Florida Football finally gave its home crowd something to cheer about early in the game, scoring a touchdown on its first drive against the UCF Knights on Saturday night. Graham Mertz's 13-yard touchdown pass to Elijhah Badger marked the first lead Florida had at home against a Power Four opponent in 2024. It was also Florida's first opening drive touchdown since November 18, 2023 against Missouri. A real breath of fresh air for Gator Nation. The Gators maintained the lead the rest of the game thanks to a dominant defensive performance, defeating UCF 24-13.

“I think today was the result of a lot of hard work over the last two weeks,” head coach Billy Napier said after the game. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress on the opening date. I can't praise the players and staff enough for their attitude to the work we've done over the last two weeks and then I thought it would carry over.”

With co-defensive coordinator Ron Roberts in the locker room for the second straight game, Florida held UCF to just 273 yards of offense and didn't allow a touchdown until 7:50 left in the fourth quarter. The Gators recorded a season-high five sacks in Week 6 and dominated a UCF offensive line that struggled to win blitzes for four quarters.

The Gators stopped UCF's second-ranked rushing attack as best they could, holding the Knights to 108 rushing yards on 40 attempts, an average of 2.7 yards per carry. 108 yards is the third-highest rush total UCF has achieved under Gus Malzahn. Florida held star running back RJ Harvey to 75 yards and 4.7 yards per carry, both season lows for the senior.

“I think we played with better gap integrity. I think we got it right from the start. I thought we did it. “There were a lot more chases, huddles and setbacks,” Napier said of the run defense. “I think we are on the same page and ultimately we played well at all three levels. I think that's what you have to do if you want to play good run defense. We are on the verge of playing even better. There are a handful of plays that cause the ball to roll off the table or contain breaks. We definitely could have played better.”

One of the key factors in the game was Florida's redzone defense. After scoring a touchdown to open the game, the Gators were able to hold UCF to a field goal according to the Knights' opening script. Early in the second half, UCF had the ball for over eight minutes but only scored three points, which was a huge win for a Florida team that had a three-touchdown lead.

Florida also came away with two fourth down stops in the first half, helping the Gators to a 24-3 lead at halftime.

The Gators failed offensively in the second half and were unable to score another point in the final 30 minutes. However, UCF's offense couldn't find any rhythm in the passing game and had several uninspired attacks that took up way too much time. Florida's big halftime lead forced the Knights into a style of offense they couldn't execute efficiently, and the Gators' defense took advantage.

Florida improved to 3-2 (1-1 SEC) after defeating UCF in week six. The Gators will face Tennessee next week in Knoxville.