Gators sting Volunteers on final play
Feleipe Franks, left, threw a 63-yard Hail Mary TD pass to Tyrie Cleveland to lift UF to a 26-20 win over Tennessee.
GAINESVILLE — You wanted offense, Gator Nation?
You wanted excitement and electricity, elation and exhilaration?
You wanted a big-armed quarterback who can rear back and sling the ball a million miles?
You wanted a reason to fall in love with coach Jim McElwain?
You got all of that Saturday when redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks became an instant legend in his first home start when he scrambled right on the last play of the game, avoided a sack, cocked his arm and launched a pass for the ages — a perfect 63-yard strike to a diving Tyrie Cleveland to give the Gators an unbelievable, inconceivable 26-20 victory over the voodooed Vols.
“I was actually thinking about running the ball, but I saw Tyrie out of the corner of my eye,” Franks said. “So I just set my feet and let it fly.” And it flew … and flew … and flew. “I think everybody just found out that Feleipe can throw the ball a long way in
the air,” McElwain said and smiled.
“Feleipe’s got a helluva arm,” said Cleveland, who caught a 98-yarder against LSU last year. “It’s crazy, man. Crazy.”
Not nearly as crazy as the Swamp became when Cleveland made his catch on a play known as “Train Right Open, Big Ben In” — the same game-winning play Antonio Callaway took the same exact distance (63 yards) on 4th-and-13 for the game-winning touchdown two years ago against Tennessee. Don’t ask me how and why Tennessee’s embattled coach Butch Jones and his beleaguered defensive coordinator Bob Shoop continue to allow Florida to score on long touchdowns at the end of games, but I’m sure they will need to explain it to Tennessee’s angry fan base.
Tweeted one outraged UT fan immediately after the game, “Why don’t you just tear out my heart and eat it in front of me.”
As Cleveland came down with the ball Saturday, the entire stadium erupted in complete rapture. Fans chanted, “It’s great to be a Florida Gator! It’s great to be a Florida Gator!” Players hugged and high-fived. And McElwain soaked it all in with a relieved smile on his face. This once-in-a-lifetime walk-off win on the final play of regulation will go down as one of the most historic, euphoric victories in Gator history and should serve as a turning point for McElwain’s much-maligned tenure. Gator Nation has been complaining about McElwain’s offense for two-plus years now, but there should be no complaining after this one.
Not after McElwain and his team concocted a miracle under the most trying circumstances imaginable. It has, after all, been three
weeks of misery and malaise — multiple player suspensions, a decisive loss to Michigan, a game cancellation and Hurricane Irma blowing through town.
“I’m happy for these players,” McElwain said. “It’s good to see joy on their faces. This is great for our team and it’s great for the City of Gainesville. Maybe we gave some people some relief today.”
Maybe McElwain will get some relief, too, from the constant carping about his offense. Which is why this victory was so meaningful. McElwain needed something — anything! — to get the fan base on his side. He even moved offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier up into the booth to call plays this week — a move that reeked of desperation. If the Gators had lost on Saturday, Nussmeier might have been relegated to calling plays from the top of nearby Century Tower.
For much of the game, the UF offense looked as lackluster as ever as the Swamp became a sea of folded arms and cocked eyebrows. At one point, CBS announcer Gary Danielson said Gator Nation has “gone from the Fun ’N’ Gun to ‘to the 3-and-done.’ ”
But by the fourth quarter, UF’s offense finally started to show some life. The Gators nearly scored another long touchdown in the fourth quarter before freshman running back Malik Davis’ 72-yard apparent scoring run was called off when the replay showed he was stripped off the ball before crossing the goal-line and Tennessee was awarded the ball on a touchback.
In the end, it didn’t matter on an afternoon when McElwain and his wife Karen debuted their new barbecue sauce — “Mac and Blondie’s Mombo 3” — at the Swamp. The sauce will soon be on Gainesville grocery store shelves with the hope of someday selling it nationwide. That’s all well and good, but on this surreal Saturday, Mac and his Gators delivered a victory that was both sweeter and spicier than anything you can find in a bottle.