• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Florida scores early, often in rout of The Citadel

Nov 23, 2008 - 1:27 AM GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Florida has been blowing out teams in the Southeastern Conference, so it was hardly surprising that the third-ranked Gators crushed an overmatched opponent from the Football Championship Subdivision.

Tim Tebow passed for 201 yards and three touchdowns in just two quarters as Florida drubbed The Citadel, 70-19, Saturday for its 10th win of the season.

The Gators (10-1) complete their regular season next week against Florida State, then meet top-ranked Alabama in the SEC title game on December 6.

Saturday's contest turned into a glorified scrimmage, as the Gators scored early and often. They reached the end zone on their first seven possessions, building a 42-0 lead with still more than nine minutes remaining in the first half.

Florida surpassed 700 yards in total offense for only the third time in school history and became the first team since the inception of the SEC to score at least 42 points in six straight games.

Florida coach Urban Meyer, who is known for keeping his starters in games to run up the score, substituted liberally in the second half.

"I tried to get the seniors as involved in this game as possible," Meyer said. "Just because you're a senior doesn't entitle you to that, but they deserve it. The crowd was fantastic in supporting this senior class."

The turning point may have been when the teams came out of the tunnel for pre-game warmups. Florida cornerback Janoris Jenkins intercepted Bart Blanchard on the game's opening possession, and it was all downhill for the Bulldogs from there.

"Obviously, it's a great football team that we were playing against," The Citadel coach Kevin Higginas said. "I thought our guys could have played better, we dropped some balls, we didn't tackle as well we should have. But a lot of that is because of who we were playing, a great football team."

Tebow completed 9-of-11 passes before watching the second half from the bench. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner started the rout with a 16-yard TD strike to Louis Murphy 4 1/2 minutes into the game.

Tebow also threw TD passes of 43 yards to Riley Cooper and 31 yards to Deonte Thompson.

Chris Rainey (seven carries for a career-high 142 yards) and Emmanuel Moody (13 attempts for 116 yards) each rushed for more than 100 yards and scored touchdowns for the Gators.

Florida amassed 512 yards in the first half before finishing with 706 - not too far off the school record of 774 set against West Texas State in 1982.

Florida, which led, 49-6, at the half, had a chance to score again late in the second quarter, but time expired with the Gators inside The Citadel's 10-yard line.

It was the only time Florida did not reach the end zone until punting midway through the fourth quarter. The Gators scored touchdowns on 10 of their first 11 possessions.

Florida extended its winning streak to seven games during which it has outscored opponents by an average margin of 52.7-11.7.

The Citadel (4-8) finally got on the board on Scott Flanagan's 29-yard TD pass to Cam Turner after Florida had opened a 42-0 lead.

Florida running back Percy Harvin scored on an 11-yard run in the second quarter, extending his streak to 13 games with at least one touchdown.

"He is one of the top two or three players in the nation," Meyer said. "There are things that I've seen him do that I've never seen anyone else do. The next two weeks will be huge for him."

Florida finished with 394 yards on the ground.