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Home , Brandon Spikes, Caleb Sturgis, Emmanuel Moody, Trindon Holliday, Will Hill

2009 Florida Football Post-Game Notes Florida at LSU October 10, 2009 Team * Florida extended its school-record winning streak to 15 games. * The Gators snapped LSU’s Saturday night winning streak at 32 games. Before tonight, the last time the Tigers had lost a Saturday night game came against Alabama on Nov. 16, 2002, 31-0. * The Gators have been ranked in the top 10 nine times visiting Baton Rouge and improved to 6-3. * UF has been to Death Valley ranked in the top 5 five times and won four (1993, 1995, 2001, 2009). * Tonight marked the 16th encounter between SEC teams ranked in the top five. The Gators are now 5-2 in these games. Oct. 29, 1983 - #4 Auburn defeats #5 Florida, 28-21 Sept. 21, 1996 - #4 Florida defeats #2 Tennessee, 35-29 Sept. 20, 1997 - #3 Florida defeats #4 Tennessee, 33-20 Sept. 18, 1999 - #4 Florida defeats #2 Tennessee, 23-21 Dec. 1, 2001 - #5 Tennessee defeats #2 Florida, 34-32 Dec. 6, 2008 - #2 Florida defeats #1 Alabama, 31-20 Oct. 10, 2009 - #1 Florida defeats #4 LSU, 13-3 * Florida made its 30th appearance on in the on-site game on ESPN’s College GameDay, a figure that leads the nation. The Gators have played in the game where the show is on-site 20 times, going 14-6. -Road wins over Auburn [1997], Florida State [1997], Georgia [1999, 2002, 2005], South Carolina [2001], Tennessee [1996, 2000, 2002], Ohio State [2007*], Kentucky [2007], Oklahoma [2009*], LSU [2009]. - Road losses to Auburn [2006] Florida State [1996, 2000], LSU [1997, 2007] & Nebraska [1996 *]. * Denotes these are bowl games, which are ‘Neutral Site’ games for both teams. * The Gator defense limited LSU to 162 yards of offense and 66 yards rushing on 30 attempts. * With a , the Gators scored on their opening drive for the fourth time in five games this season. (Charleston Southern, TD; Tennessee, FG; Kentucky, FG; LSU, FG). UF failed to score against Troy. * Florida has out-scored opponents by a 37-3 margin in the first quarter and 73-16 in the second quarter in 2009. * Both of the Gators’ scoring drives were 80 or more yards. * Florida averaged 6.1 yards per play in the first half, with 114 yards rushing and 62 yards passing. * UF collected an for the 17th-straight game, the nation’s longest streak.

Individual Player * Sophomore opened the scoring with a 28-yard field goal to cap an 82-yard, 13-play drive that lasted 8:11. * The scoring drive for the Gators was the second-longest in the SEC this season behind Tennessee’s 15-play, 66-yard drive against Florida that lasted 8:33 and yielded a field goal. * Sturgis missed his first field goal of the year in the third quarter after six consecutive makes when he pushed a 20-yarder wide left. * Junior ’s first career carry went for 16 yards in the first quarter. * Hernandez established a career high with six receptions for 70 yards. * Senior ’s 24-yard pass to senior enabled him to tie ’s school and SEC record for touchdown responsibility with 122. In his career, Tebow has 74 touchdown passes and rushed for 48 scores. * Cooper’s first reception of the game was his team-leading third scoring haul of the season. * Junior notched his second interception of the year and sixth of his career on LSU’s final possession of the first half. * Sophomore (six carries, 41 yards) and redshirt junior (five carries, 38 yards) combined for 11 rushes and 79 yards in the first half.

