- Florida's relentless offense scored touchdowns on its first five possessions of the second half to turn a shootout into a blowout.
- The Gators' 214 points in its first four games are the second most in school history, trailing only the 217 points scored by the 1996 national champion team.
- With his first 100-yard rushing game, Duke Clark established himself as a second threat in the backfield behind Jadan Baugh.
Florida led Ole Miss by 17 with less than five minutes to play. Most teams would run the ball, bleed the clock and take the win.
The Gators went for the throat.
Duke Clark had been stopped for a 1-yard gain at the Ole Miss 40. The Rebels called timeout with 4:49 left. Next snap, Aaron Philo ran play-action and hit Eric Singleton Jr. deep for 38 yards. Then Jadan Baugh scored from the 2. Make it 52-28. Late-game drama? Canceled.
That sequence tells you who these Gators are. They have found an identity: an offense so efficient it drains the fight out of the other sideline. They don’t just beat you. They wear you down until you’re checking the clock and begging for mercy.
And along the way, something else came back. The joy. Florida football is fun again.
The numbers are gaudy. Florida has scored 214 points in four games, second in school history only to the 1996 national champions (217). Jon Sumrall is the first coach in SEC history to top 200 points in his first four games, and he beat the previous best by any UF coach by 50. Baugh has 11 rushing touchdowns, tied with Najee Harris and Leonard Fournette for the most through four games since the SEC expanded in 1992. And Florida hadn’t hung 52 on a top-five team since beating Florida State 52-20 for the 1996 national title.
But the numbers don’t tell the story. The mentality does.
Ole Miss punched back. Heisman front-runner Trinidad Chambliss opened the second half with a touchdown drive that cut the lead to 17-14. Clark answered with a 45-yard touchdown run. Ole Miss answered right back, 24-21. We had a shootout on our hands.
Then Florida stopped trading punches. The Gators scored touchdowns on their first five possessions of the second half, and a Jayden Woods strip-sack of Chambliss helped them pull away. The shootout became a blowout.
At the end of the third quarter, in the middle of that run, Philo got animated with his teammates. Afterward, he explained why.
“We’ve got to keep the foot on the gas and we’ve got to keep scoring,” he said. “Especially with an offense like they had.”
That’s the core of this team. Never let up. Show no mercy. We haven’t seen that around here since a guy named Spurrier roamed the sideline. He never took his foot off the gas, either.
Listen closely to Sumrall and you understand why. Everybody in the SEC can move the ball, Ole Miss more than most. Florida doesn’t get the luxury of grabbing a double-digit lead, milking the clock and trusting the defense to hang on. So it keeps scoring.
And Florida still left points on the field. Late in the first quarter, on fourth down at the Ole Miss 19, Philo missed a wide-open Amir Jackson. No defender within 10 yards. On the next possession, a holding penalty wiped out Vernell Brown III’s 67-yard touchdown catch. Florida punted. Cash in both and it’s 24-0. Instead, Ole Miss hung around, down 17-6 at the half.
Now defenses must plan for two backs. Clark ran for 126 yards, his first 100-yard game.
“We can do whatever we want on any team that we want,” he said.
Baugh feels the same way every week. He tells teammates he’s trying to put up 60. Or 70.
Sumrall isn’t ready for a parade. “We have not arrived,” he said. He wants more consistency. “I’m not Eeyore, mad at life . . . I’m just driven to be really good all the time.”
Fair enough. The defense has work to do. So does the offense, somehow.
Think of the season as a hand of Texas hold ’em. September was the flop, and Gator fans liked what they saw: 4-0 for the first time since 2019. October is the turn. Missouri, South Carolina, No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Georgia will tell us whether to hold ’em or fold ’em as a playoff contender. November is the river, with no ranked teams on the slate right now.
Gator fans, you’re allowed to dream now. Even about the College Football Playoff.
It’s been a minute since anyone around here could say that.
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