No. 5 Texas vs. Florida final score: Longhorns cook the Gators in 49-17 victory

The Horns took care of business in a resounding victory over a banged-up Gators team.

AUSTIN, Texas — Coming out of the season’s second and final bye week, the No. 5 Texas Longhorns are back at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, hosting the Florida Gators at 11 a.m. Central on ABC.

As one of five one-loss teams in the SEC, Texas has some control over its destiny as it seeks an appearance in the conference championship game in its first season as an SEC school, but maintaining that control requires winning out. What do the tiebreaker scenarios look like? Well, they’re convoluted now with the conference dropping divisions as Texas and Oklahoma joined the league.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian likes to emphasize, “be enamored with us,” and that means a focus on starting faster, especially redshirt junior quarterback Quinn Ewers, reducing turnovers, and avoiding the self-inflicted wounds that cost the Longhorns against the Bulldogs and made the win over the Commodores must closer than necessary. Penalties have been a particular problem offensively — junior right tackle Cam Williams (12), junior left tackle Kelvin Banks (five), and senior tight end Gunnar Helm (five) have combined to commit 22 penalties this season.

Against an injury-plagued Florida team that will likely start a walk-on quarterback, Texas has some extra margin for error, but that won’t be the case every week down the stretch and it certainly won’t be true in the postseason, so there’s some real urgency to prove that the Horns can play cleaner, more complementary football coming out of the bye week.

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Injury reports

Here’s the final Texas injury report before the game, which no longer includes junior wide receiver Isaiah Bond and senior safety Andrew Mukuba:

With redshirt senior defensive tackle Vernon Broughton out for the first half due to the targeting penalty assessed against him against Vanderbilt, senior defensive tackle Jermayne Lole was taking first-team reps next to senior defensive tackle Alfred Collins during pregame warmups.

For Florida, quarterback DJ Lagway and running back Montrell Johnson Jr. are both listed as game-time decisions:

In pregame warmups, Lagway was in pads, but it was Aidan Warner taking snaps from the first-team center.

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First quarter

After Florida won the toss and deferred, Texas received the ball to start the game. The Longhorns got off to a quick start, working the quick passing game as Ewers went 5-of-5 for 53 yards before a bad mistake by sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner — facing a 2nd and 3 at Florida 16-yard line, Wisner retreated on his run after it was blown up by a scraping defensive end, turning a short loss into a seven-yard loss that resulted in a sack of Ewers on an end-tackle twist after Texas called timeout. So on consecutive plays, Texas went from easy field-goal range in the red zone to senior place kicker Bert Auburn missing a 51-yard attempt.

With Warner in at quarterback for the Gators, Longhorns junior edge Trey Moore was able to put Florida in third and long after they picked up a first down by making consecutive tackles for loss. The UTSA transfer entered the game with a half tackle for loss this season in 304 total snaps.

Texas missed a big opportunity pinned inside its 20-yard line when the Florida cornerback fell on an out route by Bond, who couldn’t find the football out of his break. Had he caught, there was no one near him — even at less than 100 percent, it’s a play that Bond should score on. Ewers nearly threw an interception on the next play when a defender undercut senior tight end Gunnar Helm. The Longhorns were able to move the chains, however, when Ewers scrambled for nine yards on 3rd and 10 and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian went for it on fourth down, a run by Wisner that barely gained enough yardage.

Then Sarkisian went with heavy misdirection, calling an end around to Bond that went for 44 yards after a fake end around and a fake handoff to the running back. The Longhorns took the lead with 3:43 remaining in the first quarter when a fake screen freed up junior wide receiver Matthew Golden on a coverage bust for a 29-yard touchdown.

Typically run-heavy, Florida tried to create some explosive plays with two play-action passes that went incomplete, allowing the Texas dime defense to take the field against a 3rd and 15 following a false start. The Gators called a conservative handoff, but sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill stripped the ball loose and Moore recovered it to give the Longhorns offense a short field even after a block in the back penalty on the return.

After Ewers missed on a wheel route intended for Wisner, Texas scored another touchdown on a play-action pass that went to Helm up the seam uncovered for a 22-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

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Second quarter

After initially keeping the offense on the field at the end of the first quarter, Florida head coach Billy Napier opted to punt as the second quarter started. Texas was lucky to escape the punt with a touchback when senior wide receiver Silas Bolden didn’t field the ball just inside the 15-yard line.

Banks was called for holding on the first play, a screen to Helm was stopped, and Ewers had to throw the ball away on second down, setting up 3rd and 20. A check down to junior running back Jaydon Blue picked up minimal yardage to force a punt.

