NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The ball sailed past Vanderbilt’s punter, who backpedaled, turned and tried to salvage any positivity from this fourth-down disaster.
Instead, the Gators gained possession at the 1-yard line.
Five plays later on a quarterback sneak, Austin Appleby lost it.
“A wise man once told me, no matter what, you even got to bring them ugly babies home from the hospital,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said. “And that was ugly.”
Of Florida’s 12 drives during its 13-6 win over Vanderbilt (2-3, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) on Saturday, seven ended in punts, one ended in a fumble and two ended in field goals.
The partially filled Vanderbilt Stadium grew restless in a game that saw no touchdowns from its home team and few explosive plays from No. 23 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC).
“I definitely think we're on another level when we're mad and pissed off. We can't be touched," Caleb Brantley said. “Today, it was kind of a flat game."
In the place of an injured Luke Del Rio, Appleby completed 19 of his 28 passes for 144 yards, but failed to score a touchdown and had a costly turnover after he fumbled a snap late in the fourth quarter at the Commodore’s goal line.
Appleby blamed the 30,575 people in attendance.
“A little bit of crowd noise,” Appleby said. “Thank God we’ve got the best defense in the country to bail us out.”
With a revamped defensive effort, Florida reconciled its 38-28 second-half collapse against Tennessee last week.
Corner Jalen Tabor and safety Nick Washington both recorded interceptions, and sophomore corner Quincy Wilson earned the first sack of his career when he blind-sided VU quarterback Kyle Shurmur in the second quarter for an 8-yard loss.
Linebacker Jarrad Davis finished with a game-high 15 tackles, Jabari Zuniga had a sack and a tackle-for-loss, and linebacker Alex Anzalone had three quarterback hurries.
But the defense also had its struggles.
The Gators started three new players on its defensive line, all underclassmen, and not one recorded a sack.
“It's them just getting that nervous feeling out,” Brantley said.
The defense also couldn’t contain Gainesville native Ralph Webb. The redshirt junior rushed for 110 yards, including a 21-yard burst through the middle in the third quarter.
“He’s a great back, very underrated,” Tabor said. “Give credit to Vandy. I bet if this was Alabama we just played and we won like that, it would have been a great win.”
Florida’s running backs underwhelmed. The four-player rotation combined for 92 yards and the game’s only touchdown, with sophomore Jordan Scarlett receiving a bulk of the carries.
“I think mentally we’re all there, it’s just from a physical standpoint,” said Scarlett, who finished with 55 yards on 12 carries. “The offensive line just has to get that feeling that nobody can stop us. Once they get it, then we run through them.”
Before LSU comes to Gainesville next week, Florida will look to fix its offensive struggles — the Gators have scored just two touchdowns in its last six quarters.
“We had some flat drives out here today, but we're going to work on it,” Brantley said. “Once we don't play that way, we can't be stopped."
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Quarterback Austin Appleby (12) is tackled by a Vanderbilt defender short of the goal line during Florida's 13-6 win over the Commodores on Oct. 1, 2016, at Vanderbilt Stadium.
