Luke Del Rio wouldn’t answer the question.
Not after what just happened. Not after he replaced Feleipe Franks, Florida’s redshirt freshman quarterback, and won the game in the final minutes. Not after further muddling a quarterback situation that seemed to be finally gaining some clarity for the first time this season.
Still, the question had to be asked.
Do you deserve to be the starting quarterback, Luke?
“I’m not really worried about that right now,” the redshirt junior said, leaning back in his chair beneath Kroger Field, minutes after Florida (2-1, 2-0 SEC) defeated Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday. “I’m just happy that we won.”
The final score was 28-27, silencing a sellout crowd in Lexington, Kentucky, and extending UF’s winning streak over the Wildcats to 31 straight games, the longest such streak in the nation.
The win gave No. 21 Florida its second SEC victory and its first road win of the season, and thoroughly disappointed a Kentucky crowd and team that fully expected to end the night with a victory.
“We’re better than that team,” UK running back Benny Snell said after the loss. “Period.”
But it didn’t end with a Kentucky win. It didn’t end with the roar of a blue and white crowd rushing the field after defeating the Gators for the first time since 1986. Instead, it ended with the soft thud of a football landing on the turf off the leg of Kentucky kicker Austin MacGinnis, whose 57-yard kick as time expired fell just a few yards short.
So too did Kentucky, for the 31st straight year. And for the second consecutive game, Florida won in the final seconds.
“Clutch,” junior defensive lineman CeCe Jefferson said, and then paused. “I like that word to describe this team.”
But despite Florida’s late-game heroics, the win may have posed more questions than it offered answers.
After naming Franks the starting quarterback before UF’s season opener on Sept. 2, and after playing him for the entirety of UF’s win against Tennessee during Week 3, UF coach Jim McElwain pulled Franks in the third quarter of Saturday’s game in favor of Del Rio.
Franks had been serviceable up to that point — he completed seven of his 12 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown — but began the second half with three straight incompletions and a 2-yard sack.
After McElwain pulled Franks, Del Rio led the Gators to victory.
With 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Del Rio capped a 13-play, 58-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver Freddie Swain, giving Florida a one-point lead. Del Rio finished 9-of-14 with 74 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
“I thought (Franks) played well,” Del Rio said. “Sometimes you just need to shake things up and get a spark.”
McElwain thought so, too.
But despite the win, the Gators may have shaken up a quarterback room that seemed to finally be finding stability.
McElwain said Franks was happy with the win, but that he was “obviously disappointed” about being pulled.
“We just felt we needed a jump-start a little bit,” McElwain said. “Feleipe didn’t do anything wrong.”
But now, heading into this weekend’s matchup against Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC), Florida does not know who its starting quarterback will be. McElwain said the team will look at game film this week and make a decision.
After Saturday’s contest, several Florida players insisted that it doesn’t matter who the starting quarterback is. McElwain added that both Franks and Del Rio are supportive of each other and are handling the uncertainty with maturity.
But, entering the thick of their conference schedule, the Gators will undoubtedly be looking for some much-needed stability at their most important position.
“We’ll sit down and evaluate it,” McElwain said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
You can follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb, and contact him at icohen@alligator.org.
Luke Del Rio (14) looks to pass during Florida's 45-7 win over Kentucky on Sept. 10, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
