The Tulane football team (9-5) lost the program’s third straight game in falling 33-8 to Florida (8-5) at the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
The Tulane offense was limited to 194 yards in the game with 125 through the air and 69 on the ground. The team also went 3-for-13 on third downs. The Florida offense put up 529 total yards with 305 passing and 224 on the ground.
Ty Thompson went 11-for-29 for 125 yards and a passing touchdown. He also ran for 17 yards. Makhi Hughes led the team with his eight carries for 29 yards on the ground. Mario Williams led the receiving efforts with six catches for 91 yards. He also went over 1000 yards on the season with his fourth quarter reception. Alex Bauman totaled two catches for 17 yards. Dontae Fleming had a catch for 13 yards.
Tyler Grubbs led the defense with eight tackles. Dickson Agu picked up seven tackles, a stop for loss and an interception. Jalen Geiger and Sam Howard both totaled six tackles. Adin Huntington registered the team’s sack. Kevin Adam III also had an interception for the Tulane defense.
Tulane scored its only touchdown of the game as Williams hauled in a 16-yard pass from Thompson with 29 seconds remaining in the game to make the final score 33-8 after the two-point conversion to Zycarl Lewis Jr.
The Gators scored first on the 34-yard field goal from Trey Smack to complete a nine play, 61-yard drive to put Florida up 3-0 with 7:48 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Tulane defense picked off the Florida quarterback on the ensuing drive as Kevin Adams III put the offense in a prime position, but the 35-yard field goal was missed to keep the score at 3-0 early in the second quarter.
Florida made it a 6-0 as Smack knocked in his second field goal attempt of the game, this one from 44-yards out, with 9:12 remaining in the opening half.
The Tulane defense continued to step up and forced their second turnover of the half as Dickson Agu intercepted a pass at the goal line with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
Florida’s Smack knocked in his third field goal of the game, this one from 24-yards out, to put the Gators up 9-0 with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
The Gators scored the game’s first touchdown as DJ Lagway connected with Tony Livingston on a seven-yard score to go up 16-0 with 4:03 remaining in the third quarter.
Florida’s Smack made it four field goals as he knocked in a 30-yard field goal to put the Gators up 19-0 with 13:03 left in the game.
The Gators scored their second touchdown of the game as KD Daniels recovered an offensive fumble and ran 27-yards for a score to put Florida up 26-0 with 6:29 remaining.
Florida added a late rushing touchdown to put the score at 33-0 with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
