The pass was a good one. It arced high, finally falling into Brandon Powell’s hands, who raced toward the sideline for a 13-yard gain.
But Luke Del Rio never saw it.
Instead, the Florida quarterback crumpled to the grass after being hit head-on by a Vanderbilt defender. He writhed in pain. He grabbed his shoulder. He tried to stand upright before a teammate came to his side, helping him to his feet and to the Florida bench before Del Rio walked to the locker room with a team trainer.
He didn’t know his season was over.
“I’m praying for him,” backup quarterback Feleipe Franks said after the game, pointing to the spot on his left wrist where he had written Luke’s name at halftime.
UF coach Jim McElwain said Del Rio, who injured his collarbone, will have surgery on Monday, ending his season and placing a damper on a game that was mostly positive for Florida. The No. 21 Gators (3-1, 2-0 SEC) defeated Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-2 SEC) 38-24 on Saturday, scoring a season-high five touchdowns — all rushing — and earning their second-consecutive conference victory.
Franks played well in place of Del Rio — he led the Gators to four scoring drives while completing 10 of his 14 passes for 185 yards — despite losing the starting job that Franks had held through the season’s first three games.
“He knew his time (was) not done by any stretch of the imagination,” McElwain said of Franks. “I know how important (this) is to him and I know how driven he is to be great … and those things are gonna pay dividends in the end.”
But it was Florida’s running backs that carried the offense on Saturday.
Sophomore Lamical Perine scored three touchdowns, the first time a UF running back scored three times in a single game since DeShawn Wynn in 2005. Freshman Malik Davis had a season-high 124 rushing yards on 17 attempts and added two touchdown of his own.
“They were amazing today,” linebacker Kylan Johnson said. “They put on a show.”
Apparently McElwain thought so too — each time Florida’s offense needed yards, they turned to their running backs.
Leading by just seven points in the fourth quarter, Florida handed the ball to Davis on 4th-and-1, who ran head-first into a pile of linemen.
But out he came, bursting through the line with a jolt of speed and accelerating 39 yards into the end-zone to seal the win.
“Now the nation should know about Malik Davis,” Perine said. “He's going to score a lot of touchdowns in The Swamp and in a lot more stadiums, too.”
Perine was benched to start the game in favor of Davis — who had impressed coaches over the last few weeks — but by the end of the game had proven his worth. As the game wore on, and as Perine got more chances, the sophomore wore down Vanderbilt’s defense, showing glimpses of the day he was about to have.
Perine’ first touchdown came in the first quarter, a 1-yard dive into the end zone over the top of Vanderbilt’s defensive line, ending a 10-play drive in which he ran six times and caught a 17-yard pass.
“The line did a great job opening up holes for the running backs,” Franks said. “They made it easy for me to do my job. They did all the hard work and that’s a testament to them.”
With Del Rio done for the year, Florida will likely prepare for its home game against LSU next week with Franks as its starter.
But Franks hasn’t thought that far ahead. After the game, his thoughts were elsewhere, especially as he was reminded of his injured teammate each time he looked down at the name written across his wrist.
“You can only imagine what he’s going through, him and his family, man. It’s emotional and I definitely wanted to keep him in my prayers,” Franks said. “It hurts.”
You can follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb, and contact him at icohen@alligator.org.
UF quarterback Luke Del Rio scrambles during Florida's 38-24 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
