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Five takeaways from the Florida Gators’ thrashing of Texas

Umito November 10, 2024

It didn’t take long for the Texas Longhorns to put this game out of reach against the Florida Gators. Quinn Ewers gave it his all and helped the Longhorns lead 35-0 at halftime with four first-half touchdowns.

The win gives Texas its eighth season and they now move to 4-1 in the SEC.

And Texas looked like a top team today. Of course, we played their hand by playing against a third-string freshman quarterbackbut the Longhorns still took care of business in a rather complicit manner.

Here are five takeaways from the 49-17 win over Florida.

It was the week off, what Ewers really necessary? The Florida Gators defense had forced six interceptions in the last two games. And with the way Ewers threw an interception in four straight games, it looked like Ewers might get a test.

And he succeeded. Ewers completed 19 passes in 27 attempts for a season-high 333 yards and five touchdowns.

Ewers looked much more confident. He seemed out of rhythm at times on early drives with inaccurate passes, but he dispelled that pretty quickly with nice passes like Matthew Golden’s second touchdown in the second quarter.

Watch it here:

3⃣ 2⃣@QuinnEwers @MatthewGolden_2 pic.twitter.com/iJGOAOyzQw

– Texas Football (@TexasFootball) November 9, 2024

These are the type of plays Texas fans expect from their QB. He was smart with his decisions like the RPO pass to Gunnar Helm for his second touchdown, and he was quick with his feet, escaping pressure much better than in previous games this season.

After the missed kick on the first drive, Texas looked poised for another slow start, but they didn’t let it happen.

The second drive could have also been a quick three-and-out. But head coach Steve Sarkisian took the risk and converted a 4th and 1 from his own 24. After that play, Texas started hitting the gas and putting together some really good drives.

It was very relieving for Texas fans to see the team start scoring fast and early. It was also relieving to see the offensive line being better as well. A big reason why Texas looked good early was the fact that the o-line didn’t allow a sack for the rest of the game after the first drive.

Holding penalties still need to be more limited, but this Texas team’s two biggest problems looked much better this week.

The Gators gashed the defense in the second half with the run. Running back Ja’Kobi Jackson averaged 6 yards per carry for Florida. The Texan defense allowed 197 yards on the ground, the most allowed this season.

Florida relied on the running game for most of the game due to the play of a third-string QB, but Florida’s offensive line was just able to create very solid holes for their running backs .

Players like Trey Moore should be considered an exception to the struggling run defense. Moore had a very solid game that included two tackles for loss.

But even with that, it looked like Texas struggled to keep Florida from rolling on the floor in the second half. It will be interesting to see how they react in the next match.

Mukuba’s impact on defense was one of the main reasons Texas shut them out for the majority of the game.

Returning from injury, Mukuba made a season-high six tackles (two solo) and also intercepted a deflected pass from Aidan Warner to open the second half.

His coverage and ability to close gaps to make tackles was greatly missed by the defense against Vanderbilt.

“It was extremely good to be there,” Mukuba said after the match.

Mukuba has been a major asset to the team this offseason after struggling with his pass defense all of last season. He revived this aspect of defense throughout this season.

Every time Golden gets the ball, it seems like good things happen.

The wide receiver had his second multi-touchdown game of the season against Florida with just three catches and 64 yards. In the last four games, Golden has completed just nine passes. But in those nine passes, he totaled 173 yards and three touchdowns.

Last week’s game against Vanderbilt. Golden only managed nine yards and two catches, but still had one of the best catches of the season for Texas, which helped score a touchdown.

Golden has way too much skill to only average three catches per game. Sure, he doesn’t have the speed of Isaiah Bond, but he’s still dangerous on the court. His route running is nice, but if he can’t get open, his aggression helps him rise above the defender for great catches.

The Texas Longhorns will be back in action next week when they travel to Fayetteville, AR to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in a renewed rivalry.

The match begins at 11:00 a.m. CT on ABC.