At a sold-out Hard Rock Stadium, the lights seemed to be far too bright for the Florida Gators (1-3). After failing to record a single first down, mustering just 32 yards in the first half, and scoring just one touchdown for the third straight game, the Florida Gators (1-3) lost to the No. 4 Miami Hurricanes (4-0) 26-7 Saturday night.
“Obviously, not good enough on offense,” head coach Billy Napier said. “We didn’t generate enough yards or points. The first half was a trial of errors. Not many plays where we executed well at all.”
In the first half, Florida punted on all six of its drives and went 0-for-7 on third down. UF had just 5 yards of total offense in the first quarter and followed with 27 more yards in the second.
But then, a switch seemingly flipped. Down 13-0 at the half against the Hurricanes, the Gators came out in the second half with some fight left in the tank.
After making a defensive stop to open the third quarter, the Gators put together a 11-play, 80 yard touchdown drive. Eight seconds later, sophomore cornerback Cormani McClain intercepted Miami senior quarterback Carson Beck, and momentum was apparently in the Gators’ corner down just 13-7 at midfield.
But when Florida tried to punch, Miami was able to parry.
On the ensuing drive, Florida looked to capitalize on the turnover and take control of the game. On 4th-and-3 from the Miami 33-yard line, sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway found sophomore wide receiver TJ Abrams, but he fell just short of the line.
Florida’s continued inefficiency on third down stalled the offense, allowing the Hurricanes to seal a 26-7 victory. Overall, the Florida offense went 0-for-13 on third down — the first time the Gators failed to convert a third down in an entire game since they went 0-for-12 in a 31-13 loss to Florida State Nov. 26, 2016.
“When you look at it big picture wise, we’ve got to make some plays,” Napier said. “They stayed on the field and they got us off it.”
Offensively, the Gators failed to get anything going in the air. Lagway was held to 61 passing yards, the lowest mark by a Gator quarterback since Treon Harris was held to 60 passing yards in UF’s 23-20 loss against South Carolina Nov. 3, 2014.
After the loss, Lagway “guaranteed” that he and the team would improve going forward.
“We’re done with the playing around stuff,” Lagway said. “It’s time to get serious. I know for a fact it’s gonna change.”
The Florida rushing game did not fare much better. The Gators mustered 80 rushing yards on 29 carries — 61 of which came on UF’s lone scoring drive.
Florida’s defense, which came into the game down multiple starters, faced a plethora of blows in the contest.
Near the end of the first quarter, redshirt sophomore defensive back Aaron Gates suffered a left arm injury. Then in the third quarter, junior defensive back Dijon Johnson sustained a non-contact right knee injury, which forced him to be carried off the field by Florida training staff and put him on crutches on the sideline. Later on in the fourth quarter, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Brendan Bett also went down with a right knee injury and was seen leaving the field with crutches.
“It’s incredibly tough anytime you see a teammate go down,” defensive back Devin Moore said. “It’s a next man up mentality, and the guys who were the next men up stepped up to the occasion.”
Despite the injuries, the UF defense performed admirably in a losing effort, bending but not breaking despite playing over 36 minutes in the contest. They limited Beck to a season-low 160 passing yards and kept him out of the end zone.
The Hurricanes found most of their offensive success on the ground, running for 184 yards on 46 carries against the depleted Florida defensive front. Junior Mark Fletcher Jr. and sophomore CharMar Brown combined for three touchdowns, all of Miami’s end-zone scores.
“They’re effective,” Napier said about the tandem of Fletcher Jr. and Brown. “They’re both big and heavy, and they’re tough to attack.”
Florida heads into a bye week before it hosts the No. 8 Texas Longhorns (3-1) at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Oct. 4.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is the Summer 2025 sports editor. He is a third-year journalism sports & media major and in his fifth semester at The Alligator. He is a big South Florida sports fan and would die for Matthew Tkachuk.
