NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After losing to Vanderbilt last season for the first time since 1988, Florida was ready for revenge.
UF players called the 34-17 homecoming loss embarrassing.
“Everything went downhill at that point last year,” linebacker Neiron Ball said. “This year, we’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
And on Saturday night, with the Gators on the cusp of losing two straight to the Commodores for the first time since the 1950s, Florida got the revenge it was looking for.
Behind a balanced offensive attack, Florida (5-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) left Nashville with a 34-10 win against Vanderbilt (3-7, 0-6 SEC) in front of an announced crowd of 35,191.
“Really proud of our football team,” UF coach Will Muschamp said. “We had a big win last week. We came back. We took care of business.”
After only throwing for six passes in his first career start last week against Georgia, Treon Harris’ training wheels were taken off.
The true freshman finished the night completing 13 of his 21 attempts for 215 yards, marking the most passing yards the Gators had in a game this season since recording 295 against Kentucky on Sept. 13. Harris also rushed for 49 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
“I think the thing that strikes me is the maturity,” Muschamp said. “He does not get fazed. He’s been accurate in practice. That doesn’t shock me there. But just the maturity of carrying that to the game has been outstanding.”
Harris completed passes of 48 and 60 yards to Ahmad Fulwood and Quinton Dunbar respectively and at one point attempted three straight passes — a rarity for the Gators.
“He’s got a competitive edge about him,” Muschamp said. “That’s a talent. It’s hard to measure competitive edge until you get into the situations and he has the competitive edge about him."
The Gators capitalized on its four forced turnovers (two fumble recoveries, two interceptions), turning them into 13 points while not turning the ball over themselves.
“That’s what we preach, turnovers, getting the offense the ball back as fast as we can,” defensive lineman Jon Bullard said. “And we started off slow, and we started off slow last week two, so that’s something we got to get out of our system.”
Florida’s defense was able to be successful even when they it was a man down and had a situation that could have put a cloud over its head.
At the team’s pregame meal, Muschamp announced that fifth-year senior Leon Orr was off the team.
“He hadn’t started all week in practice,” Muschamp said. “He came to me and didn’t understand why he wasn’t starting. Said he was going to go home. That was his decision. I said, ‘If you go home, you’re done. You’re not a Florida Gator anymore.’”
The defensive lineman started two games this season — against Eastern Michigan and on the road against Alabama — and had 16 total tackles through five contests.
Orr missed Florida’s games against Tennessee and LSU after undergoing minor surgery for a knee injury. He returned to the lineup against Missouri but did not record a tackle.
“I appreciate Leon and his contributions to our football program,” Muschamp said. “He felt like he should have been starting. I thought we’ve been productive with the four guys that have been starting.”
With Orr off the roster, the rest of Florida’s defensive line had to step up.
The Gators saw that production come from Bullard — who had a team-high-tying six tackles — as well as contributions from younger players such as Jordan Sherit and Joey Ivie.
“I think they did good,” Bullard said. “We gon watch the film though and we’ll see from there. But on the sideline they got a little blowed at the end they aint used to taking all them plays back to back to back after he pulled us but I think over all they did pretty good.”
After Vanderbilt got on the scoreboard first on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Johnny McCrary to Steven Scheu less than eight minutes into the game, Florida made the most of its next offensive possession.
Running back Kelvin Taylor scored the equalizer on a 13-yard rush that capped off a 10-play, 60-yard drive. The sophomore tallied 44 yards on six carries.
On that drive, Gator fans finally saw what Jeff Driskel’s role in the offense consists of after being benched prior to the Georgia game.
After Harris completed a 14-yard pass to Ahmad Fulwood to open the drive, Driskel entered in a wildcat formation and rushed for six yards only to head right back to the bench.
“Jeff’s a good football player,” Muschamp said. “And he’s going to contribute to our offense and we’ll find different ways depending on how a defense is defending us.”
Florida then scored an additional 17 unanswered points off of a 1-yard Driskel quarterback sneak, a 40-yard Frankie Velez field goal and a 7-yard Harris rush to take a 24-7 lead with 14:51 remaining in the contest.
After the Commodores nailed a 48-yard field goal with just more than 13 minutes to play, the Gators put their play on cruise control and drove their way to the win.
Harris scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 33-yard scamper on the next drive to end a six-play, 66-yard drive.
Florida’s defense — which shut down late in the Georgia game — held its own at the time ticked off the clock.
Vernon Hargreaves III intercepted a McCrary pass to set Florida up for a 25-yard Velez field goal five plays later to cap the scoring.
One drive later, after Vanderbilt drove 41 yards down the field looking to at least make the game look manageable, true freshman Jalen Tabor caught a one-handed interception in the endzone to make the game out of reach.
“Every team needs turnovers,” Hargreaves said. “I’m pretty sure every defense in the country preaches about turnovers. When we get them we’re hard to beat.”
Two weeks ago, Florida was in its bye week without an identity and its season looking like it was over.
And while the mood has changed, there’s still work to be done.
“I say that we fixed some things,” Hargreaves said. “I don’t say that it’s a completely new team. We understand where we need to go now.”
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Treon Harris attempts a pass during Florida's 34-10 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.
