The Gators had little to play for when they suited up Saturday.
Bragging rights? Sure.
Regardless of the product of an entire season, it’s impossible to diminish the accomplishment of beating your program’s arch-rival, the Florida State Seminoles, and eliminating them from bowl contention.
In a season where Florida (4-8) finished with its worst record since 2013, possibly missed out on hiring Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and fell short of securing historically guaranteed outcomes like beating Tennessee in The Swamp and winning outright against Kentucky, the Gators still showed up Saturday to beat the ‘Noles 40-21 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Jadan Baugh, who’s been the linchpin of the Gators’ offense all of 2025, rushed for 266 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries.
“Jadan Baugh ran like somebody was trying to kill him all night,” Gators offensive lineman Jake Slaughter said. “I think we played pretty well.”
In the second quarter, he eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards on the season, becoming the first Gators running back since Kelvin Taylor to reach the millennium mark, which is widely accepted as the standard of a good tailback.
“I’m doing something right,” Baugh said. “Being in a category with those guys is just amazing. I don’t think I can wrap my head around it yet.”
On the first drive of the game, Baugh set the tone for his performance with a 21-yard run to the left side of the field. However, he exploded in the third quarter in particular and churned four rushes of 10-plus yards, eventually finding the end zone on a 22-yard halfback toss.
DJ Lagway also had one of his better performances of his sophomore year. He finished with 168 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The sophomore tossed a 5-yard touchdown on a slant pass to J. Michael Sturdivant on the second drive of the game. Lagway also found tight end Tony Livingston toward the end of the first half for a 9-yard touchdown.
“I’ve come so far,” Lagway said of his progress in 2025. “I’m just thankful to be able to play football today.”
However, even as Florida’s offense found spurts of success, Florida State kept up, almost solely relying on quarterback Tommy Castellanos.
Castellanos ran and tossed a touchdown in the first half and had the Seminoles trailing 17-14 going into the locker room. He finished with 240 passing yards, two touchdown passes and an interception along with 19 carries for 77 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Eventually, the Gators broke away in the second half behind Baugh’s phenomenal outing on the ground. He finished with 155 yards in the second half.
“When you have that, it’s an easy day at the ballpark,” Lagway said. “I’m excited for him, his future.”
On the Gators’ final offensive play of the year, Baugh broke three tackles for a 12-yard touchdown run. Florida ended the contest by intercepting Castellanos on the final play of regulation.
Florida will head into the offseason with a multitude of questions left to answer. The Gators are in the midst of a coaching search, which will undoubtedly shake up Florida’s current coaching staff and play a factor in players’ decisions to return to the program.
The transfer portal opens Jan. 2 and will remain open for 15 days.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke is The Alligator's Sports Editor and is a senior sports journalism student. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his cat named Pete and going down a rabbit hole of niche professional athletes (shoutout Charles Sims).
