Gators Finally Win in Starkville

It wasn't pretty, but the Gators left Starkville, Mississippi Saturday night with a 29-19 victory over the pesky Mississippi St. Bulldogs. With the win, this Gators squad becomes the first UF team to make it through the SEC West schedule unblemished in 11 years.

Once again the Gators offense was nothing to write home about. In fact, Florida's offense accounted for as many Mississippi St. touchdowns (2) as Florida touchdowns. True Freshman safety Johnthan Banks picked off Tebow two times and ran both picks back for touchdowns. The first pick 6 was a memorable 100 yard interception return for a TD. Also, the Gators once again managed to screw up nearly every red zone opportunity against the Bulldogs. They'll need to correct that problem in a hurry if they want to get the win in the WLOCP next weekend.

The good things to take from the game; Florida played much better defense than last week. The Gators' D stymied the Bulldogs all night long, only giving up 2 field goals and returning an int for a touchdown themselves. The Gators held on to the ball. Their might have been two interceptions, but there were no fumbles. That's definitely an improvement from last week.

Here's the stats:


Passing

Tim Tebow 12-22 127 yards 2 ints


Rushing

Chris Rainey 12 rushes 90 yards 1 td
Tim Tebow 22 rushes 88 yards 1 td
Emmanuel Moody 5 rushes 32 yards
Brandon James 2 rushes 28 yards
Jeff Demps 5 rushes 13 yards


Receiving

Riley Cooper 4 recs 63 yards
Aaron Hernandez 5 recs 32 yards
Deonte Thompson 1 rec 19 yards

Field Goals

Caleb Sturgis 3/4 Long- 27


Tackles

Ryan Stamper 13 tckls
Joe Haden 7 tckls
Dustin Doe 6 tckls
Carlos Dunlap 5 tckls


Interceptions

Dustin Doe 1 int
A.J. Jones 1 int
Major Wright 1 int


Sacks

Carlos Dunlap 3 sacks
Jermaine Cunningham 1 sack


Player of the Game

Carlos Dunlap - Defensive End, Sack Master

I could have easily selected Chris Rainey as the player of the game after his stellar performance on the ground. However, on a night when the defense once again played superb, it's only fitting that the player of the game is a defensive player. Carlos Dunlap and the defensive line made life miserable for Tyson Lee and Anthony Dixon. Dunlap recorded 3 of Florida's 4 sacks on the evening. His unstoppable rush also played a huge role in the Gators' ability to stuff Anthony Dixon all night long. Dixon came into the game as MSU's all-time leading rusher.He left as the latest victim of a Charlie Strong defense. The most impressive thing about Dunlap's and the defense's performance is the fact that they did it without Brandon Spikes and 3 defensive linemen.