It was all part of Florida's game plan.
"We just wanted to go out there and get off to a fast start," Florida wide receiver David Nelson said afterward. "The past couple of games, we've had a slow start, and it took us a while to get into the flow of things. We made it a point in the pregame to jump on them early and get on them early and knock them out of the game early."
Kentucky coach Rich Brooks was disturbed by his team's effort in the Cats' first loss of the
See STREAK, B2
season.
"I am very frustrated," he said. "I am embarrassed by the way we played. I felt like I had never coached a down in my life the way we came out in that first 15 minutes at home, it just didn't make much sense. It was eerily close to how we played last year in the first 15 minutes. They were playing at a totally different speed then we were and that has happened in a lot of games quite a few years ago and it happened to us in this game last year down there. It is embarrassing to me because I think we are a little bit beyond starting out a game like that.
Nelson said Kentucky was a "talented team" and was surprised by the Gators' performance in the opening quarter.
"We knew we had our hands full coming in here and knew they would present some challenges for us," he said. "We knew we had to come out and play our best in the first quarter and put them away early."
That's exactly what Florida did.
From the opening kickoff to the end of the first quarter, it was all Tebow. The senior quarterback was responsible for three of his team's five touchdowns. Tebow had a 30-yard run, scored a pair of touchdowns and connected on a 44-yard touchdown pass to teammate Aaron Hernandez.
Like Nelson, Florida offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey said it was an intentional onslaught.
"It's all about preparation," he said. "We came out and we were ready for them."
In addition, Tebow got plenty of help from the special teams unit. In between Tebow's runs and pass completions , the Gators blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a score. Two such miscues by Kentucky led to a pair of touchdowns by the Gators in the last meeting between the two Southeastern Conference foes.
"We just came out, executed and did our job and put them away like that," Florida running back Jeff Demps said. "We just wanted to come out and just keep winning."
The slow start by Kentucky last year led to a 42-3 halftime lead for the Gators. This time around, Florida led 31-7 at the break.
Florida's defense, which had given up one touchdown in three games this season, held Kentucky to minus one yard in the first frame and one score.
"We try to play as hard as we can just like last year," Florida linebacker Ryan Stamper said. "Kentucky's players were calling us out (last week) and that's why we came out in the first quarter with a lot of juice. When you are playing away games, you have to bring your defense. We just played relentless tonight."
Stamper said the Gators sought a return to the basics in their second conference game of the season.
"We wanted to get back to running to the ball," he said. "We focused on that. If a guy missed a tackle, we had another guy make the tackle. I thought we did a great job with that."
For the Gators it was another dominating performance over the Wildcats.
"We just try to come out and win every game," Stamper said. "Hopefully we can keep it up."
Contact Keith Taylor at ktaylor@winchestersun.com
