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Through different coaching staffs and different quarterbacks, there has been one constant since Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow left town: ugly wins.
The defense has been dominant for Florida in the post-Meyer era, and that’s allowed for the offense to underperform and still walk off a winner multiple times since 2011. Saturday’s 13-6 win over Vanderbilt was another instance of the Gators winning ugly.
How ugly was it? We ranked the five ugliest of the past five-plus seasons:
1. 27-20 over Louisiana-Lafeyette, 2012
In Will Muschamp’s one successful season at Florida, the Gators’ only regular-season loss came to Georgia. On Nov. 10, UF was ranked No. 7, still in the race for the SEC East title and even the national championship. The Ragin Cajuns out of the FCS gave Florida all it could handle, however, and it took a touchdown return off a blocked punt with 2 seconds left to give the Gators a late win.
2. 20-14 over Florida Atlantic, 2015
In a bizarre move, coach Jim McElwain threw a barb FAU’s way during game week when he said that UF would face a team of players who “wished they were Gators.” The Gators then failed to score in the first half.
The Owls, who entered the game 2-8, took Florida to overtime. As usual, UF’s defense bailed it out with an overtime stop
Freshman WR Antonio Callaway (@Ripbobby_G) caught this 53-yard beauty as Gators beat FAU. Callo's 5th TD this year. pic.twitter.com/hVJH0kkLNs
— Nikko Tan (@TheNikkoTan) November 21, 2015
3. 9-7 over Vanderbilt, 2015
Late in the first half, Gainesville, Fla., native Ralph Webb escaped for a 74-yard touchdown run. Since the Commodores made the extra point, they took a 7-6 lead because Florida had missed the point-after attempt on its first-quarter touchdown. The score held late into the fourth quarter until Austin Hardin, who had been benched, made a late 43-yard field goal. That kick clinched the SEC East title, but the Gators couldn’t shake their offensive issues for the rest of the season.
4. 13-6 over Vanderbilt, 2016
The Gators were hard to watch Saturday with only 144 yards produced by the passing game. The running game never got in a rhythm as the committee rotation stifled top ball-carrier Jordan Scarlett as much as anything Vandy did on defense.
The offense’s struggles can be summed up on one decision by QB Austin Appleby. Yes, that’s top target Antonio Callaway, alone in space:
https://twitter.com/TrevorSikkema/status/782291478462730240
But they won, thanks to Scarlett scoring the only touchdown of the day.
Video of Jordan Scarlett punching it in for the score for the #Gators. pic.twitter.com/df4sH2KOXm
— Landon Watnick (@LandonWatnick) October 1, 2016
5. 14-9 over Kentucky, 2015
Florida fans tend to fondly look back on Will Grier’s brief tenure as the starting quarterback, but his first road start resulted in a nail-biter. Grier threw for only 125 yards, but he was the Gators’ leading rusher (12 carries, 61 yards).
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
