Gators find a way to win in triple OT, extend win streak vs. Kentucky
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- When the end finally arrived, at that moment Matt Jones plunged into the end zone and the officials signaled touchdown, it was 12 minutes shy of midnight.
Jones' score ensured that the first triple-overtime game in Florida football history was one the Gators would want to remember. No extra-point needed.
His 1-yard run capped Florida's four-play, 25-yard game-winning drive. Actually, it was Jones' four-play, 25-yard drive as quarterback Jeff Driskel turned and handed the ball to the junior running back on every play.
"I didn't care who scored," Jones said. "I just wanted to win that game."
Jones had a lot of company.
More specifically, most of the 88,000 souls inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and countless Florida fans watching elsewhere as the Gators pulled out a 36-30 thriller over Kentucky in both teams' Southeastern Conference opener.
This one had a little bit of everything. And then some.
Once it was over, it was difficult to imagine the game was tied 3-3 at halftime.
"There's going to be games like that when you play in our conference," Florida head coach Will Muschamp said. "You've got to find ways to win those games and our guys found a way to win the game."
The Gators would have been nowhere near their 28th consecutive victory over Kentucky if not for sophomore receiver Demarcus Robinson. Coming off a six-catch, 123-yard game against Eastern Michigan, Robinson had the game of his life Saturday night at an electric Swamp.
"I never had a game like this in high school," he said.
Robinson matched a 45-year-old school record with 15 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns. He tied former UF receiver Carlos Alvarez's record for receptions in a game, set in 1969 in a win at Miami.
Robinson's most important reception came on a fourth-and-7 play from Kentucky's 9-yard line in the first overtime. If the Gators didn't get a first down or touchdown on the play, the game was over.
Kentucky led 27-20 by scoring on its first play of overtime on a 25-yard screen pass from Patrick Towles to Stanley Williams.
The Swamp was one play away from a meltdown when Driskel took the snap and floated a pass into the left corner of the end zone. Robinson ran under it for the score.
The Gators lived. The Swamp roared. Kentucky coach Mark Stoops looked like he wanted to choke someone, convinced the play clock had expired prior to the snap.
The refs didn't think so and the game played on.
In the second overtime the teams exchanged field goals. In the third, after Wildcats kicker Austin MacGinnis missed a 41-yard field goal, the Gators took over and turned the rest of the game into Jones Time.
Jones finished with 29 carries for 156 yards. The Gators racked up 532 yards of total offense, including a career-high 295 yards passing from Driskel, who completed 25 of 43 passes with three touchdowns and one interception.
There were plenty of tense moments for the Gators, none moreso than those seconds leading up to Driskel's pass to Robinson for the game-tying score in the first overtime. Florida's first loss to the Wildcats since 1986 seemed possible and probable.
You know how that would have played out, much the same way as last season's losses to Vanderbilt and Georgia Southern.
Coming off a promising 65-0 win over Eastern Michigan â and with a trip to No. 2-ranked Alabama on tap next week â a loss to the Wildcats was the last thing the Gators needed Saturday.
Gator Nation, too.
The hope provided by the arrival of a new season and the Gators' explosive win in the opener turned the mood around. Life after 4-8 might not be so bad after all.
A loss to Kentucky would have spoiled that vibe. Fortunately for the Gators, they survived and have another week to prepare for their first trip to Alabama since 2010.
"I just think we've got a lot to work on," Muschamp said. "Our guys fought. It wasn't always pretty at times."
But it was a W. Florida's first in the SEC since a victory over Arkansas nearly a year ago. The victory over Kentucky snapped the Gators' five-game conference losing streak and sets up an intriguing matchup next week in Tuscaloosa.
The Gators can serve notice they are truly back with a win over the Crimson Tide. Driskel's pass to Robinson showed the Gators can muster magic when they have to.
How much and how often we don't know. In the end Saturday, as the clock neared midnight, they won. A win they needed.
Jones never saw the refs signal touchdown. He could only hear the roar of the night. That was all he needed.
"It was crazy," Jones said. "I was at the bottom of the pile. I heard the crowd go wild. My teammates were on my back. I couldn't even get up because they were celebrating.
"It was just a great feeling."
One the Gators certainly preferred over the alternative.
