2024 Florida Football Postgame Notes
No. 5 Texas 49, Florida 17
Darrel K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium – Austin, Texas
OFFENSIVE NOTES
- Florida became the first team to eclipse 300 total yards against Texas this season (329).
- The Gators totaled 197 yards rushing – the most against Texas this season.
o The Longhorns entered ranking 15th in the FBS in rush defense at 105.5 yards per game. - QB Aidan Warner made his first-career start and went 3-for-3 for nine yards on the opening drive.
- Warner finished 12-of-25 for 132 yards with two interceptions.
- OL Bryce Lovett started for the first time in his career.
- WR Chimere Dike hauled in three catches of 15-plus yards (39, 20, 16) to increase hit season total to
16 explosive plays. - Dike paced the receiving corps with five catches for 95 yards.
- Dike now has 14 catches of 20-plus yards this season.
- RB Jadan Baugh made his second-career start, carrying 19 times for 88 yards for 4.6 YPC while
scoring his sixth rushing TD of the season (all in last three games). - RB Ja’Kobi Jackson added a career-high 116 yards rushing on 19 carries (6.1 YPC) for his first-career
100-yard performance while scoring his fifth rushing TD of the campaign. - TE Amir Jackson made his collegiate debut on kickoff return and also logged snaps on offense.
- The Gators have rushed for 100-plus yards in eight of nine games this season, and in 28 of their last
34 games since 2022. - Florida has scored a rushing TD in eight of nine games this season, and in 28 of 34 games in the
Napier era. - Florida extended its scoring streak to 457-straight games with a 15-play, 70-yard drive in the third
quarter resulting in a 23-yard field goal. - The Gators followed with a nine-play, 56-yard touchdown drive.
- Florida won the possession battle (32:06-27:54) and has done so in 15 of 21 contests since 2023.
- The Gators outscored the Longhorns, 17-14, in the second half.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
● The Gators posted their sixth-straight game with at least one takeaway and have forced a turnover
in eight of nine contests this season.
● Florida has produced at least one turnover in 25 of 34 games in the Napier era.
● DL Brien Taylor Jr. made his first-career start and DB Cormani McClain started for the first time as a
Gator.
● On his first snap in the game, EDGE TJ Searcy sacked QB Quinn Ewers for a loss of nine yards to
force a 51-yard field goal – which K Bert Auburn missed wide right.
● The sack was the second of the season for Searcy, who finished with three solo tackles.
● DB Bryce Thornton logged his first tackle-for-loss of the campaign in his third start and concluded
with four tackles (three solo).
● DB Aaron Gates led Florida with a career-high eight tackles (three solo).
● Florida held its opponent to zero points on the opening drive for the third-straight game.
● The Gators recorded one sack in tonight’s game.
o Since the start of 2021, Florida has out-sacked its opponents by a plus-18 margin.
● LB Myles Graham forced his first-career fumble in the fourth quarter, which was recovered by
Gates for his second of the season (third of career).
● DB Jameer Grimsley made his collegiate debut in the fourth quarter.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
● P Jeremy Crawshaw punted five times for an average of 47.8 yards highlighted by one of 50-plus,
one inside the 20-yard line and a long of 62.
o Crawshaw has punted for 50-plus yards on 71 of 170 career punts.
● K Trey Smack went 1-for-2 on field goal attempts, missing from 30 yards out before connecting for
a 23-yarder to extend Florida’s scoring streak in the third quarter.
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS (7)
● RB Jadan Baugh: 11-yard rush, first quarter
● WR Chimere Dike (from QB Aidan Warner): 39-yard reception, second quarter
● RB Jadan Baugh: 12-yard rush, second quarter
● RB Jadan Baugh: 16-yard rush, third quarter
● WR Chimere Dike (from Warner): 20-yard reception, fourth quarter
● RB Ja’Kobi Jackson: 11-yard rush, fourth quarter
● WR Chimere Dike (from Warner): 16-yard reception, fourth quarter
SERIES UPDATES
● Today’s game was the fourth meeting between Florida and Texas including the third in Austin.
● It was the first matchup between the two teams since 1940.
● With the loss, the Gators fall to 0-3-1(.000) in the series vs. the Longhorns and 0-2-1 (.000) in Austin.
● HC Billy Napier drops to 0-2 against UT HC Steve Sarkisian as head coaches.
THE STREAK
● Florida has scored in 457-consecutive games — an NCAA record and 53 games longer than any
other college football team in history.
o The Gators broke Michigan’s record of 365 games (1984-2014) against LSU on Oct. 7, 2017.
o The last time Florida was shut out was on Oct. 29, 1988 vs. Auburn (L, 16-0).
GAME DETAILS
● Florida Game Captains: #7 DB Trikweze Bridges, #13 DB Aaron Gates, #89 TE Hayden Hansen
● Coin Toss: Florida won the toss and deferred; Florida defended the north endzone.
