Florida vs. Miami 2013 final score: Canes defense leads 21-16 upset
Five turnovers doom the Gators’ quest for a rivalry win as Miami hangs on late.
It seemed like an upset, but wasn’t much of one by Vegas standards as Florida was only favored by three points at kickoff. The way the game looked on paper and unfolded was reminiscent more of an upset than an even fight tipping one way, though. Florida had more talent from top to bottom on its roster than Miami did, and it moved the ball and created stops more regularly than Miami did.
But there’s more to football than just forcing punts, obviously. At the end of the day, it’s about scoring points, and Florida’s struggles with that were numerous enough to be fatal. Four Florida trips to Miami territory in the first half alone proved fruitless, and two more turnovers late in the fourth quarter (one, naturally, in Miami’s red zone) put the Gators in too deep a hole to dig out of so 21-16 was the final for the victorious Hurricanes.
The play that might've ended up deciding it: a strip-sack of Jeff Driskel that set up a Duke Johnson touchdown with minutes to go:
Box Score Hero: Stephen Morris was the main punisher of Florida's mistakes, going 12 of 25 for 163 yards and two scores in the win. He threw one bad interception midway through the fourth quarter, but it put the Gators deep in Miami territory ... right where the 'Canes wanted 'em.
Rankings Ramifications: There’s no way to spin this loss positively for Florida. It was a hostile environment early in the season, sure, but the Gators looked unforgivably sloppy and nowhere near the 12th-best team in the nation. Count on a drop to around No. 20, or about five lower than Miami, who was 26th in AP poll voting and 24th in the Coaches Poll coming into Week 2 — and now has one of the best wins of this early season on its resume.
But Did They Cover? No; as mentioned before, Florida was the three-point favorite this week.
For More On This Game: For more on Gators football, visit Florida community Alligator Army, plus SEC community Team Speed Kills. For more on Canes football, visit Miami community State of the U.
Next Week’s Schedule: Florida gets a home game against Tennessee next week while Miami enjoys a bye week before facing Savannah State. Whoo boy, Savannah State.
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