With less than two-and-a-half minutes left to play on Saturday and No. 10 Florida trailing Vanderbilt 7-6, UF kicker Austin Hardin trots out to the field.
The redshirt junior has seen his share of growing pains throughout his UF career, making just 48 percent of his kicks in a Gators uniform.
But with the game on the line, UF coach Jim McElwain sends his erratic kicker out for a 43-yard field goal attempt.
Hardin waves his right arm in the air and gets into position while a Homecoming crowd of 90,061 holds its breath.
Hardin has missed four straight kicks, his last successful attempt coming against East Carolina on Sept. 12.
"Sometimes he probably lets some other things clutter and distractions get in there that mean absolutely nothing to doing your job," McElwain said.
But knowing what’s at stake, Hardin kicks.
The ball flips through the air for what seems like an eternity.
When it lands between the uprights, the crowd erupts, and the Gators have the chance to celebrate something bigger than a 9-7 victory.
Hardin, the Atlanta native, just guaranteed the Gators a trip to his hometown for the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
The performance was nowhere near what Florida (8-1, 6-1 SEC) has produced throughout the season, but it was enough for the Gators to reach the conference title game for the first time since 2009.
"We just fought through adversity and took every play as a new down," quarterback Treon Harris said.
"Played fast, played smart with the ball, and we needed a game like that to get guys woke up. It lets you know that anything can happen."
Florida had opportunities to win throughout the game, but Vanderbilt (3-6, 1-4 SEC) regularly found ways to stop UF’s offense cold.
The Commodores held the Gators to a season-low 12 first downs and allowed Florida to convert just three third downs.
UF’s offense started seven of its 13 drives inside Vanderbilt territory, but Harris and company looked anemic for the duration of the game.
The Gators coughed the ball up a season-high four times, the team losing three fumbles.
While Florida’s offense struggled against a top-25 defense, the Gators’ defense and special teams came in and salvaged the victory.
Punter Johnny Townsend pinned Vanderbilt inside its 20-yard line three times as the Commodores started every drive inside their 30, forcing their lackluster offense to travel great distances for the opportunity to put points on the board.
The defensive line lived in the Commodores’ backfield, forcing five sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
Outside of Vanderbilt’s lone touchdown of the game — a 74-yard dash by Gainesville native Ralph Webb following Harris’ first interception of the season — UF held Vanderbilt to just 1.7 yards per play.
"We have to make every stop we can," linebacker Jarrad Davis said.
"We have to make sure their offense doesn’t move the ball on us because those small yards count. We’re not going to give up the big play, but the small ones count even more. That’s just how precious it is right now."
Florida has three games left before the SEC Championship to correct its offensive woes — its SEC finale on Saturday against South Carolina and home games versus Florida Atlantic and Florida State.
The Gators are already locked into their first goal, but they still have more to accomplish.
"We have to get better every day," Harris said. "But everybody keeps saying Atlanta. We’re trying to get past Atlanta. We’re trying to get to the national championship game."
McElwain saw that passion from them against Vanderbilt.
"We can talk and talk and talk about all the mistakes, all the what-ifs and all the whys," McElwain said, "but at the end of the day there was a group of guys in that locker room that gave everything they had for this university and the state of Florida to win that ballgame."
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
UF's Austin Hardin kicks the game-winning field goal during the fourth quarter of Florida's 9-7 win against Vanderbilt on Nov. 7, 2015, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
