College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Florida 42, South Florida 20
When: 1:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 11, 2021
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Temperature: 82°
Head Official: Hank Johns
Attendance: 65828

Florida scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions of Saturday's game, and coasted to a 42-20 win over host South Florida in Tampa, Fla.

The 13th-ranked Gators (2-0) got results out of their two quarterbacks, Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson. Jones completed 14 of 22 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions, and ran for 81 yards and a score.

Richardson was 3 for 3 for 152 yards and two touchdown passes with an 80-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, totaling 115 yards on the ground to lead the Gators in rushing. His stats might have fueled the idea of a quarterback controversy in Gainesville, which head coach Dan Mullen had refuted earlier in the week.

But Richardson was injured on the long touchdown run, and did not return to the game.

The Gators finished with 666 yards -- 363 rushing, 303 passing.

There were big-play touchdowns for Florida and five catches for 175 yards from wide receiver Jacob Copeland, but the first Gators touchdown drive was the product of tough running from Dameon Pierce, who had runs of 16, 20 and 7 yards on the possession, the last one for a score.

Jones engineered that drive, then gave way to Richardson. On Richardson's first pass of the game, he found Copeland over the middle, and Copeland turned the completion into a 75-yard touchdown with 4:34 to play in the quarter.

Florida got the ball back on a turnover on downs, and Jones found Xzavier Henderson for a 35-yard touchdown and a 21-3 lead.

Richardson got his turn, and again connected with Copeland for a 41-yard touchdown pass. Two-plus minutes later, Jones ran in a keeper, electing to fake the pitch and run it up the middle and breaking into the open field for a 33-yard touchdown.

The Bulls (0-2) couldn't overcome the 32-point deficit they faced before halftime, and made a quarterback change from starter Cade Fortin (91 yards) to Timmy McClain (83) for the second half.

The Bulls gained just 283 yards of total offense, and received two rushing touchdowns from Jaren Mangham.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Rushing
Florida   South Florida
Anthony Richardson Player Darrian Felix
4 Attempts 13
115 Yards 40
28.8 Avg Yards 3.1
1 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
Florida   South Florida
Jacob Copeland Player Xavier Weaver
5 Receptions 2
175 Yards 68
35.0 Avg Yards 34.0
2 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Florida 666 363 303 6 0 1 1.0 0
South Florida 297 109 188 2 2 2 1.0 0