The Florida Gators fell just short of upsetting the rival Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, losing 23-17 in overtime.
Florida had won 17 of the previous 19 meetings between the two teams. The Gators were looking to extend their winning streak to three games.
After going up 10-0 early in the game, Florida found itself down 17-10 in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Quarterback DJ Lagway, who was filling in for Graham Mertz who left with a leg injury, found Chimere Dike for a 27-yard score with 29 seconds to play to tie the game at 17 and force overtime.
Despite overtime resulting in a missed field goal for Florida and a walk-off touchdown for Tennessee, Gators head coach Billy Napier praised his team after the loss.
“I think the hardest part about it is that they played their tails off. I had a front row seat to it, you know, they played extremely hard in the game. You know, there’s no guarantees in this game. You have to put yourself out there with no guaranteed reward. It takes courage to do that… I just really believe there’s something good on the other side of this. And I do think that it’s a challenge. And I think that ultimately, we’re all going to be tested. We’re all going to be challenged in this game. It’s going to be that way,” Napier said after the game.
Florida will have a chance to get back in the win column when it hosts the Kentucky Wildcats on October 19.
