(5) FLORIDA 24, AUBURN 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Everyone at No. 5 Florida knew it. So
did most of the players and coaches on the opposite sideline. It
doesn't take much to beat Auburn these days.
Coach Steve Spurrier used a variety of reverses, fancy formations
and big plays on Saturday as the Gators scored all their points
in the first half and coasted to a 24-3 victory over the
struggling Tigers.
"Steve can do what he wants," Auburn coach Terry Bowden said.
"But against us, 24 points was like a million. And he knew 24 was
like a million."
Florida's Doug Johnson finished with 198 passing yards and two
touchdowns. Receiver Travis McGriff ran for a score on an
end-around and caught a 15-yard TD as the Gators (6-1, 4-1
Southeastern Conference) extended their home winning streak to 26
games. Florida's last loss at the Swamp came to Auburn in 1994,
but these are hardly the same Tigers. Instead, Auburn (1-5, 1-4)
is off to its worst start in 46 years.
"What you're seeing out there is a struggling football team, as
you know," Bowden said. "There aren't any answers we can find,
even before the game. We're just hoping something magnificent
will happen that's out of our control."
About the only break Auburn caught was running into a Florida
team in no mood to run up the score. The Gators threw just two
passes over the final 22 minutes. They punted seven times,
including once on third down in their own territory to keep
Auburn from setting up an effective punt-block scheme.
"I knew we didn't have to score a lot in this game to win,"
Johnson said. "We could just punt the ball away and we knew we'd
get it right back."
On a play that seemed to define its season, Auburn fumbled away
its first snap on offense. The exchange was between Colin Sears,
the sixth center the Tigers have used this year, and sophomore
quarterback Ben Leard. Two plays later, Florida scored on a
32-yard pass from Johnson to Travis Taylor. It was the fourth
straight game an Auburn opponent had converted a turnover into a
7-0 lead in the game's first three minutes.
In the second quarter, Tigers punt returner Clifton Robinson
waved his entire team off a kick that came bouncing his way --
then had the ball hit him in the leg for a turnover that resulted
in a Florida field goal and a 24-3 lead.
The Gators were anything but perfect. They committed three
turnovers, were penalized for 93 yards and couldn't gain an inch
on fourth-and-1 from Auburn's 12 in the third quarter. Auburn
freshman quarterback Gabe Ross also drove the Tigers deep into
Gator territory before being picked off in the end zone and later
turning the ball over on downs on the Florida 4.
"I'm proud of the victory," Spurrier said. "I know we didn't do
too much in the second half, but we didn't have to. I know our
fans don't like this kind of ball but sometimes winning the game
is the objective rather than seeing how many points you can
score."
(5) FLORIDA 24, Auburn 3
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH FINAL
--- --- --- --- -----
Auburn 3 0 0 0 3
Florida 14 10 0 0 24
First Quarter
Fla-Taylor 32 pass from Johnson (Chandler kick), 13:12
Fla-McGriff 7 run (Chandler kick), 8:50
Aub-FG Bironas 31, :27
Second Quarter
Fla-McGriff 15 pass from Johnson (Chandler kick), 14:54
Fla-FG Chandler 46, 7:55
Aub Fla
--- ---
First downs 14 13
Rushes-yards 42-106 33-103
Passing 130 198
Comp-Att-Int 14-33-2 15-28-2
Return Yards 14 3
Punts-Avg. 9-39.2 7-41.4
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-1
Penalties-Yards 6-64 12-93
Time of Possession 34:40 25:20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Auburn, Carter 13-38, Burks 11-37, Gross 9-14, Embery
2-9, Leard 6-6, Robinson 1-2. Florida, McCaslin 13-43, Gillespie
15-40, Capel 2-12, McGriff 1-7, Frazier 1-2, Richart 1-(minus 1).
PASSING-Auburn, Gross 13-25-1-122, Leard 1-8-1-8. Florida,
Johnson 15-28-2-198.
RECEIVING-Auburn, Robinson 8-92, Bailey 2-24, Cooper 1-12,
Schwieger 1-5, Embery 1-4, Carter 1-(minus 7). Florida, Taylor
3-58, Karim 3-43, McGriff 3-29, Jackson 2-34, Gillespie 2-16,
Willis 1-9, Kinney 1-9.
A-85,557