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Happy New Year, Gators fans!
Here’s hoping we’ll have more wins in 2023...
⚖️ Finally — pair of CFP semis weren’t lopsided!
And hopefully some of you are enjoying the bowl games today... We certainly had an interesting slate over the New Year’s weekend with both College Football Playoff matchups turning into close games for the first time in the CFP era.
In the first semifinal, quarterback Max Duggan accounted for four touchdowns, TCU returned two interceptions for scores and the third-ranked Horned Frogs withstood a frenetic second-half surge by No. 2 Michigan to win the Fiesta Bowl 51-45 and advance to the national championship.
Now, we’ll be cheering for the Horned Frogs to upset another team — this one our rival Georgia from repeating as national champ.
Stetson Bennett capped the top-ranked Bulldogs’ comeback from a two-touchdown, fourth-quarter deficit with a 10-yard, last-minute scoring pass to Adonai Mitchell in a 42-41 victory over No. 4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl. Just after midnight on New Year’s, Noah Ruggles’ 50-yard field goal attempt for the Buckeyes with three seconds remaining sailed wide left, setting off a celebration on the Georgia sideline.
GAME RECAPS: No. 3 TCU upsets No. 2 Michigan 51-45 in wild CFP semifinal | No. 1 Georgia rallies to beat No. 4 Ohio State 42-41 in semi
The most competitive pair of semifinals in the nine-year history of the CFP drew the largest non-New Year’s Day viewership for those games on ESPN, with an average of 21.7 million viewers, the network said.
Georgia and TCU will now face off on Jan. 9 in the title game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
RELATED: Defending champion Georgia vs. Cinderella TCU for CFP title | Duggan vs. Bennett: 2 onetime underdogs fight for CFP title
The Bulldogs opened as 13 ½-point favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, in what will be the fifth meeting between the schools.
🐊 Transfer DT commits to Gators
The Gators picked up a big need along the defensive line as Memphis transfer Cam’Ron Jackson pledged to Florida.
The defensive tackle from Haynesville, Louisiana, played in 34 games for the Tigers from 2020 through 2022, totaling 51 tackles, including five tackles for loss, two and a half sacks for loss, a defended pass and a blocked kick.
In 2022 specifically, Jackson appeared in all 12 games for the Tigers, totaling nine tackles, including six solo tackles, as well as two and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks and one quarterback hurry.
Gators Breakdown host David Waters discusses the transfer in the latest podcast episode.
📣 Safety Torrence announces decision to declare for draft
Safety Rashad Torrence II on Thursday announced his decision to enter the 2023 NFL draft.
He posted the announcement on social media:
“First and foremost I want to thank my family for their love, support, and sacrifice. I also want to thank the University of Florida for the amazing experience these past three years. The knowledge gained and lessons learned will last a lifetime.
“To be taught under the tutelage of two great head coaches, (Dan) Mullen and (Billy) Napier, I am forever grateful. My coaches, (Todd) Grantham, (Ron) English, (Wes McGriff) CrimeDawg, and (Patrick) Toney have prepared me for this moment. Last but definitely not least, thank you to the LOYAL gator fans that have supported me from day 1.
“Since I was 6 years old my dream has been to play collegiate football and I can’t think of a better place to play than The Swamp.
“With all things considered, my ultimate goal is to play in the NFL on Sundays. After much prayer and guidance, I’ve decided to forego my senior season, trust God’s plan for my life, and enter the 2023 NFL DRAFT.”
According to All Gators, Torrence is the 10th player to announce their intent to enter the draft following the 2022 regular season.
During the 2022 campaign, he started at safety in 12 games, finishing with a team-leading 84 tackles, including 50 solo tackles, as well as a pass breakup, forced fumble, fumble recovery and quarterback hurry.
During his three years with the Gators as a whole, Torrence, from the Atlanta area, played in 34 games and recorded 196 tackles, including three and a half for loss, three interceptions, six defended passes, a force fumble and two fumble recoveries.
David also talks about Torrence’s decision in the newest episode of Gators Breakdown.
🏀 Florida men’s hoops loses SEC opener
The Gators men’s basketball team fell 61-58 to Auburn on Wednesday night in both teams’ first Southeastern Conference game this season.
Despite Florida (7-6) almost pulling off the big upset, Auburn (11-2) sealed the win with one final defensive play. Tigers forward Chris Moore got a steal in the closing seconds and guard Wendell Green Jr. made a layup at the buzzer to cap Auburn’s victory.
The game featured 12 lead changes and 10 ties, and the Gators held a 27-12 bench-scoring advantage, led by guard Kowacie Reeves with 15 points and guard Myreon Jones with 10.
Forward Colin Castleton had a rare off night, attempting only one field goal in the first half and making his only basket in the opening minute of the second. He finished 1-of-6 shooting for six points, 10 below his season average. He did have eight rebounds and four assists.
“I thought Colin did a really good job just playing within himself,” head coach Todd Golden said. “Obviously they’re loading up on him. Everything they did defensively was to take him away.”
GAME RECAP: Late steal preserves Auburn’s 61-58 win over Florida
The game marked a return to Auburn for Florida’s first-year head coach, who spent 2014 to 2016 on the Plains on the staff of coach Bruce Pearl.
“As we’re getting through Year 1 here with my staff and this program, we’re always going to be more process-oriented than result-oriented. I thought for our group, first time playing in an atmosphere like this, on the road, top-20 team — obviously they’ve had a lot of success in this building over the last six years or so — just incredibly proud of our group,” Golden said.
“We’ve gotten a lot better. We’ve gotten a lot better. If this game was on our schedule a month ago, I don’t know if we could’ve stayed in this game the way we did tonight. We made plenty of mistakes and things we have to correct, but the overall competitiveness, trust, teamwork of our group has gotten really, really good, and I’m really optimistic as we get into this next stretch of our schedule.”
Looking ahead to the schedule for this week, Florida will host Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Wednesday and then Georgia at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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