Other * Game Captains: Redshirt seniors Joey Sorrentino and Ryan Stamper; Florida won the toss and deferred to the second half. * Weather at Kickoff: 68ºF on the field; winds NE 5-8 mph and 81% humidity

2009 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes Florida Head Coach Florida vs. LSU October 10, 2009

“First of all, the game we just played, that was two sledgehammers just going at one another. Obviously it was as talented team as there is in the country, I thought it might not have been a high scoring affair, but it was good football. There were not a lot of turnovers and guys were coming running off the ball hard. Defensively, it was one of the best efforts I’ve ever seen containing athletes. The kicking game, I thought they did a good job of containing the athletes once again. To keep them in front of us was important. and the two corners both played very well. Obviously Tim (Tebow) came out and played his heart out. The offensive line did a good job of protecting him for the most part. We were somewhat conservative for the most part—somewhat. The management of the game is dependent upon how the defense is played and the special teams and I thought those two phases were tremendous.”

2009 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes Florida Players Florida vs. LSU October 10, 2009

QB TIM TEBOW On the past two weeks: “It was tough. I could see the stress it put on my family, friends, teammates, and different people who were worried about me not as far as football but just as a person. It was also frustrating because I wanted to be out there with my team practicing and playing and sometimes with this injury you feel like you can play, but you just have to be patient and listen to the doctors. I just tried to do that and they did a great job.”

On if he had any reservations about playing: “No. All the tests that I went through and different environments they put me through, and then after a plane ride that had so much turbulence, I was like, ‘I am good to go.’”

On how big this win was because of the loss against LSU in 2007: “It’s a big win. This place is one of my favorite stadiums to play in. It’s incredible. It’s just a lot of fun from the opening when they play that country song that they’re all singing. It’s just exciting and it gets your adrenaline going.”

On how the offense played tonight: “To play against a good defense like that, those guys are really good and they come to play. We didn’t execute that great. We didn’t put the ball in the endzone when we should have, but I am very proud of our team and our offense. We played hard, and we played for four quarters. We just had so much confidence at the end that we knew we were going to get a shot and put this thing away.”

ATHLETE On the qualities of this year’s team: “We’re a real tough team but we’re also kind of an older team. With everybody coming back, we’ve got a lot of leadership.”

On what kind of statement Florida made tonight: “I feel like we made a statement that we’re a pretty good team and still number one in the country. We can come into a tough environment like this and get a win.”

S On the execution of the defense: “We came out and we knew we would be challenged today. We came out and played with a lot of confidence. We knew what we had to do. We knew that odds were against us since they had won 32 games in a row, so we had to come out and play tough and we did.”

On when he found out QB Tim Tebow would start: “I didn’t. We knew that Tim would suit up but we didn’t know if he would play, but we didn’t really care. Tim doesn’t play defense. The defense knew what we had to do to come out and win this game.”

On what the secondary needed to do to win: “We knew they had two big receivers that we had to stop. If we could shut those guys down then we could win.”

LB RYAN STAMPER On the Tiger Stadium Crowd: “Just to come in and play in a hostile environment like this, I’ve never really played in an environment like this one at LSU. Their crowd is a lot like our home crowd. To come in and beat them in front of their home crowd says a lot about our team.”

On the play of the defensive line: “I just think we did a great job covering. Their wants to run the ball a lot and we noticed that. If we got good pressure on them we knew he would want to run the ball a lot, so we knew that we would get a lot of chances to sack him.”

2009 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes LSU Head Coach Florida vs. LSU October 10, 2009

Opening statement: “I thought that our effort was good. I felt like our team played a very talented football team today, and we didn’t play smart. There were times where initially we assisted offensive drives. We lined up offsides. We had two unintentional facemask penalties that gave our opponent easy first downs and field position. We moved the ball at times, and then, in the second half, we could not move the football offensively. In a game where we have just a few possessions, you have to move the football. You don’t have the opportunity to go three and out or take sacks. In the back half, the second half of this game, offensively we need to play better. If you look at some of the yards per carry, Charles Scott had four yards per carry, and Trindon Holliday had six (yards per carry). You think to yourself that maybe you should hand those guys the ball a little more. Then, you get behind two scores, and 10 points in a game like that with few possessions, it seemed like a lot of points. In the back half, we are trying to keep the ball, not squander the clock and make some throws, and we couldn’t protect the passer at that time. They had good pass rushers going up the field, and we’ve got to go back to it.

