Florida pulls away from Miami

Gainesville — In a game that should give both Georgia and Georgia Tech a lot to think about as the season moves forward, Miami held Florida’s explosive offense in check for more than three quarters Saturday night before the No. 5 Gators finally hit their stride and pulled away late to win 26-3.

It was a deceiving final score as a crowd of 90,833, the largest in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium history, remained nervous until the Gators drove 86 yards on 12 plays to take a 16-3 lead with 13 minutes, 19 seconds remaining in the game. Then the Miami defense, which had played so well to that point, finally cracked and the Gators tacked on 10 more points in the final minutes.

The victory snapped Florida’s six-game losing streak to the Hurricanes dating back to 1986.

“We knew there was going to come a time when we would need to man up and put together a drive to win the game,” said Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who completed 21 of 35 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns. “It took us a while to get into our rhythm tonight. We just had to stay patient and keep running our offense. We knew the opportunities would come.”

Tebow has now thrown 130 consecutive passes without an interception, a Florida record.

Florida (2-0), which plays No. 2 Georgia in Jacksonville on Nov. 1, scored a touchdown in the game’s first three minutes. But after that its offense was shut out by the Miami defense until that crucial drive, which included a couple of officiating decisions that Hurricane fans will debate this week.

For Miami, which goes to Georgia Tech on Nov. 20, this game was supposed to serve as a measuring stick of how the far its program has come in Randy Shannon’s second year. The Hurricanes, who played for the national championship in 2001 and 2002, bottomed out last season with a 5-7 record. Based upon Saturday night’s performance, it looks like Miami has enough weapons to be a factor in the ACC Coastal.

“I think they are really going to be a good team,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “They have a lot of really good players. They are young, but there is not a more talented team in the country.”

Florida led 9-3 at halftime after getting its points on a 35-yard drive, capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass by Tebow, and a safety. The Gators were still clinging to that lead late in the third quarter when one of the game’s biggest plays happened.

Facing a third down at Miami’s 33-yard line, Tebow threw to wide receiver Carl Moore who caught the ball and fell at the 5-yard line. The official on the play ruled that Moore had come down out of bounds. But the play was reviewed and it was ruled that Moore’s left elbow had hit in bounds and Florida was given a 28-yard gain.

“That was the play of the day,” said Meyer. “If we don’t get that play it’s fourth down.”

Florida still had a tough time scoring. The Gators failed to gain a yard on two plays from the five but on third down Miami’s Randy Phillips was called for pass interference on Percy Harvin. On third down from the 2-yard line Tebow pitched to Harvin who ran for the touchdown. From that point Florida controlled the game.

When asked about the two officiating calls in that crucial drive, Shannon had no comment.