Shell-shocked Florida coaches and players filed into the visiting locker room as delirious fans made their way onto FirstBank Field to celebrate Vanderbilt’s stunning upset.
Field stormings in Nashville are tame, even polite, by SEC’s standards.
After all, Commodores fans have not had much to celebrate, especially when the Gators come to town.
To commemorate an upset for the ages, groups clad in gold and black posed for photos in front of the south end-zone scoreboard reading 31-24. Some Vanderbilt faithful exchanged hugs while others took selfies, a concept popularized long after the Commodores’ 1988 win in Nashville — their last in a decidedly one-sided series.
A snapshot of the Gators’ defeat was not pretty: killer turnovers and penalties along with lack of physicality against the league’s long-standing doormat.
“We did not play winning football,” first-year Florida coach Billy Napier said.
A visit to Vanderbilt for an early kickoff has been tricky for the Gators. Yet, even when Florida stumbled, the Gators always recovered, regrouped and reasserted themselves.
The 1996 and 2006 national title teams eked out one-possession wins. In 2018, Florida trailed 21-3 but rallied for a 37-27 win.
This time, Napier’s squad marched down the field to open the game, settled for a 26-yard field goal by Adam Mihalek and never led again. The Gators (6-5, 3-5 SEC) trailed 28-12 after three quarters and were in need of their own Music City Miracle.
Instead, the Commodores (5-6, 2-5) hung on to pull off their second straight SEC stunner after losing 26 straight games in college football’s toughest league.
“This is a new era in Vanderbilt football,” second-year coach Clark Lea said. “This is another step in the journey.”
Napier called the Gators’ performance “a setback” and “a little bit of a reality check” following wins against Texas A&M and South Carolina.
Quarterback Anthony Richardson called the loss “an eye-opener.”
During the two victories coming into Saturday, the Gators shored up their third-down defensive struggles, established an offensive identity with their run game and posted a plus-4 turnover margin.
On Saturday, Vanderbilt converted 7 of 13 third downs, including three courtesy of Florida penalties, and scored touchdowns after 2 Florida turnovers.
“There’s a lot of Florida beating Florida out there,” Napier said. “That’s my job is to have the players ready to play — we did not do that today.”
The biggest surprise, though, was the Gators’ punchless run game. A team averaging 225.7 yards on the ground and an SEC-leading average of 6.07 yards per carry managed just 45 yards on 21 attempts.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt senior Ray Davis finished with a workmanlike 122 yards on 30 carries, the most yards by an individual against the Gators this season.
“We knew coming into the game what 2 [Davis’ number] could do,” linebacker Amari Burney said.
Napier wanted to review the game film to evaluate the Gators’ struggles, but said Lea, the former Notre Dame defensive coordinator, coached the Commodores to force the Gators to the perimeter and force Richardson beat them with his arm.
“They played inside out,” Napier said. “They forced us to throw it to the perimeter at times. They made Anthony hand the ball off at times.”
Richardson responded going 25 of 42 for 400 passing yards and 3 scores, but was timid and ineffective running the ball (25 yards, 4 carries). He also threw his first interception since an Oct. 8 win against Missouri.
“They did contain me,” Richardson said.
Vanderbilt followed Richardson’s interception with a 28-yard touchdown on first down to tight end Ben Bresnahan, who ran over safeties Trey Dean and Kamari Wilson en route to the end zone.
Down 16 points, the Gators staged a fourth-quarter comeback undercut by the lack of execution and missed opportunities plaguing Napier’s squad all day.
Florida followed a 74-yard touchdown from Richardson to Daejon Reynolds with a 2-point conversion pass Vanderbilt sniffed out immediately and batted to the turf — the Gators’ second failed 2-pointer Saturday. After Reynolds scored again, this time on a 16-yard catch, Mihalek missed the extra point to make it 31-24.
The Gators would force a three-and-out possession and a punt, leaving them 56 seconds to cover 91 yards. Given Florida’s inability to convert after touchdowns, Napier would have faced quite a decision if Florida had scored.
Yet, Richardson’s Hail Mary toss sailed well out of the back of the end zone to end the day.
“Nobody likes to lose,” Burney said. “It’s very difficult knowing we didn’t play our best ball today.”
The Gators are going to need better Friday night at Florida State.
Before Saturday, six Florida coaches have come and gone since Galen Hall’s 20th-ranked 1988 squad lost 24-9. Napier now prepares for a heated matchup with an instate rival picking up the pieces.
“There’s a lot of things that this can teach us,” he said. “Ultimately, that’s what’s important here, that we learn from the experience. Our group is well versed on what winning football looks like. We did not do what’s required to win today.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osgators.