“Our football team is sick. They understand that it was a great opportunity, but they also understand that it counts one. If we improve, we can have a great season. We can do some special things, but we have to improve. It’s just that simple. We can’t come into the second half of a game and not move the football on offense. I thought our defense played like heck and played hard. We held a team that was scoring a lot of points and moving the ball routinely and held them down. They didn’t play perfect, so I think we are on the mend and looking forward to going back to work. That would be my suggestion.”

On the LSU offense’s inability to move the football: “I can tell you that we played a good defense tonight. I can tell you that our protection was challenged by their up-the-field rush. We threw a couple of balls to Brandon LaFell, and they came out of the sky and started targeting him. We should well have had an over-the-top throw or two, and we would have gotten a big play, but when we called those, we didn’t have protection. We probably just needed to continue to move the football, and had we done that, we would have gotten some more first downs and put ourselves in position to make some play-action throws.”

2009 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes LSU Players Florida vs. LSU October 10, 2009

Charles Scott, RB On the lack of execution on offense: “That’s the No.1 team in the country right there, but when it’s your time to make a play you’ve got to make a play. That was our fault.”

On not converting third downs: “When you go two plays and then end up third and long, that’s not efficient football. That’s always going to hold you up, and keep the defense on the field more. That’s something I think we need to get better at.”

On LSU’s pass protection: “I know a few of those plays the back should’ve stayed in; I should’ve stayed in on some of those plays and helped out. It’s (the ’s) responsibility to protect too. If you see somebody getting beat and you don’t help out it’s just as much your fault as the guy getting beat. The pass protection definitely needs improvement.”

Brandon LaFell, WR On if LSU missed some opportunities early in the game: “Yes, I thought we missed some opportunities. Me personally, on the pass I caught my momentum took me out of bounds, but I felt like I could’ve gotten 10 or 15 more yards on that play. There were some more plays like that, but right now that’s all I can think about.”

On how close the offense is to putting it all together: It feels like we’re really close, but not close enough. We need this bye week. We need it to go in there and focus, watch film and get better.”

On why they were unsuccessful to move the ball against Florida: “Florida has a good defense, but we needed to make more plays. When the play is called, the players have to make plays.”

S Chad Jones On the defense’s performance: “We played all right, but obviously, it wasn’t good enough. We definitely played well. We feel good about how we played, but we also could have played better. That one touchdown gave them the extra boost that they needed to continue throughout the game. If that touchdown wouldn’t have happened, things would have turned out differently.”

On Tim Tebow’s performance: “I wasn’t surprised that he played the whole game. That’s the kind of guy he is. He wants to play in a big-time game. I know he likes to play in here. He definitely had a great game. He ran the ball a lot and broke a lot of tackles. He just showed how good of a quarterback he is.”

On defense’s improvement since the first game against Washington: “No, we don’t feel that the defense has to win the game by ourselves. We definitely need to get off the field more with three-and-outs and more third-down conversions defensively. We also need to get more turnovers. Offense is always helping us out by holding on to the ball and letting us catch our breath and putting points on the board. They’re definitely helping us out. It just didn’t go our way tonight.”

LB Jacob Cutrera On Florida’s offense and Tim Tebow’s performance: “He’s unbelievable. You have to keep your eye on him every play. Thinking about their offense, they run the play but they can also have two option plays. They did a great job executing, and they have a good football team.”

On spending majority of game on the field: “It’s tough. Basically, we got outplayed by their defense. Every week, Coach (John) Chavis tells us to outplay the other team’s defense. We should have gotten off the field more than we did. The penalties hurt. We need to fix that.”

On moral victory of holding Florida to 13 points: “I guess it was a moral victory. We always want that ‘W.’ Hopefully we will face them again in the SEC championship.”