The Gators had a chance to beat UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl on Thursday night in Tampa. They led 10-9 at halftime and 17-16 midway through the third quarter.
However, you’re not going to beat a solid team like UCF by making as many mistakes as the Gators did. Quarterback Emory Jones misfired on a handful of deep passes that should’ve been touchdowns.
The defense allowed Ryan O’Keefe to run roughshod over them. They missed a couple of field goals, failed to recover a muffed kickoff that was there for the taking and got pushed around by UCF’s offensive line in the fourth quarter.