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Florida 35, FAU 14: Gators ground Owls as Anthony Richardson electrifies

Florida’s win over FAU on Saturday night — 35-14, in a game that never saw the Owls closer than 14 points after the third quarter or closer than 21 after Florida reached that mark after halftime — would’ve been the perfunctory early-season triumph over an overmatched team with plenty of struggles to fret about if not for the fourth quarter.

What Anthony Richardson did in that frame made this contest the sort of game that leaves fans wondering if they just saw a star being born.

Richardson ran for 160 yards while backing up a largely underwhelming Emory Jones, dispatching multiple defenders with stiff-arms, dashing 74 yards down the sideline for a thrilling late touchdown, and then punctuating his night with an exclamation point of a leap over a defender for a first down in the game’s waning seconds — one that Jones told the SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic his backup had called prior to the drive on the sideline.