The Gators played a nearly flawless game on Saturday, but if there was one flaw to be found, it was in those tiny, yellow flags that flew all around the stadium.
UF ended the game against Hawaii with a crazy 13 penalties for 90 yards, and eight of those 13 penalties came in the first half.
Hawaii only had seven penalties for 60 yards.
On the Warriors' first two possessions alone, the Gators went offsides three times and also had a false start on their own first drive. The false start came on a 4th-and-1 situation where UF was planning on going for it. Instead, the false start made it 4th and 6, so the Gators elected to punt.
"The discipline of the D-line, you can't have penalties," UF coach Urban Meyer said. "You think it's going to be 2nd and 10, but now its 1st and 5. You get a nice play on offense, and a guy moves, or a guy doesn't line up correctly. …We've got a long way to go now."
The biggest penalty, however, came on a Hawaii punt. Sophomore running back Chris Rainey and freshman running back Jeff Demps broke around Hawaii's offensive line and made attempts to block the punt. Instead, the two ran into Hawaii punter Tim Grasso, costing UF 15 yards and possession of the ball.
"That was a silly penalty," Meyer said. "You have the two freshmen running on the side … trying to come off the edge, and sure enough, they ran into the punter."
Demps seems less worried about the possibility of future penalties than Meyer.
"Mistakes are going to happen," Demps said. "But as long as you're playing hard and giving all you got, it doesn't really matter.
"It matters, but deep down it doesn't matter because you were giving it your all."
Meyer attributes the penalties to youth.
"Just silly, nonsense, freshman penalties," Meyer said. "You have guys running into the kicker, guys jumping offsides, an offensive tackle moving.
"Most of it was on young players. That's the biggest thing we've got to correct."
On the very last play of the third quarter, Hawaii's third-string quarterback, Inoke Funaki, ran to the right sideline to go out of bounds.
Instead, he was met by two Gators who shoved him off the field. UF was assessed a 15-yard personal foul penalty.
Funaki was also hit hard out of bounds in the fourth quarter - possibly late - but no flag was thrown.
Meyer knows things like that can't happen against better teams and realized how many times the yellow flag flew.
"We probably set a record today," he said.
The Gators haven't had that many penalties since beating Mississippi on Sept. 22, 2007, when they had 14 for 127 yards.
NEWTON HELPS OUT:
It appears QB Tim Tebow is going to need fewer ice packs this season.
UF blasted Hawaii on a largely unspectacular day for the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.
Tebow completed 9-of-14 passes for just 137 yards and didn't rush for a touchdown for the first time since the 2006 SEC championship game.
"I'm not too sore, so I can go condition now," he said.
The Gators pulled Tebow in favor of Cameron Newton during a goal-line situation in the third quarter, as part of an effort to keep Tebow as fresh as possible.
"It's going to be hard not to have one-five carry the ball a certain amount of times per game," Meyer said. "We want to keep the wear and tear off of Tim and not lean on him too much."
UNEXPECTED SUCCESS: Punter Chas Henry made one of the biggest plays of the day when he ran for 17 yards to convert a 4th and 15 in the second quarter.
It wasn't a designed fake punt, but a gutsy decision on Henry's part.
"That was his last snap at the University of Florida if he didn't get," Meyer joked. "They were loading up the left side, and I've got to give Chas credit. That was not called, he saw a gap and he took it."
Etc: Tight end Aaron Hernandez didn't play Saturday, and Meyer was tight-lipped as to why.
"If he's ready to play, he'll play next week. He wasn't ready to play this week," Meyer said.
Emmanuel Moody was limited by an ankle injury and rushed for just two yards on two carries.
-KARL HYPPOLITE
