Another Quinn Ewers outing with a reliance on short passes, with explosive results.
The then-No. 5 Texas Longhorns handled business early in the contest against the Florida Gators, building a big first-half lead despite their struggles and cruising to a late victory, 49-17. The Texas offense looked much improved over what we last saw against the Vanderbilt Commodores, with the defense having their worst game of the year by their increasingly high standard, despite giving up just 17 points in the contest.
Texas defense: 329 total yards (197 rushing, 132 passing)
The Texas defense looked like its normal suffocating self early in the game, holding Florida to just 43 yards in the opening frame without a score. Things picked up for the Gators in the second quarter, coming just shy of 100 offensive yards in the frame, but Texas still managed to keep a clean sheet through the first half.
The Florida offense found its pace in the third quarter, propelled by the ground game. Texas allowed a season-high 197 rushing yards in the game, 88 of them in the third frame for an average of 5.2 yards per carry. Even more telling, 48 of those 88 yards came on a single drive, their second of the quarter, which took 5:49 off the clock and resulted in a field goal that finally put the Gators on the board. It was Florida’s second-best rushing total of the year, tied with Kentucky and right behind Mississippi State, both of which were wins for the Gators. Ground success usually means a win for the Gators, who had a 78-yard difference in average rushing yards between their wins and losses heading into the game.
Quinn Ewers: 19-27, 333 yards, 5 TD
In the last two games before the bye, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers struggled to create a consistent rhythm, causing the offense to sputter. Coming out of the bye, Ewers looked to have found his mojo and rhythm from the opening gun. He started the game with five consecutive completions, four of which went for first downs, a run that extended to 7-of-10 for 104 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter. He finished the game with a season-high 333 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. It also marked the second-best yards-per-attempt outing of his career, with his 12.3 yards per dropback trailing last year’s 12.7 against the Baylor Bears.
Ewers benefitted from his ability to get wide receivers open in space, going a perfect 10-of-10 passing for 155 yards on passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. Texas skill players turned in their best yards-after-catch number of the year with 277, accounting for 83.2 percent of Ewers’ yardage total on the day. He did still push the ball downfield, with four of his 19 completions coming on attempts 15 or more yards past the line of scrimmage for 100 yards, a number that jumps significantly if he can connect with DeAndre Moore Jr. on either of those big second quarter misses.
Texas rushing: 31 att, 210 yards, 2 TD
In a display of some old-school football, Texas did a great job against Florida of using the run to keep them ahead of the chains and put themselves in advantageous offensive positions. The Longhorns ran the ball 14 times on first downs for 136 yards, averaging 9.7 yards per attempt. That total includes a five-yard rush from Jaydon Blue to punch in a touchdown following an Aidan Warner interception.
The ground game was also a key part of socking the game away late after pulling many of the offensive starters in the third quarter. Texas ran for 92 of their 210 yards in the fourth quarter, averaging 5.4 yards a carry, passing just four times in the fourth quarter. Freshman Jerrick Gibson was a big part of that effort, with 12 of his 16 carries coming in the final frame. He finished the game with 100 yards and a score, which came on the first play of the fourth quarter. This marks just the third time this year that a Texas player has hit the 100-yard mark in a game, joining Quintrevion Wisner’s performance against Oklahoma and Blue’s outing against ULM.
Texas has to hope that the running game shows up again for their next SEC matchup, heading to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks and trying to get a measure of revenge for the last road trip there.