TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Florida had its opportunities against No. 3 Alabama on Saturday.
But it could not execute.
The Crimson Tide handed the Gators opportunities to score on a silver platter.
Four forced turnovers. Four possessions that started in Alabama’s territory.
Despite all that, Florida struggled to accumulate 200 yards on offense while its defense surrendered the most in program history as the Crimson Tide rolled to a 42-21 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium in front of a crowd of 101,821.
Florida’s Achilles heel was third down, going just 2 of 13 on offense while letting Alabama convert on 12 of its 16 attempts.
"As the game went on, we just wore down," UF coach Will Muschamp said. "We had a hard time hanging in there in the running game. You have to be able to sustain some drives. We had some tempo planned for the game but we couldn’t sustain drives offensively and if you can’t stay on the field with the tempo, you put your defense back on the field."
Alabama (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) torched Florida (2-1, 1-1 SEC) for 645 yards — 16 more than the previous record set by Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. The Crimson Tide had 449 yards through the air, which is the second most the Gators have given up in one game in program history.
Alabama receiver Amari Cooper seemed to be indefensible for most of the game, grabbing 10 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns.
"He’s a great player," safety Keanu Neal said. "We could have stopped him, but there was a lack of communication on our part so we didn’t do that."
That lack of communication was evident throughout the contest’s entirety.
Alabama had 11 plays that spanned at least 15 yards compared to Florida’s four.
Crimson Tide quarterback Blake Sims tallied 445 passing yards against the Gators.
"As you can see, that was a game of big plays," UF quarterback Jeff Driskel said. "Alabama had a lot more than us."
Florida kept itself in the game early on the back of its defense.
After being burned on an 87-yard touchdown pass from Sims to running back Kenyan Drake on Alabama’s first offensive snap, the Gators redeemed themselves on their next defensive drive.
On the first and only play of the drive, safety Marcus Maye stripped the ball from Drake and Vernon Hargreaves III jumped on it to give Florida the ball back just one play after punting it back to Alabama.
UF tied the game up three plays later with a 28-yard Driskel touchdown pass to Valdez Showers.
Alabama began to storm down the field on its next drive, accumulating 31 yards on three plays. Then Neal forced Crimson Tide wide receiver DeAndrew White to cough up the ball. Neal recovered the fumble and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown, marking the longest fumble return for a touchdown since Kiewan Ratliff had a 77-yard return against Florida State in 2003.
"Just try and score," Neal said. "That’s all that was going through my mind."
Alabama scored 14 unanswered points on a 79-yard Sims pass to Cooper and a two-yard touchdown pass from Sims to Jalston Fowler to take a 21-14 lead into halftime.
Florida looked like it could turn its game around when the third quarter began.
On the first drive of the second half, UF linebacker Antonio Morrison intercepted a Sims pass tipped by Neiron Ball and returned it 20 yards to the Alabama 16-yard line.
Driskel used his legs to score two plays later, taking a quarterback draw up the middle for a 14-yard score to tie the game.
That was the last sound heard from Florida in the game.
The offense shut down, gaining just 79 more yards for the rest of the game and failing to make it past the Alabama 49-yard line.
Driskel finished the game 9 of 28 for 93 yards, one passing touchdown and two interceptions, and UF averaged just 3.6 yards per play after averaging 6.6 yards through its first two games.
The defense was picked apart, unable to get off the field when it had several opportunities to do so. UF played 87 downs on defense compared to UA’s 55.
"That’s hard doing that at any time with any defense at any level of play," linebacker Jarrad Davis said. "But if you want to be a great defense or you want to be a team that wins a lot of games, you have to be able to step up when your number’s called."
After Florida tied the game, Alabama went on a 16-play, 66-yard drive that ended on a 3-yard Derrick Henry touchdown run.
The Crimson Tide converted five third downs on the drive — including a third-and-23 that saw Henry slice and dice Florida’s defense for 29 yards.
"We had plenty of opportunities to get off the field on third down but we didn’t," Muschamp said. "The flare screen hurt us. They pinned the backer on that situation, so a combination of those things."
Heading into their bye week, the Gators have questions they need answered, and they need them answered soon.
"We need to make some adjustments defensively with what we do moving forward," Muschamp said. "We need to execute better on the offensive side of the ball and we have to stay balanced and get off the field on third down. That was just a killer for us."
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Florida coach Will Muschamp and Alabama coach Nick Saban embrace following Florida's 42-21 loss to Alabama on Saturday at Bryan-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
