BATON ROUGE, La. - For the first time in two weeks, the Gators actually received production from someone who wasn't named Tim Tebow or Percy Harvin.
As a purple and gold clad Tiger stadium made eardrums bleed and glasses shatter, running back Kestahn Moore roared back, finishing with 12 carries for 79 yards in UF?s 28-24 loss to LSU on Saturday night.
In the previous two games, Tebow racked up 46 carries for 241 yards while Moore hardly broke a sweat, recording a mere 14 carries.
The running back ran three times for seven yards in last week?s Auburn game alone.
But on Saturday night, the Gators utilized Moore for what they recruited him to do - run the ball.
BI thought he ran extremely hard,C UF coach Urban Meyer said of Moore.
Moore?s first carry wasn?t anything special as he picked up 1 yard.
But after Tebow picked up the first down, the Gators looked to Moore again, and this time, the running back ran for 15 yards, keeping UF's first scoring drive alive.
The junior continued to produce for the Gators en route to its first touchdown of the game.
The Gators entrusted Moore with the ball five out of the 12 plays, including the last and most important touch: a 2-yard pass in the end zone.
The touchdown was Moore?s first score since the Troy game on Sept. 8 and his fifth touchdown of the season.
By halftime, Moore had rushed six times for 33 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per touch. Hard
B[Moore] played really and really hard all game,C Tebow said. BYou know, he just fought and did everything he could.C
Things started out well enough for the junior in the second half, but it did not stay that way.
Moore rushed for 17 yards on UF's first possession of the half, which ultimately set up Tebow?s 37-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cornelius Ingram.
But late in the third quarter, Moore ran full speed up the middle, butting heads with LSU safety Craig Steltz, eliciting a unified BoohC from the 92,910 record-crowd.
Not long after, Moore rushed to the 50-yard line before Tigers linebacker Ali Highsmith caused the running back to fumble. The ball was recovered by linebacker Darry Beckwith.
Moore wasn?t the only offensive weapon to contribute in the shootout.
Harvin continued his streak of converting big plays, but wide receiver Louis Murphy, Ingram and running back Brandon James all found ways to shine on the field.
