Florida 52, Eastern Washington 17: Gators take it easy in breezy win over Eagles

Oct 2, 2022 - 7:39 PM

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All you really need to know is that Florida was up 45-3 on Eastern Washington at one point.

It was that kind of nearly flawless day for the Gators.

Apart from a pair of late touchdowns that narrowed the final margin to 52-17 in Florida’s favor and a handful of seemingly minor injuries, this was the sort of easy, dominant win that had eluded Billy Napier’s program thus far in 2022.

Anthony Richardson — who picked up one of those nicks, appearing to sustain some kind of injury to his right ankle early in the second quarter, but returned to the game with his ankle wrapped — made his own brand of dominance look great, flicking a perfect 75-yard touchdown pass to Justin Shorter on the Gators’ first offensive snap and turning a rollout into an east-to-west scramble for 45 yards on the next one.

About everything went right for Richardson until the first play of the second half, on which he badly underthrew Xzavier Henderson for his fifth interception of the season. But the sophomore finished his day with 240 passing yards and made a fine recovery from that error, leading a touchdown drive that put Florida up 42-3.

And his backup was part of the supporting cast that didn’t look too shabby, either.

Jalen Kitna threw for 152 yards and a touchdown pass — on a beautiful throw to freshman Caleb Douglas — in relief of Richardson, helping Florida threaten 400 yards through the air one week after Richardson got there by himself. And seven different Gators scored touchdowns, with Shorter and Douglas getting the long six-pointers through the air and receiver Ricky Pearsall getting a 76-yard rush on an end-around.

Florida’s 666 yards of total offense was tied for seventh in program history, and while EWU piled up 411 yards of its own — and scored first, taking a short-lived 3-0 lead after a fine first drive in The Swamp — the Gators also efficiently turned that yardage into points, while stopping a handful of Eagles drives short on fourth down and after substantial movement.

It probably won’t be this easy, or this fun, next week against Missouri, which spent Saturday night giving Georgia a scare in Columbia. But it was good that the Gators got this.