No. 11 Florida Gators Utilize Dominating Second to Defeat Tennessee Vols 38-14 in SEC Showdown
By Space Coast Daily // September 25, 2021
Next Game: Florida travels to Kentucky
ABOVE VIDEO: The No. 11 Florida Gators defeat the Tennessee Volunteers, 38-14, during Week 4 of the 2021 college football season. Florida QB Emory Jones threw for 209 YDS & 2 TD while running for 144 YDS.
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA (Florida Gators) – Quarterback Emory Jones passed for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also rushed for a career-high 144 yards, as the 11th-ranked Gators shook off a shaky first half and put away the visiting Volunteers in the second for a 38-14 Southeastern Conference East Division win Saturday night at Spurrier/Florida Field.
With backup sophomore quarterback and team rushing leader Anthony Richardson again held out of the game to further heal his hamstring injury, Jones completed 21 of his 27 throws with touchdown passes of four yards to Malik Davis on the game’s opening drive and nine to Rick Wells late in the third quarter to open up a 17-point lead.
On the way, Jones become the first Florida quarterback to throw for 200 yards and rush for 100 in a game since Tim Tebow did it against Florida State in 2009. UF racked up 505 yards of offense, including 283 on the ground, and converted nine of 14 third-down opportunities to beat its SEC East rival for the 16th time in 17 meetings.
Tennessee totaled 423 yards, with 221 passing and two touchdowns from senior Hendon Hooker. The Volunteers twice fell behind in the first half, but both times got even or better, tying the game at 7-all on a 47-yard screen pass from Hooker to Tiyon Evans and then on a 75-yard touchdown bomb to JaVonta Payton that gave the visitors a 14-10 lead. UF went back up on the next possession behind Nay’Quan Wright’s 23-yard scoring run for a 17-14 lead and had a chance for more late in the half, but wideout Jacob Copeland fumbled at the UT 15 after making a first-down catch.
The Gators, though, took the second half kickoff and scored in five plays, with Trent Whittemore catching a lateral and pitching a 13-yard touchdown off the double pass to tight end Kemore Gamble to go up 24-14.
After the UF defense turned a promising UT drive away on downs, Jones accounted for all but 16 yards on an eight-play, 70-yard drive that ended with him rolling right and finding Wells for the three-score cushion, at 31-14, with 2:04 to go in the third period. Davis’s 9-yard run with 1:39 remaining capped the scoring and gave the home team 28 unanswered points.
