Senior Day couldn’t have gone much better for the Gators.
No. 1 Florida sent off its seniors in the best way possible, with a 37-10 win against rival Florida State. The Gators (12-0) took a commanding 24-0 lead into the half, giving the starters a chance to rest up for next week’s Southeastern Conference Championship showdown with Alabama.
“We knew it was going to be a really emotional game, and we just didn’t want to let that emotion get us unfocused from the job at hand, which was winning the football game and beating Florida State,” UF senior linebacker Ryan Stamper said. “We jumped on them fast and got a lot of guys out of the ballgame so we could get ready for this week.”
The Seminoles (6-6, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) mustered just 55 yards in the first half, while the Gators’ offense found the big plays it had been lacking for most of the season.
Four players had runs of 25 yards or longer, and two had catches more than 35 yards. Quarterback Tim Tebow led the way with 221 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-21 passing, and he added 90 yards and two scores on the ground.
Tight end Aaron Hernandez was his top target, making five grabs for 83 yards and two touchdowns. He punctuated his second score, a zig-zagging 37-yarder, by throwing the ball into the stands.
It was a tribute to past UF receivers Carlos Alvarez and Andre Caldwell, who made their final games in The Swamp memorable by doing the same thing.
Unlike those two, Hernandez is a junior and can return for another season, but he’ll be one of several Gators with decisions to make at the end of the year.
Defensive end Carlos Dunlap and cornerback Joe Haden are highly-rated NFL Draft prospects, and Hernandez, safety Major Wright and offensive linemen Mike and Maurkice Pouncey may also benefit from declaring early.
“I definitely took it all in a lot more,” said Haden, who had an interception. “I stayed in the locker room and kept my pads on for a little longer and did a lap after the game. Just in case this was my last game, I wanted to make sure I went out doing stuff that I wanted to do.”
The win moved the Gators to 12-1 against rivals under coach Urban Meyer. Meyer attributed his program’s success to good recruiting, and Saturday’s performance may provide some help in that department.
Eight players listed as five-star recruits by Scout.com were scheduled for visits this weekend, and Stamper feels UF put on enough of a show to reload if there’s a rush of early departures.
“I personally feel that guys who are bigtime recruits and don’t want to come to Florida, I think they’re scared of competition,” Stamper said. “Why wouldn’t you want to come to a school that’s winning championships, where coaches care about you, you learn and everything goes on makes you a better man on and off the field?”