A rare coverage bust by the Texas secondary allowed Florida to hit an explosive on a play-action pass to start the drive that gained 39 yards on an over route. Facing a critical 3rd and 4 in the red zone, the Gators called their first timeout of the half, coming out in an empty formation before motioning the running back into the backfield and getting stuffed thanks to a strong effort from Collins, forcing the field-goal unit onto the field. After a false start, Florida’s kicker missed the 30-yard attempt.

Texas was able to earn a new set of downs when Ewers connected with Bond along the sideline for a 19-yard gain to convert 3rd and 7. Ewers missed a big opportunity on the next play when he underthrew sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. down the field on a would-be touchdown that Moore should have caught regardless. Ewers tried to go back to Moore on third down over the middle, but couldn’t hit the window between three defenders.

When the Longhorns defense forced a three and out, including redshirt freshman cornerback Warren Roberson helping to blow up the third-down screen pass, the Texas offense responded with Wisner taking a screen pass for a 50-yard touchdown behind strong blocks from Banks, junior right guard Cole Hutson, and Helm.

Florida was able to sustain its longest drive of the game with the help of an early penalty on Texas redshirt junior safety Michael Taaffe, but the drive stalled when Moore was credited for his first sack in Austin on some friendly scorekeeping — on the television broadcast, it looked like Warner was slightly past the line of scrimmage — and freshman edge Colin Simmons drew a holding penalty on 3rd and 4. With Florida in third and long, junior nickel back Jaylon Guilbeau came free on a blitz for a sack.

Trying to score again before halftime, Texas succeeded, getting a 45-yard catch and run by Blue on a swing pass and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Ewrs to Golden, who flashed some remarkable body control to adjust to the throw and take the 28-0 lead.

The Horns had another chance to score before halftime when freshman linebacker Ty’Anthony Smith came up with his first career interception and converted that chance, too — Bolden caught a crossing route and made multiple defenders miss on a 20-yard gain before Moore bobbled a would-be touchdown catch that was well thrown by Ewers, but Blue had a 20-yard reception over the middle and finished the drive from five yards out for a 35-0 margin.

The two late touchdowns by Texas came within a minute of game time and allowed Ewers to finish the half 17-of-25 passing for 297 yards and four touchdowns, season highs in passing yards and touchdowns.

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Third quarter

The Texas defense wasted little time making an impact on the second half — on Florida’s second play from scrimmage, Collins deflected Warner’s throw to Mukuba, who came up with his third interception of the season to tie senior cornerback Jahdae Barron for the team lead.

On the first play the Longhorns ran, however, Williams suffered a right leg injury he wasn’t able to put any weight on as he hobbled off the field. He was replaced by redshirt freshman Trevor Goosby. Although Goosby was promptly called for a false start, Texas responded when Bond took a swing pass, stepped through several arm tackles, and scored a 34-yard touchdown.

Secure in the knowledge that Warner wasn’t going to find much in the passing game, Florida settled for shortening the contest with the run game on its ensuing possession, benefitting as well from a personal foul penalty on senior Jack end Barryn Sorrell for roughing Warner on a third-down attempt.

The drive was successful in taking nearly six minutes off the game clock and moving into the Texas red zone, where the Longhorns held at their 5-yard line and Napier settled for a 23-yard field goal to preserve a streak of 456 games in which the Gators have scored that dates back to 1988.

Texas redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning entered the game, taking a trademark shot play on 2nd and 15 after a holding penalty on Williams, who returned to the game. Against triple coverage, Bond was contacted before the ball arrived, but didn’t draw the penalty. On third down, Manning scrambled and delivered a nice throw to Blue down the sideline, but the Texas running back bobbled it initially and then couldn’t control the ball through the catch as he hit the ground.

Given a short field when Texas freshman punter Michael Kern’s kick was nearly blocked, Florida was able to pick up steady yardage through the air and on the ground, culminating in a two-yard touchdown run.

The Longhorns were able to find some momentum on the ground to end the third quarter when Blue took the edge and made a defender miss on a 44-yard run, the longest of the season for Blue by

On the next play, freshman running back Jerrick Gibson picked up 12 yards with his seventh carry in conference play.

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Fourth quarter

Gibson took advantage of his playing time on the first play of the fourth quarter, bouncing a run off the left side behind Banks and finding a seam to the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown.

When Taaffe broke up a third-down pass by Florida, the Gators went three and out, leading to a punt that saw Bolden hit hard away from the ball, drawing a 15-yard penalty. Bolden was well enough after the big collision to pick up 13 yards on a dynamic catch and run before the Horns were called for an ineligible man downfield penalty and Gibson fumbled the ball away on his next carry.

Florida turned in another crisp scoring drive after the turning, needing seven plays to score a seven-yard rushing touchdown.

After the final score by the Gators, the Longhorns killed the final 8:21 with a 15-play drive that ended with Texas kneeling out the clock in the Florida red zone to close out the 49-17 win.