Florida football found itself trying to cling to a slim fourth quarter lead in its Sept. 6 matchup against USF at The Swamp.
But some questionable clock management proved costly as the Florida Gators lost 18-16 to the Bulls on a 20-yard Nico Gramatica field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter.
First, Florida had a chance to close out the game on offense with 2:52 remaining, but quarterback DJ Lagway chose to throw the ball rather than run it on first down, calling an audible off a run play. The attempted screen pass to wide receiver Vernell Brown III fell incomplete.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Lagway said. “I feel like I put that on me. I feel I threw a pass when I shouldn’t have. Yeah, I’ve got to be a better situational expert on that in four-minute mode, and I’ve got to keep the ball rolling, keep the clock moving.”
Florida went three-and-out on offense, giving the ball back to USF with 2:25 left. USF then put together and eight play, 87-yard game-winning drive that ended with the Gramatica field goal. With 1:13 remaining, USF chose to run up the middle on a first-and-10 play from the UF 20-yard line, but Napier chose to let the clock bleed 47 seconds before calling the first of UF’s remaining two timeouts with 26 seconds left. Florida’s last timeout came with 18 seconds remaining.
“We had two,” Napier said. “At that point, there’s going to be a field goal kicked. They had one, so they had an extra down. So regardless of when the timeouts get called, it’s going to end up about the same.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: DJ Lagway, Billy Napier discuss clock management woes at end of Florida football, USF game
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
