COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway’s homecoming resulted in disappointment after a scorching begin as Billy Napier’s Gators did not full a Texas two-step and eventually beat a ranked staff on the street.
A 34-17 loss Saturday night time at clamorous Kyle Area dropped Napier’s staff (2-4, 1-2 SEC) to 0-13 on the street towards High 25 foes and intensified the stress on UF’s head coach.
Napier and the Gators regarded to construct on final weekend’s decisive 29-21 win towards Texas however couldn’t replicate their dominance on the line of scrimmage or unleash true freshman receiver Dallas Wilson.
“We dug a bit of little bit of a gap and we had hassle getting out of it,” Napier stated. “There was an amazing environment in there tonight. We acquired quite a lot of respect for the way they play the sport and our youngsters battled their ass off, however generally, the components of soccer that you need to do to win, we didn’t do and so they did.”
A 2-yard landing run by Rueben Owens II iced the sport with 4:39 remaining for the No. 5 Aggies (6-0, 3-0) after a daring transfer by Napier backfired.
Dealing with Third-and-6 from on the Aggies’ 49-yard line, Lagway handed off to Jadan Baugh, who was stopped for no achieve. Trailing 24-17 with 13 minutes left within the sport, Napier opted to try a fourth-down conversion, however A&M pressured Lagway and his cross over the center to Vernell Brown III was excessive and behind the true freshman receiver.
The Aggies proceeded to march 50 yards on 12 performs to place away the sport.
“The analytics would say at that time you go for it; that’s one you concentrate on,” Napier stated. “We acquired to execute the third-down play a bit of bit higher. You all the time look again at these once they don’t work. Generally they do and also you’re proud of them, however once they don’t you second-guess your self.”
On the Gators’ first play after Owens’ landing, Lagway fumbled whereas getting sacked by A&M finish Dayon Hayes on an evening UF’s entrance was a step gradual and wore down towards the relentless stress of coach Mike Elko’s protection.
Every week earlier, the Gators had been the aggressor, sacking Texas quarterback Arch Manning six occasions and hurrying him 10 extra.
However quarterback Marcel Reed proved a lot slipperier and the Aggies’ entrance a lot stouter. Florida completed with out a sack and only one QB hurry as Reed shined from A&M’s opening drive.
Lagway stored tempo along with his counterpart early on. The sophomore from Willis, simply 75 minutes east of Faculty Station, went 6-of-6 for 58 yards to steer the Gators’ greatest opening drive of 2025, capped by a 1-yard scoring cross to Amir Jackson.
“Simply our RPO sport, getting the ball out fast, once they got here up, getting them excessive and taking them deep,” Lagway defined. “I really feel like that was a good way we began the sport and it felt good.”
Reed answered with a 67-yard cross to SEC main receiver Mario Craver adopted by an 8-yard quarterback keeper to tie the sport in two performs at 7-7.
“We weren’t able to play,” sophomore linebacker Myles Graham stated. “That wasn’t our model of soccer. We really feel like that wasn’t who we’re.”
A quarterback duel appeared within the offing after the groups mixed for touchdowns on 5 of the primary six possessions as A&M staked a 21-14 lead.
However Florida’s offense petered out, managing 19 yards on 19 performs on the ultimate 4 drives of the half. The Aggies misplaced tailback Le’Veon Moss to a left knee damage to open their fourth drive and misplaced steam themselves.
A&M’s protection proved the distinction. The Aggies sacked Lagway thrice, forcing two fumbles, and hurried him 5 occasions as UF went 1 of 11 on third down — A&M’s three opponents at the moment are 2 of 34.
The Gators’ sophomore completed 21 of 37 for 229 yards with two scores.
“That is gut-wrenching,” Lagway stated. “You’ll be able to’t think about how I really feel. This isn’t how I anticipated this night time to go.”
In the meantime, Reed continued his robust play, going 16 of 26 for 234 yards and a rating whereas speeding for 37 yards and a rating. The Aggies had been 9 of 17 on third down and compiled 189 speeding yards per week after the Longhorns managed simply 52.
“We didn’t do a superb job of containing him,” Graham stated. “He transformed on third down. He acquired upfield on us, and that’s an enormous challenge for us. We talked about that throughout the week and we didn’t execute our plan. We didn’t do our job.
“All people didn’t do their 1/eleventh and it confirmed.”
After its second landing drive, UF punted 5 occasions, fumbled twice to finish drives and turned the ball over on downs one other time. The Gators completed the night time with simply 74 speeding yards per week after compiling a 159 towards Texas.
“We had been inefficient on first and second down,” Napier stated. “We weren’t capable of run it successfully. Once we did throw it, they had been capable of get stress. Then you’re taking part in third-and-long.”
Edgar Thompson may be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
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