The quarterbacking wasn’t very good.
The placekicking was worse.
But the defense was pretty good, and for the University of Florida, that was enough. Barely.
The Gators held on to beat Florida Atlantic, 20-14 in overtime, on an unsatisfying afternoon in Gainesville Saturday. Florida, which had its second straight poor afternoon offensively, won the game when Treon Harris found tight end Jake McGee for a touchdown in overtime.
But it was a rare bright spot for Florida on Saturday, who struggled against an FAU team that had lost eight games while playing inferior competition. Harris hit only eight of 17 passes for 122 yards with an interception and a fumble that the Owls recovered for a touchdown.
And placekicker Austin Hardin, whose field goal provided a win at Vandy two weeks ago, missed two short field goals and had his extra point in overtime blocked.
That left the deficit at six, a winnable margin for the Owls. But with first and goal from the Florida nine, the Gators’ defense stood up and forced three straight incompletions by Jaquez Johnson at the end.
The Gators had taken a 14-0 lead in the third period, but the Owls got back in the game on a touchdown reception by Kalib Woods and a sack-fumble recovered by Ocie Rose.
Florida coach Jim McElwain became the first Florida coach to win 10 games in his first season, although the Gators have scored only 53 points the three weeks.
For the Gators, the feeling was that of dodging a bullet going into next week’s game against FSU and then an SEC title game against Alabama.
FSU 52, Chattanooga 13: They started slowly, but the Seminoles pulled away from UT-Chattanooga for a decisive victory.
The Seminoles improved their record to 9-2 with their big win. Newly named starting quarterback Sean Maguire threw for two touchdowns, and running back Dalvin Cook ran for 106 and two more touchdowns. Backup running back Jacques Patrick had two touchdown, and receiver Kermit Whitfield caught five passes for two more scores.
FSU scored 17 in the second period and another 21 in the third to build its big lead.
In all, FSU had 421 yards of offense.
It was a battle between divisions. Florida State is ranked 14th in the FBS, while Chattanooga is No. 8 in the FCS.
The Seminoles visits the Florida Gators Saturday night.
Miami 38, Georgia Tech 21: Brad Kaaya threw for 300 yards, and the Hurricanes got off to a great start in their victory over Tech.
The Hurricanes ran their record to 7-4 as Kaaya hit 16 of 25 for 300 yards and a touchdown. Georgia Tech, predictably, ran for 314 yards, but they passed for only 58. The Yellow Jackets trailed 24-7 at the half and 38-14 until the final minute of the game.
Mark Walton ran for two scores and Joe Yearby for one for the Hurricanes.
Miami closes out its regular season at Pitt Friday at noon.
Western Kentucky 63, FIU 7: The Panthers, a game shy of being bowl eligible, were overwhelmed by the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Saturday.
It was 21-0 after a quarter, 35-0 at the half and 56-0 after three quarters. It ran the Western record to 8-2.
Quarterback Brandon Doughty threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns for Western. FIU quarterback Alex McGough, however, was held to 95 yards through the air.
For the Hilltoppers, Anthony Wales had 110 yards rushing and Taywan Taylor had 100 yards receiving. Western outgained FIU 477 yards to 158.
FIU ends its season with a 5-7 record.
