MIAMI GARDENS — The Florida Gators followed their worst half of football with one of their most surprising.
The result remained the same: Another loss for Billy Napier.
Against No. 4 Miami, Florida continued show fight for their embattled head coach during a 26-7 decision Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium. But Gators could not overcome their sputtering attack and the Hurricanes’ superiority on the lines of scrimmage as Florida fell to 1-3 for the first time since 1986 and 0-12 away from the Swamp under Napier against ranked opponents.
A week after he threw five interceptions at LSU, quarterback DJ Lagway took care of the football but completed just one pass longer than eight yards. He finished 12 of 23 for a career-low 61 yards in the 10 games at UF he’s started and finished.
Florida’s offense ended the night with just 141 yards, the fewest under Napier, who fell to 20-22 at UF.
When first half ended with Miami leading 13-0, the Gators had just 32 yards, one first down, no third-down conversions and Lagway averaging 2.33 yards per attempt while under constant pressure from Miami.
But after such a miserable showing, the Gators’ attack came alive behind a hard-nosed grind-it-out approach. UF drove 80 yards on 11 plays, 10 of them runs, beginning with a 27-yard scamper by Ja’Kobi Jackson and culminating with a bruising 7-yard effort around right end by Jadan Baugh to cut the lead to 13-7.
Two plays earlier, a modest 3-yard run by Lagway on fourth-and-two from the Hurricanes’ 15 kept alive the critical drive.
Then on the first play following Baugh’s touchdown run, Carson Beck threw an interception to Cormani McClain on the UF 48 as the Gators suddenly had momentum on their side. UF’s sputtering offense could not capitalize.
The Gators managed just 21 yards on eight plays, the last a 2-yard completion to TJ Abram on fourth-and-3 from the Miami 33 — the first time Florida failed to convert on fourth down in four tries.
Miami’s attack didn’t fare much better after the Hurricanes built a 10-0 edge on their two opening drives. After starting 5 of 5 on third down, Miami converted just 1 of 7 as UF cut the lead to one possession.
Beck was sporadic, finishing 17 of 30 for 160 yards, but was also buoyed by a strong running game totaling 184 yards, including 116 by Mark Fletcher Jr.
Miami ran the ball seven straight plays, culminating with a 1-yard TD run by CharMar Brown, during a back-breaking 13-play, 80-yard drive to give the Canes a 19-7 lead with 4:08 remaining in the game.
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
