WATCH: Florida Gators crowd rocks Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
College football is back and no place was that more evident than in front of a packed crowd Gainesville for the Florida Gators season opener. Fans filled Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as Florida kicked off against Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
A tweet from ESPN’s Cole Cubelic shows the crowd singing Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” in what has become a Gator tradition. It’s enough to give any college football fans chills.
Coming off of a season in which fans were either not allowed or limited in stadiums, this return to normal was a welcome sight. The Gators defeated the Owls 35-14 to open their season 1-0.
Quarterback Anthony Richards rushed for 160 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown run. Running back Malik Davis added 104 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
New starting quarterback Emory Jones threw two interceptions in his first game replacing Kyle Trask and finished with only 113 yards. Jones threw his first touchdown pass of the season near the end of the first quarter on a 9-yard pass to Rick Wells. Overall, it was a rather underwhelming debut.
The game was never really in doubt, as the Gators led 28-0 late in the fourth quarter. The defense was stifling all afternoon on its way to recovering a pair of fumbles.
Florida was picked to finish second in the SEC East behind Georgia in the preseason media poll. They are currently No. 13 in the AP poll. In addition to Trask, they are also replacing tight end Kyle Pitts.
As rowdy as Gators fans got on opening night, that could only be the beginning. Florida has a road game at South Florida this week before coming back home to face No. 1 Alabama, which obliterated Miami 44-13 this past week.
Expect the crowd to be electric in the swamp for that one as the Florida Gators kick off SEC play with their most difficult conference opponent.