Florida rolled to a 33-8 victory over Tulane in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl on Friday afternoon, finishing 8-5 while holding a struggling Green Wave offense — missing quarterback Darian Mensah — to 194 yards.
Despite the defensive dominance, the Gators struggled to find the end zone for most of the game and led just 6-0 at the half. But in the fourth quarter, coach Billy Napier’s team scored a touchdown in unlikely fashion after a fourth-and-one fumble turned into six points.
Napier called a quarterback sneak with big true freshman DJ Lagway, but Lagway fumbled the snap, seemingly dooming the team to a turnover on downs.
However, a heads-up play from running back KD Daniels saved the drive as Daniels quickly recovered the fumble and, in the confusion, ran past the entire Tulane defense for a 27-yard touchdown.
KD Daniels turned the fumble into a TD @GatorsFB pic.twitter.com/Cm22mlT77x
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 20, 2024
While there is some merit to the criticism that bowl season has become largely meaningless between opt-outs and the expanded College Football Playoff, there is one thing these de facto exhibition games are still good for: complete, off-the-wall chaos.
Thank you for coming through for us, Florida.
