LEXINGTON, Ky. — After a week from hell, No. 20 Florida traveled to the Bluegrass State in need of a boost.
Tyler Murphy provided one while making his first start for the Gators.
With a 26-game winning streak against Kentucky on the line, the redshirt junior quarterback completed 15 of 18 passes for 156 yards. He added one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown en route to Florida’s 24-7 win on Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
The victory helped UF (3-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) move past the season-ending injuries to starters Jeff Driskel (fractured right fibula) and Dominique Easley (right ACL tear) — for the moment.
“When you go through Jeff’s situation and then Dominique’s situation on Tuesday night, they are very frustrating, but you can’t always control your circumstances in life. You can control your vision,” coach Will Muschamp said.
“I told our players, ‘No excuses and no regrets.’ That’s just who we are. We have an expectation level here at the University of Florida in what we’re going to do and where we’re headed with our program.”
That vision will include Murphy for the rest of this season. Through about eight quarters of play, he has lifted UF’s expectations and added a sense of newfound promise.
Murphy completed his first 13 passes and all 11 he threw in the first half. Coupled with a breakout performance by sophomore running back Matt Jones, the Gators quelled any pregame optimism the Wildcats (1-3, 0-1 SEC) had against their depleted opponent.
Jones carried the ball 28 times for a career-high 176 yards and a touchdown. His biggest burst was a 67-yard scamper in the second quarter.
Jones also helped Murphy settle down in front of an announced crowd of 62,076.
Murphy engineered a 13-play, 93-yard scoring drive on the Gators’ first possession that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Jones. The march down the field took 7:47 off the clock.
“You can’t ask for a better start,” Murphy said. “That’s definitely a heartbreaker for the defense to start the game.”
Kentucky could only muster seven points during the homecoming of its former head coach, Joker Phillips, and offensive coordinator, Brent Pease.
Facing a 42-yard field goal attempt, Kentucky dialed up a fake with holder Jared Leet flipping the snap over his head to kicker Joe Mansour, who outran Ronald Powell and Loucheiz Purifoy for a 25-yard touchdown.
The fake field goal was the lone blemish for the Gators, whose second-ranked defense forced three punts and a turnover on downs following the fake.
Kentucky managed only 173 total yards of offense compared to Florida’s 402 yards in the game.
The Wildcats’ quarterback combo of Jalen Whitlow and Maxwell Smith passed for 125 yards — the lowest output allowed by the Gators this season.
Buck linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. registered two sacks in Florida’s first game without Easley manning the middle.
Florida scored touchdowns on its next two possessions to head into the locker room with a 21-7 halftime lead. Murphy ran one score in from 5 yards out on a read option and found receiver Trey Burton on a 9-yard pass for another.
Burton has become a favorite in the slot among Florida’s quarterbacks this season.
His six catches for 66 yards led Florida in receiving for the second time this season.
Four of Burton’s receptions went for first downs, as the Florida offense efficiently picked apart the Kentucky defense.
Murphy looked like a seasoned veteran. In a way, after waiting more than three seasons for an opportunity, he is.
“I don’t think he’ll ever be in a tougher situation than what he was last [week] coming cold off the bench,” Burton said of Murphy.
“You just really saw him grow up in front of your eyes. I’m just really proud of him and really excited for the future.”
The future gets murky after Florida hosts Arkansas next Saturday night at 7 on ESPN2.
Three of its next six games come against top-15 teams in LSU, Georgia and South Carolina. Besides the annual neutral-field matchup against Georgia, the other two games are on the road.
But Murphy is not looking ahead.
“The weeks are definitely going to get tougher. Arkansas is a really good team,” Murphy said. “It will be nice to have them at home. We’ll have that advantage there, but it’s another SEC opponent.
“They’re really good. We’ll just have to watch the film on Kentucky and move on and get ready for Arkansas.”
In a game where seemingly everything went right, Murphy had his lone mistake in the third quarter when UK linebacker Josh Forrest intercepted his 14th pass attempt and returned it 39 yards before Murphy made a touchdown-saving tackle at the UF 37-yard line.
But the one thing that went wrong for Florida on Saturday ended up not mattering.
Freshman cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III intercepted a pass by Smith that was intended for Javess Blue in the end zone on Kentucky’s following possession.
Hargreaves’ leaping grab increased his team-leading interception total to three.
Kentucky came into the game with renewed optimism.
After 26 years of losing, a win seemed within reach for new coach Mark Stoops, a former Florida State defensive coordinator, against a beat-up Florida team.
It became clear early on that this would not be the first Florida team to lose to Kentucky since 1986, when Muschamp was in grade school.
The Florida coach asked more of his defense after a stellar performance against Miami.
He brought Jones into his office on Monday telling the sophomore to get it together. He thrust a veteran backup quarterback into the SEC limelight.
For the second straight week, the Gators were game for the challenge.
After the game, Fowler walked outside of the locker room with postgame Chik-fil-A in his right arm and a red-haired doll nestled under the other. The “Chucky” doll, which belongs to Easley, sported navy blue overalls and scars across its face.
It served as a reminder of the wound, still fresh, that follows Florida as it enters the remainder of its SEC schedule — one that could be a dark abyss or a fitting ending to Murphy’s sterling debut.
“I don’t want to hear one excuse in here about why something doesn’t happen,” Muschamp said. “We’re not going to have any excuses in here, and we’re not going to have any regrets about the way we play.”
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter at @adamDpincus.
Tyler Murphy runs the ball during Florida’s 24-7 victory against Kentucky on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky. Murphy completed 15 of 18 passes for 156 yards during his first college start.
Coach Will Muschamp speaks to his players during warm-ups prior to Florida’s 24-7 victory against Kentucky on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky. UF has now beaten UK 27 consecutive times, which is the longest active winning streak by one Southeastern Conference program over another.
