Franks led the Gators to second-half win./JEFFREY S. KING
Sunday, 3 a.m.
Once again, frankly, it's Feleipe.
Redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks resumed his control of the University of Florida offense Saturday afternoon, coming off the bench to lead a 38-24 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores. Florida had trailed, 17-14, before taking over in the second half.
Franks, who replaced injured starter Luke Del Rio, hit 10 of 14 passes for 185 yards and directed two scoring drives to lead the Gators' comeback. Franks played the second half with “Luke” written on his wrist.
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Tyrie Cleveland hauls in a deep pass for the Gators./JEFFREY S. KING
“Feleipe came in and took care of business,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said. “He handled it well. Obviously, that drive right before half was huge. He did a good job.”
Del Rio, who had worked his way back from injury in the off-season, immediately had surgery scheduled for his collarbone. He is expected to be out for the year.
Franks was five-for-six for 101 yards in the third period.
“You can only imagine what he’s going through, him and his family, man,” Franks said of Del Rio. “It’s emotional, and I definitely wanted to keep him in my prayers, especially when I was out there on the field. You want to play for somebody, and that was one of the persons I wanted to play for because he’s done nothing but support me and help me the whole time I’ve been here at Florida.
“It hurts. I know it hurts him and it also hurts me.”
McElwain was sympathetic toward Del Rio.
"I feel horrible for him," McElwain said. "(But) the guys rallied behind Feleipe. We talked about our situation, and what we'll have to do moving forward."
The Gators, who went nine games without their running backs scoring a touchdown, ran for five against Vandy. Lamical Perine scored three of the touchdowns and Malik Davis two as the Gators tallied up 223 total yards on the ground. Davis rushed for 124 yards.
"I thought our guys ran hard,” McElwain said. “The guys up front are starting to get it.
Jordan Sherit puts the pressure on Vandy quarterback./JEFFREY S. KING
There at the end, I thought we wore on (the Vanderbilt defense) pretty good.
“There have been bits and pieces (in previous games). As you guys have been up there watching, it seems like all of a sudden something will go haywire and we never can recover. I thought we recovered today. We didn’t let the negatives affect us. They got a little confidence the week before in that fourth quarter and kind of decided that, ‘Yes, we can.’ It was good to see that.”
Vanderbilt rushed for just 46 yards on 20 carries.
The Gators showed some big-play capability. Davis had a 39-yard run and Tyrie Cleveland caught a 49-yard pass.
Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns.
“It wasn’t our best defensive game by any stretch of the imagination. Let’s call it the way it is,” McElwain said. “And, yet, the other side of the ball picked them up a little bit. That’s the way it should be. It’s a team game.”
Florida is home again next week when they host the LSU Tigers. The game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Lamical Perine scored three times for the Gators./JEFFREY S. KING
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