Sent from my iPad
--Dooley: Play for the ages
Florida Gators wide receiver Antonio Callaway (81) heads to the end zone for the winning touchdown during the second half of the Gators' come from behind 28-27 win against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, September 26, 2015 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. Rob C. Witzel / Staff photographer
The Gainesville SunPublished: Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 10:09 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 10:56 p.m.
Before the game, Antonio Callaway told Jim McElwain he was going to score a touchdown Saturday against Tennessee. He thought it would be on a punt return.
Instead, it came on a play that will be remembered as long as there are Gators and Vols on this planet.
Really, what just happened?
Did Florida really win a game that looked over with 10 minutes to play?
Did Florida really convert two fourth-and-longs on the drive that pulled them within six points?
Did the Gators turn a fourth-and-14 into one of the greatest plays in Gator history?
Did Butch Jones really not go for two up 12 points?
Yep to all of the above.
Antonio Callaway, meet your miracle.
"He wanted to practice the chest-bump with me (before the game)," McElwain said. "I can't get up that high anymore."
He's up pretty high right now. In a game filled with lows, Florida stole this one. Tennessee fans were singing "Rocky Top" so loudly after they took a two-touchdown lead, you thought their hearts were going to explode.
Instead, they broke.
Because Florida has its own version of Lindsay Scott now.
"My whole life, I've never felt like that ever in a football game," said UF linebacker Jarrad Davis.
Who has?
OK, maybe Tennessee.
But for Florida, this was a huge step forward. It won when it probably should have lost instead of the other way around.
And it looked so lost.
Then something happened that didn't seem like a big deal at the time but will have Tennessee fans burning up the sports talk phone lines this week.
Jalen Hurd, a beast of a tailback who was carrying Gators on his back all day, burst into the end zone to make it 26-14. The way Florida's offense had looked in the second half, it didn't look good.
But Jones gave Florida a break by kicking the extra point instead of going for two.
All coaches have a chart that tells them when to go for one or two. Jones has one. Either he had a faulty chart or faulty wiring in his brain.
"We just felt at that stage of the game that we had great confidence in our defense," he said. "We felt comfortable with the decision."
It was -- to put it simply -- a boneheaded move. There is almost no benefit in kicking the extra point there.
Still, we couldn't possibly believe what we were about to see.
Florida, which had gained only 172 yards since a first-quarter touchdown drive, drove 86 yards for a touchdown, converting on fourth-and-7 and fourth-and-8.
We were calm, cool and collected," said quarterback Will Grier.
It was in the hurry-up that Grier seemed to be a different quarterback. But when the defense held and Tennessee got the ball back, the drive looked as dead as a raccoon on a Knoxville highway. A four-yard loss on a screen and two incompletions set up fourth-and-14.
And then, it happened.
Grier barked out the play in the huddle. "Train Right Jill Big Ben In." Grier-to-Callaway.
The memory of a lifetime for two guys playing their fourth college games.
It was pretty awesome," McElwain said. "We run it in practice all the time. I don't think I've ever seen it go for a touchdown, but I'm glad it did."
The drama wasn't over. Florida thought it had won the game when Tennessee was called for a penalty with three seconds left. The Gators poured onto the field. Bryan Cox Jr. did a cartwheel in the middle of the field.
"I'm pretty good at cartwheels," he said.
Instead, Jones used a timeout to avoid a clock runoff. Field goal, 55 yards. No good. Celebration. McElwain had called a timeout because Florida had 12 men on the field. When he talked about it later, he kept raising his eyebrows up and down. He was the one who spotted it.
Another try. Another miss. Bedlam.
After the game, McElwain wondered out loud if the Gators deserved to win this game. Doesn't matter if they did or not.
They are somehow 4-0.
That just happened.
It was pretty cool, wasn't it?" McElwain asked.
Yeah.
It was pretty cool.
Sent from Shane's iPadGo Gators! & Skål Vikes!ALPCA #8756Europlate #1045
--
GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY!
1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions |
Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007)
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorNews" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gatornews+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment