TAMPA — Suffice to say, Florida's lopsided road defeat of South Florida did little — more like next-to-nothing — to quell the Gators' quarterback debate. Externally, that is.
Emory Jones made some plays, but also made some glaring mistakes in 13th-ranked UF's 42-20 road win Saturday against South Florida at Raymond James Stadium. His backup, Anthony Richardson, threw a couple long touchdown passes and capped his afternoon with a spectacular 80-yard scoring run.
Sound familiar?
If not, the following postgame exchange just might, especially with next weekend's visit from No. 1 and reigning national champion Alabama on the immediate horizon.
Is Emory Jones still the starter?
"Yes," UF coach Dan Mullen said afterward his 100th career victory. "You'll see both of them play every single game."
South Florida managed just 283 yards of total offense, but only 95 rushing on 41 carries.
"I think we played well," UF sixth-year linebacker Jeremiah Moon said. "It came down to being detailed in what we were doing, and giving up a couple plays here and there. We just have to lock in and focus on the details."
Mullen put it this way: "We can improve on everything."
Let's start with the starting QB. Jones, the fourth-year junior, completed 14 of his 22 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, but also had two troubling third-quarter interceptions that set up 10 USF points. Jones also rushed 11 times for 82, with a 33-yard TD run. If his game had stopped at halftime, the takeaway from his play would have been different.
Now for the backup. Richardson went 3-for-3 through the air, with TD strikes of 75 and 41 yards to Jacob Copeland, who after catching just one pass for 15 yards a week ago had a monster day of five receptions for 175 yards and the pair of scores against the Bulls. Richardson, meanwhile, mixed in four rushes for 115 yards, including that 80-yard gallop that ended with him pulling up pseudo-lame (Mullen said it was a hamstring tweak) crossing the goal line. In two games, the 6-foot-4, 236-pounder has carried 11 times for 275 yards — that would be 25.0 yards per carry — and two touchdowns.
"It's crazy," Moon said of being a defender (and teammate) watching Richardson from the sideline. "We can't touch the quarterback in practice, so some of the stuff he does on the field we haven't even seen. So we're just going to let him keep doing his thing. he's a great athlete for his size. He's 240 pounds. He can fly and jump over people. He can everything."
Everything but start.
Florida's defense, momentarily, dodged one on the second USF series, when a double pass by wide receiver Xavier Weaver was dropped by fellow Bulls wideout Kelly Joiner Jr., who was running wide-open through the UF secondary about 40 yards downfield. Instead, though, quarterback Cade Fortin methodically marched his team down the field, converting three third downs, before having to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Spencer Shrader for the team's first points of the season.
Enter Richardson on UF's third season. On first down from the Florida 25, Richardson play-faked, set up and dropped a 75-yard touchdown strike to Copeland, who easily beat safety Matthew Hill on a deep post for a 14-3 lead that needed just 11 seconds to materialize.
The Bulls reached the UF 33, but were turned back on downs. Jones went back in the game and started an eight-play, 67-yard drive with a 17-yard completion to Xzavier Henderson and finished it with a perfectly thrown touch pass and 30-yard scoring strike to Henderson up the left sideline to make it 21-3 at 12:36 mark of the second period.
After a defensive stop, back came Richardson again. He got things going, under pressure, by taking off for an 18-yard scramble. Two plays later, Richardson took the snap, feigned a run into the line, then backed up and launched a perfectly thrown 41-yard touchdown to Copeland, taking the UF lead to 28-3.
"He does some special things," Mullen said of his young QB. "He doesn't always do the right things."
After Kaiir Elam intercepted Fortin on an overthrown pass, Jones capped a three-play, 51-yard drive with a 33-yard scoring run off an option keeper and 35-3 margin.
"I felt more comfortable out there, as you could probably see," Jones said. "I mean, I definitely feel like I improved from last week."
At that point, it looked like the Gators could pick their score, assuming no mistakes, of course. Alas, on UF's first series of the second half, Jones' short pass into the right flat for Justin Shorter was intercepted by Mekhi LaPointe, who returned the ball 50 yards before Shorter hauled him down the Florida 10. On third-and-goal at the 1, new USF quarterback Timmy McClain was unable to snatch a high snap, with the ball caroming backward 14 yards and recovered by the Bulls. They settled for 32-yard field goal and a 35-6 deficit.
"Those are just some growing mistakes," Mullen said. "The first one was a bad one. The second one he has to speed up his read. He was late on the throw. Those are things you have to continue to learn. I thought he played much better than last week — in the first half, for sure — and I think we just got sloppy in the second half. You have to execute every snap in the game. There are so few opportunities."
Yes, and Richardson made the most of his few. He was back in after the second Jones pick and immediately hit a 35-yard pass, rolling to his left and against his body, to Copeland down to the USF. Richardson's helmet came off off on the play, meaning he had to exit for a play.
Back came Jones, to finish the drive, as it turned out, but the Gators were turned away on downs at the Bulls' 4.
Two UF possessions later, Richardson took off on an 80-yard touchdown run. He was done for the day.
The quarterback conversion — bet on it — will continue for the next few.
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QBs Again the Focus in Win at USF - Florida Gators
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