Sports - Colleges - Mississippi State

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

A HELPING HAND

Top-ranked Florida takes advantage of MSU’s miscues to finally put away the Bulldogs

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State’s defense turned in an inspired performance against Tim Tebow and the Florida offense, but it wasn’t enough.

The second-ranked Gators capitalized on two MSU blunders in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 29-19 victory on Saturday night before a record crowd of 57,187 at Scott Field.

Florida (7-0, 5-0 in the SEC) won in Starkville for the first time since 1975. The Bulldogs (3-5, 1-3) managed just 237 yards total offense, and just 74 in the first half.

“They’ve got a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball,” said Dan Mullen, State’s first-year coach who spent four years as the Florida offensive coordinator. “(UF defensive coordinator) Charlie Strong is a tremendous football coach and he did a great job of getting those guys ready to play.”

State tried a fake punt from its 27-yard line in the fourth quarter, trailing by three points, and it proved to be the turning point of the game.

The Bulldogs’ Robert Elliott got the ball on an end around, but Elliott slipped 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and Florida took over at the MSU 22-yard line.

Tebow converted a fourth-and-1 play from the MSU 12 for a first down, running the ball off left tackle for a 3-yard gain. Two plays later, Chris Rainey scored on an 8-yard run to put the Gators in front 22-13. The extra-point try failed.

“It wasn’t like we were churning the ball down the field,” Mullen said. “It was a key point in the game, and we needed to make a play.”

Tyson Lee, the Bulldogs’ 5-foot-10 quarterback, took a vicious hit on State’s next possession and was intercepted by Dustin Doe, who scored on a 26-yard return to give the Gators a commanding 16-point lead.

State made it close when Tebow was intercepted by the Bulldogs’ Jonathan Banks, who scored on a 20-yard return with 3:51 left. It was Banks’ second touchdown of the game. He went the length of the field on an interception return in the final moments of the first half.

Chris Relf, the Bulldogs’ backup quarterback, reeled off a 21-yard run earlier in the fourth quarter, putting State at the Florida 39-yard line. But three plays later, he was sacked by the Gators’ Carlos Dunlap and the Bulldogs were forced to punt.

Florida controlled the ball for more than 19 minutes in the first half, but the Gators only had a 13-10 lead to show for it.

The Gators blocked a punt by MSU’s Heath Hutchins inside the Bulldogs’ 5-yard line and were poised to build a lead of two touchdowns or more before halftime.

But Tebow’s third-down pass for Jaye Howard in the left corner of the end zone was tipped by the Bulldogs’ Corey Broomfield and intercepted in the end zone by Banks. Banks quickly found a seam on the right sideline and scored on a 100-yard interception return, pulling the Bulldogs to within three points of Florida in stunning fashion.

Banks made a decisive cut near midfield, crossing more than half the width of the field while outsprinting the Gators’ pursuit to the end zone.

Florida built a 10-3 lead on Tebow’s 26-yard scoring run in the opening moments of the third quarter, and the Gators extended that lead to 10 points on Caleb Sturgis’ 21-yard field goal with 7:15 left in the first half.

State opened the scoring on Derek DePasquale’s 43-yard field goal with 9:05 left in the first quarter, but the Gators would tie it on Sturgis’ first field goal of the game, a 21-yard kick, less than six minutes later.