GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The mood in the “Swamp” late Saturday night was decidedly different than it was exactly one week earlier.
It’s back to the proverbial drawing board for the Gators and back to reality for Gator Nation.
Kentucky quarterback Will Levis passed for 202 yards, ran for a touchdown and threw for another, but it was cornerback Keidron Smith’s 65-yard interception return of an Anthony Richardson pass for the go-ahead score that keyed the 20th-ranked Wildcats’ 26-16 upset of the No. 12 Gators at Spurrier/Florida Field. Even after the gut-punching pick-6, the home team had its chances to tie the score, but the UK defense flummoxed Richardson and made his heroics from last week’s big win over Utah a distant memory.
Richardson finished 14 of 35 (just 40 percent) for 143 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, both of which led to Cats’ TDs. And after dazzling for 106 rushing yards and a career-high three scores against the then-No. 7 Utes, including a 45-yard scoring dash, “AR” ran just six times for four yards against a UK defense that held UF to just 279 total yards and four of 16 third-down conversions.
“We made mistakes tonight. Anthony made mistakes. I made mistakes,” Florida coach Billy Napier said after suffering his first loss on the Gators’ sideline. “That’s the beautiful thing about the game of football. It requires hundreds of people to have success, but hundreds of people contribute when you don’t maybe get the result that you want. I think sometimes the quarterback position, you get that spotlight put on you. Reality is there’s things around you that can be done that…
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