GAINESVILLE, Florida -- Florida's Ron Zook once
coached special teams. He may be doing that again this week.
The ninth-ranked Gators nearly gave away the game with a handful
of special teams blunders before rallying for a 41-34
Southeastern Conference victory over Kentucky.
Zook was the special teams coordinator at Florida in 1994 and
special teams coach with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers from
1996-98. When he returned to Florida this year to replace Steve
Spurrier as coach, many wondered what kind of caretaker he
would be for the "Fun 'n' Gun" offense.
The offense has had few problems as quarterback Rex Grossman had
another big day. But the special teams, coached by Jerry Odom,
has some serious work to do.
The Gators had two extra points blocked and missed another. They
fumbled a punt snap and had another blocked. And they
surrendered both a kickoff return and punt return for
touchdowns.
"The special teams thing - it's as bad as I've ever seen," Zook
said. "You know what the good thing is about it? I'll take
full responsibility. And I'll tell you something else - I'll
get it corrected. It is the one area that there is no doubt in
my mind that I will get it corrected."
The bevy of breakdowns allowed Kentucky to take a surprising
28-25 lead late in the third quarter. But Grossman responded by
throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Jacobs and Keiwan
Ratliff returned an interception 62 yards for a score, giving
Florida a 39-28 lead.
The Gators (4-1, 2-0 SEC East) held on to beat the Wildcats
(4-1, 0-1) for the 16th straight time.
"They didn't quit. I saw it in their eyes," Zook said. "No one
acted like we weren't going to win the game."
Kentucky's Derek Abney had both the punt return and kickoff
return, becoming just the seventh player in NCAA history to
score on both in the same game. He also caught a touchdown
pass.
But the Wildcats made some mistakes of their own, committing
three costly turnovers and 10 penalties while converting just
1-of-12 third downs.
"I think two-thirds of it was Florida wand one-third of it was
us," said Kentucky coach Guy Morriss, whose club came in with a
plus-7 turnover margin. "We didn't help ourselves at all with
some of the mistakes we made."
Grossman completed 28-of-43 passes for 375 yards and two
touchdowns, Jacobs caught 12 passes for 183 yards and a score
and Earnest Graham ran for 102 yards and a TD for Florida.
After an awful first half in which they dug themselves a 19-0
hole, Kentucky scored 28 points in a span of just over eight
minutes of the third quarter. It was the most points allowed by
Florida in one period since surrendering 29 in the second
quarter of a 62-24 loss to Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.
Punter Sean Morton bobbled a snap and was swarmed by Kentucky,
which took over at the Florida 32. Three plays later, Jared
Lorenzen threw a 14-yard TD pass to Abney.
The Gators marched 80 yards, running on eight straight plays
before Grossman found Jacobs with a four-yard TD pass. But the
extra point was blocked, and Abney brought back the ensuing
kickoff 100 yards for a score, making it 25-14 with 6:59 to
play.
Florida's next drive stalled and Jason Hunter - who lost the
starting punter job to Morton after dropping a snap last week
against Tennessee - had his punt smothered by Dustin Williams.
A penalty moved the ball to the Gators 11, and Artose Pinner
banged in from the 1 four plays later, cutting the deficit to
25-21.
"We convinced ourselves that we could win," Lorenzen said.
"When we were down 19 at the half, coach Morriss got us fired
up."
Graham was stripped on the next play from scrimmage and the
Wildcats took over at the Gators 39. Lorenzen wasted no time,
finding Aaron Boone wide open up the left sideline for a 39-yard
TD pass that gave Kentucky a 28-25 lead and stunned the crowd
of 85,333 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Grossman engineered a 78-yard drive capped by his 35-yard TD
pass to Jacobs. As the game moved into the fourth quarter, the
teams traded possessions before Ratliff stepped in front of
Lorenzen's sideline pass and scored with 9:25 remaining.
"We were in a trap coverage and he threw it right to him," Zook
said. "He was expecting him to sink with the receiver and he
threw the ball. When Keiwan gets a shot to go, he's going to
go."
Ratliff came up big again after Abney brought back a short, low
punt straight up the right sideline 49 yards for a score.
Trailing 39-34, the Wildcats went for two, but Ratliff again
picked off Lorenzen and went all the way for a two-point
defensive conversion.
"Throughout the year, I haven't really been challenged at that
corner and had the opportunities to make plays," Ratliff said.
"I saw in the first half they weren't really respecting me and
they were coming at me."
"It gives us a good feeling to know we can play against them,
but the good teams don't make those mental mistakes," Abney
said.
Ratliff misplayed the ensuing kickoff, but Grossman drove
Florida from its 4 to the UK 37 before giving up the ball on
downs with 2:56 left. The defense stopped Kentucky without a
first down to seal the win.
Lorenzen was 20-of-32 for 180 yards and Pinner carried 20 times
for 90 yards for the Wildcats, who were outgained, 509-268.
Lorenzen fumbled a snap in the first quarter, setting up
Graham's one-yard TD that was followed by a blocked extra point.
Ran Carthon capped second-quarter drives of 73 and 72 yards
with scoring runs of 19 and six yards, respectively.
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