The Florida Gators defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats at the Louisiana Superdome on New Year's Day in the 76th annual Sugar Bowl. It was a strong comeback after their final season championship game loss to Alabama a month ago, and a decisive victory against the Bearcats with a whopping 51-24 final score. The Gators ' season stands at 13-1, which is the first time an FBS college football team has had 13 wins in 4 different seasons, and the first time a team has had 13 wins in consecutive seasons. The Gators' only loss this season was the SEC championship game against Alabama, which ended their 22 game winning streak and their undefeated season.
This year's Allstate Sugar Bowl was a game of breaking records. Departing Heisman-Trophy winner Tim Tebow, the Gators' star quarterback, set a record of 533 yards offensive. The 482 passing yards set a BCS bowl game and a Sugar Bowl game record. A Sugar Bowl game record was also set with 31 completions. Tebow tied a Sugar Bowl record with 4 touchdowns, and set one with a completion percentage of 88.6 percent, as well as for completing his first 12 passes.
The Bearcats have been known this season for scoring high, but in Friday's game they tied their season record for a low score. Coming into Friday's game, Cincinnati had averaged almost 40 points per game, and just over 464 yards per game, putting them at number 6 in the country for yards. The Gators held them back with both the score and the yardage, with the Bearcats managing only 246 yards, and only 55 of those in the entire first half. Cincinnati had allowed only 11 sacks in their entire season, but Florida gained 4 sacks against them in Friday's game.
The Gators forced a punt in Cincinnati's first time in control of the ball, and then managed their first touchdown after a 13-play, 84-yard drive. It only took a 7-yard pass for Aaron Hernandez to score. A 40-yard field goal courtesy of Caleb Sturgis put the Gators at 9-0. A 64-yard drive by Tebow and another 7-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson raised the score to 16-0.
Then Emmanuel Moody made a touchdown run upping the score to 23-0 before Cincinnati's Jacob Rogers put the Bearcats on the board with a 47-yard field goal, the Bearcats' only score in the first half. By the break, the Gators had managed an 80-yard drive and another touchdown, ending the half at 30-3.
Moody scored another touchdown, then Cincinnati scored their first touchdown of the game, setting the score at 37-10. A 4-yard run after a 74-yard drive saw Tebow score again and then Tony Pike of the Bearcats threw a scoring pass and gave the Bearcats another touchdown. Chris Rainy gave the Gators another touchdown down run, then Pike passed to Kazeem Alli and gave the Bearcats 24 on the board, to the Gators' 51. With not enough time left to make up the deficit, the Gators won the Allstate Sugar Bowl, giving Tim Tebow one last victory in the blue and orange.
Photo Credits: Chris Hardie
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On Saturday, the Gators made a decisive victory against the Golden Panthers at Ben Hill Stadium. In front of over 90,000 attendees, they pushed their record to 11-0 for only the second time in the University of Florida's history. This win also puts the Gators winning streak at 21 consecutive games. They defeated 3-8 ranked FIU.
Gators managed to shut out the Panthers through almost the entire first half, allowing only one 3-point field goal less than 30 seconds before the end of the second quarter. Kicker Dustin Rivest was responsible for the only Panther scoring with that kick, while the Gators racked up over half of their game points, making the half-time score 35-3 Gators.
Florida dominated early with an interception return of 41 yards by Brandon Spikes, a senior linebacker, just over 13 minutes into the game. The interception made Spikes the only player in the United States to have achieved 4 pick-sixes within the last 2 years. It was his 6th career interception, and his 4th that lead to a touchdown, putting the first score on the board for the Gators at 7-0.
The next Gators score came at 9:18 in the second quarter with quarterback Tim Tebow running 55-yards, a career-high for Tebow, to make the touchdown and run the score to 14-0. That touchdown became Tebow's 54th, giving him the record for all-time touchdowns.
Chris Rainey made the next two touchdowns, the first with a 27-yard run after a shovel pass from quarterback Tebow. This was Rainey's first touchdown for the Gators. He then made a 22-yard run after an option pitch from the quarterback, making this his second rushing score, and number 7 of the season for the Gators, putting them at 28-0. He made 3 receptions, a career-tying achievement with a career-high of 61 yards.
Jeff Demps, a sophomore from Winter Garden, Fla., pushed the Gators halftime score to 35 with a 3-yard scamper, with the Panthers getting their only score of the game, a 37-yard field goal, just 29 seconds before the end of the half.
Early in the second half, Riley Cooper, a Gators wide receiver from Clearwater, Fla., caught an 18-yard pass, his 7th touchdown pass of the season, pushing the board to 42-3.
John Brantley came in for Tebow with over 13 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and managed 73 yards and two touchdowns. The first was thanks to a reception by Omarius Hines, a wide receiver from Corsicana, Texas, whose 20-yard touchdown pass reception was his first scoring for Florida.
Brantley threw a career-long touchdown pass of 16-yards to Justin Williams of Folkson, Ga. This was his second score this season, pushing the score to 56-3 at just over 11 minutes left in the game. Deonte Thompson, a sophomore from Belle Glad, Fla., led Gators receivers with 66 yards and 5 catches.
Brantley had another career-long pass of 31-yards that was received in the end zone by Frankie Hammond Jr. of Hollywood Fla. This was also Hammond's inaugural score for the Gators, and pushed the score to its final of 62-3, leaving Gators undefeated this season.
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