Gainesville, FL - Chris Leak threw four touchdown passes as
the seventh-ranked Florida Gators trounced UCF, 42-0, at Ben Hill Griffin
Stadium.
Leak finished 19-of-29 for a career-best 352 yards with one interception for
Florida (2-0), which defeated Southern Mississippi in its opener last week.
Andre Caldwell hauled in two of those TD passes, while fellow wideout Percy
Harvin had four receptions for 99 yards and a score.
'A shutout against a bowl team is hard to get,' Gators head coach Urban Meyer
said. 'I'm very proud of what we did tonight, because shutouts are just hard
to get.'
Steven Moffett was 14-of-32 for 100 yards for the Golden Knights (1-1), who
topped Villanova in their opener but were clearly overmatched in this one.
'Florida may be in the top two in the country,' Moffett said. 'They are
relentless on both offense and defense. They have speed, a great defense, and
playmakers. We could not contend with them tonight.'
The Gators opened the scoring midway through the first quarter on a 58-yard
touchdown pass from Leak to Harvin.
That opened up the floodgates, as Florida erupted for 27 points in the second
stanza to blow the game wide open.
On their second drive of the second quarter, the Gators marched 79 yards on
nine plays to assume a 14-0 advantage. Leak went 3-for-4 on the drive, which
was capped by an eight-yard TD run by DeShawn Wynn.
Kestahn Moore got into the act on the team's next series, breaking off a 28-
yard run with 4:19 left in the half to up the advantage to 21 points.
Following a UCF punt, Florida went right back to work. Leak hooked up with
Jemalle Cornelius for a 34-yard strike to bring the offense deep into enemy
territory, then connected with Dallas Baker for a 10-yard touchdown on the
very next play.
Florida polished off the impressive quarter with a 25-yard TD pass from Leak
to Caldwell that gave the Gators a 34-0 halftime cushion.
The defense did some scoring of its own in the third quarter, as Tony Joiner
tackled Kevin Smith in the end zone for a safety just over three minutes in.
The Gators took the ensuing kick and marched 66 yards on 10 plays, culminating
in an eight-yard TD toss from Leak to Caldwell for the final score of the
game.
Game Notes
Florida outgained UCF 637-153.
The Gators are 116-53-5 all-time against
opponents from the state of Florida.
Florida coach Urban Meyer improved to
21-2 against non-conference opponents.
Baker finished with four catches for
81 yards.
The Gators play at No. 11 Tennessee next Saturday night.
© 2006 The Sports Network
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