ballgame."

Still, things started out slowly for the Gators. Florida's opening drive stalled on a second-down fumble during the exchange between center Zac Zedalis and Grossman. But Kentucky couldn't take advantage of the mistake, going three and out.

"It's momentum we didn't gather," Kentucky coach Guy Morriss said. "If we had scored, it would have gotten our confidence going and gotten the guys pumped up a little more. Those are the things we need to capitalize on."

Florida came back with a six-play touchdown drive -- capped by a 29-yard pass from Grossman to Jabar Gaffney -- for a 7-0 lead. Gaffney had 80 yards on six receptions, including a 4-yard touchdown with 3:27 left in the third quarter for a 23-3 lead.

Kentucky (1-2, 0-1) pulled within 7-3 on Stephen Scaldaferri's 41-yard field goal with 14:38 remaining in the half.

Florida responded with an 11-play, 65-yard drive, culminating in a 6-yard touchdown to Taylor Jacobs with 9:48 left in the second quarter for a 13-3 lead (a fumbled snap led to a missed extra point).

The Gators were aided by several key penalties, two during that drive. A Grossman interception was nullified by a holding call and Kentucky also was called for pass interference twice.

Also, a third-quarter, fourth-and-1 play where Gillespie was stopped turned into a first down for Florida because Kentucky lined up in the neutral zone.

"We had some good fortune there a lot of times today," Spurrier said.

Jeff Chandler's 39-yard field goal as time expired in the first half gave Florida a 16-3 lead.

Kentucky scored its touchdown when redshirt freshman quarterback Shane Boyd threw a 2-yard pass to Chase Harp, pulling the Wildcats to within 23-10. Boyd was 23-of-39 for 203 yards.

But Graham answered with a 50-yard touchdown run that gave Florida a 30-10 lead with 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter and ended any momentum for Kentucky.

Reche Caldwell led all receivers with 105 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown from Brock Berlin with 6:42 remaining. Florida cornerback Lito Sheppard, who had a key fourth-down tackle in the backfield midway through the second quarter, missed most of the second half with a strained groin but said he expects to play Saturday against Mississippi State.

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