Gator quarterbacks chew up USF defense

by Gary Shelton on September 12, 2021

in general

Did Jones. do enough to keep his job?/STEVEN MUNCIE

Sunday, 3 a.m.

Once, back when they were giant-killers, the result might have been disappointing. These days, a 42-20 defeat sounds, well, about right.

In their early days, the USF Bulls made a name for themselves with huge upsets over highly ranked programs. But over the years, that aura has faded. Florida won by 22 Saturday -- after leading by 31 in the first half -- and was never seriously threatened.







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Darrian Felix had 48 yards rushing./STEVEN MUNCIE

“There in the second half, our guys came out and fought," said USF coach Jeff Scott. "I just told our guys, ‘we are going to find out a lot about our team in the second half. We played all the way to the last whistle. Bottom line, there is not going to be one player or one coach that is going to quit and give in.

"I  think we are going to look back three, four, five weeks from now and say that the second half of this game is where we started to turn the corner. We had a very difficult opening slate. We knew that going in. We are not apologizing for that but we are recognizing that it is a difficult first two game stretch. I’m not sure how many teams open up against two power-five teams back-to-back to open up the season, but we knew that coming in and I wish we could have played a lot better for those eight quarters than we did, but now we have to learn from it and put it behind us. We’ve still got 10 games to go in the season and I’m still very optimistic that we can make a lot of improvement and show progress here these last ten games.”

Both Gator quarterbacks -- Emory Jones an Anthony Richardson -- had their moments for Florida. Jones threw 151 yards and ran for a touchdown. Richard threw for 152 yards (on 18 fewer throws) and ran for a touchdown.

This week, the main topic of discussion will be whether Jones, a four-year player, should stat over Richardson. Complicating things came when Richardson tweaked a hamstring on an 80-yard run.

After easy wins over Florida Atlantic and USF, the Gators will play against Alabama on Saturday.

Together, Richardson and Jones combined for 499 yards and five touchdowns. As a team, the Gators gained 666 yards.

The Bulls fell to 1-10 in the Jeff Scott era. In their first two games, against Power Five opponents, the Bulls have given up 87 points.

USF will play against Florida A&M on Saturday.

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