● Attendance: 103,375
2024 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach
No. 5 Texas 49, Florida 17
November 9, 2024
Opening statement…
“We struggled to get anything going early. Obviously, the first half where they have 353 yards and
about 10 yards a play, it just felt like the rushing and the coverage never married up and I don’t think
we tackled very well. Just overall fundamentals in technique. Obviously, in the back end we
struggled to keep up with them and tackle loose plays. And look, you’re not going to win turning the
ball over four times against a team like that. We had two tipped interceptions, a fumble, short field,
and we missed a field goal, any chance of momentum. We missed a field goal early. I do think the
kids continued to play; we scored three times in the second half. Not good enough. I think overall it
got out of hand in the first half and you look up and the game is over. We have to evaluate the
effort; we have to evaluate point of attack issues that we had and we just flat out have to play
better. I didn’t think we defended them very well. Obviously, Aidan [Warner] fought his tail off out
there today, did some good things for a guy who is making his first start against a really good
defense, one of the better defenses in the country. It was good to see him move the team a little bit
in the second half. But again, we rushed the ball but in general we had no continuity, and you go
into the game understanding you’re playing with your third quarterback, and you know you have to
defend him and we did not do that. I think we lost a little bit of our stinger because of that but just in
general, not good enough period.”
On DJ Lagway during the week and what it was like for him pregame…
“I think that he got better each day, a little bit better with each opportunity. I do think that he
probably felt as good as he’s felt since the injury today pregame. That’s kind of what he voiced to
me, but not quite ready. I think you’re risking putting him out there with the soft tissue injury. With all
the metrics, he’s not quite ready to do it. But we’re hopeful, he’s made some progress and we’ll have
a good feel early in the week next week.”
On injuries with the secondary…
“The guys that are playing are banged up. Let me tell you something: I appreciate the toughness,
DD, Cormani [McClain], Trikweze [Bridges], they played today through some things and we just in
general, I didn’t think we really covered them well and again the rush was not landing. The loose
plays, the perimeter tackling, we didn’t really play the perimeter plays well at all. And obviously that’s
the secondary.”
On evaluating the team’s effort…
“We had some chances. We had third and 10, we had fourth and one. I thought they’d punt it to us
there early. Just early in general, we didn’t do enough to slow them down. Here we go, fumble, you
look up and it’s 14-0. And then here we go, we move it down there and have an opportunity to
make it 14-3 and we missed a field goal.”
On if he feels the roster should have more depth at this point with the injuries…
“I think some of these scenarios, we’re talking about the third team guy. The two areas that have
been banged up are corner and secondary and obviously quarterback. I think outside of that, we’ve
survived it to some degree. I do think the running backs have performed; we haven’t really had any
injury depth issues in any of the positions…”
2024 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Student-Athletes
No. 5 Texas 49, Florida 17
November 9, 2024
17 Chimere Dike, Senior Wide Receiver
On the team’s fight…
“This team has obviously been through some adversity. I was proud of the guys for going out there to
battle in the second half. A lot of teams would have given up. But at the same time, we have got to
execute better. We got to improve. That’s at the end of the day. We didn’t take care of what we
needed to. Like you said, we have self-inflicted wounds and against a really good team you can’t do
that.”
On Aidan Warner getting experience…
“Even speaking from my own experience, I think anytime you’re a young player and gain reps
against a really good football team, those are things that you can learn from. [Warner] came out
there and competed for four quarters. He’s going to continue to get better and take steps forward.”
On improving in the red zone…
“I think we need better red zone trips, especially on the road, good team. Down some bodies, I think
it’s important to capitalize and we didn’t. I think that kind of was the story of the first half. Those are
things you need to cash in on.”
On Aidan Warner’s performance…
“I think Aidan did a really good job. I think there are a lot of guys that could have done things better
around him, myself included. When you have a young quarterback like that, you have to help him
out as much as you can. I think that he competed for four quarters. I think he threw some really good
balls. He never looked like he was going to give up or he was out of it. I’m proud of him, proud of the
way he competed. We just have to continue to work.”
6 Shemar James, Junior Linebacker
On not capitalizing on early chances to get takeaways on defense…
“Yeah, we definitely took a blow on the defensive side of the ball… you know, things weren’t going
our way, kind of like self-inflicted wounds. We kind of preached on that saying, you give a good
team an inch and they’ll take a mile so, we kind of just got to clean that up on our side of the ball…”
On the defensive struggles despite recent improvements…
“Yeah, I mean it’s the game of football. You can get high and climb and before you know it you
can. It’s a rollercoaster game so you know we just got to get back in the film room and get better.”
On not being able to play up to par with so many injuries defensively…
“Well, that’s frustrating a little bit, but that’s the game of football. It’s a tough game, guys are going
to get banged up, guys are going to get hurt. It just comes down to you know, capitalizing… We got
the next man up mentality and we got some pretty good twos and threes that came in the game
and played really well. It just came down to being ready for the moment and just going out and
executing.”
