49-17 the final in Gainsville!




9/5/2009

GAINSVILLE, FL -- At the beginning of every season, every single team thinks they can win a championship. For a team of Florida's caliber, that would be the dream of another national championship. For a team of FAU's caliber, that would be the dream of a Sun Belt championship. The goals are different, but the same. When the two Florida teams stepped on the field to open the 2009 college football season, anything was possible.

Early on in the game Florida Atlantic showed that they had a solid gameplan in place and were looking to upset the #1 ranked Gators on their home field. The Owls did damage on a stout Florida defense through the air, converting on many third-and-long situations and a couple of great passes. The Owls took a 7-0 lead, and scored 14 points in the quarter and actually led Florida at the end of the first quarter by the score of 14 to 10.

While Florida Atlantic's offense showed promise, their defense did not. The Gators were able to move the ball at will all game, and were only forced to punt twice. The only other two stops came on Tim Tebow interceptions. The big star of the game for Florida was running back Jeff Demps, who amassed 258 yards rushing on 27 carries for the day. His lightning-fast speed and quick lateral movement kept Owls defenders grasping air rather than jersey all day. Tebow was solid despite the two interceptions, as he threw for four touchdowns and 258 yards. He was also effective on the ground, rushing for just under 60 yards on eight attempts. The combination of Tebow and Demps, along with a potent receiving corps, will keep opposing defenses on the ropes all season.

The second half of the game belonged to the Florida Gators defense. After what can be described as a fiery halftime speech by Coach Basil Faraday, the defensive unit came out on a mission. They held Florida Atlantic to under 50 yards of total offense in the second half, which allowed this game to get out of hand. In the end, it wasn't as big of a blowout as some expected, but the Gators locked down the all important first win of the season by the score of 49-17.

The big play of the day came in the second half with the Gators at the 50-yard line. Quarterback Tim Tebow took the snap and delivered a great play-action fake. Noticing that his deep receivers were covered, he checked down and found tight end Aaron Hernandez in the flats. Hernandez made one guy miss and was off to the races. As the pursuit neared around the 10-yard line, he had one thing in mind: to score. A FAU defender jumped on his back in an effort to strip the ball, and the beastly Hernandez carried him eight yards before he fell off and another Owls defender put a hit on the tight end. By then it was too late, and Hernandez fell just over the goal line for a touchdown! This score put the game out of reach, cementing the win.

Here are the team stats for the game:

	FAU	Florida
1st Downs	13	23
Total Offense	263	594
Rush-YD-TD	16-7-1	43-336-3
Comp-ATT-TD	23-42-1	15-22-4
Pass YD	256	258
3rd Conv.	5-15 (33%)	3-8 (37%)
TO	0	2
Fumbles Lost	0	0
INT	0	2
Punts	8	2
Penalties	0	8
T.O.P.	10:48	18:45

Florida Gators Stats Leaders

Passing
Tim Tebow: 15-22, 258 yds, 4 TD, 2 INT

Rushing
Jeff Demps: 27-258 yds, 9.5 AVG, 3 TD, Long of 70

Receiving
Aaron Hernandez: 4 rec, 100 yds, 25.0 AVG, 2 TD, Long of 54
David Nelson: 4 rec, 66 yds, 16.5 AVG, 0 TD, Long of 22