An emotional Senior Day for Florida football in its home finale at The Swamp included hugs, tears — and a win.
The Florida Gators (6-5, 4-4 SEC) needed a sharp game in all three phases to pull off a 24-17 upset of No. 9 Ole Miss before a sellout crowd of 89,942.
“Our fans were incredible, played a major role in the game,” Florida football coach Billy Napier said. “Just to see them rally behind our team and players, and certainly for me, our seniors. I think this group — I told them in there just now, leadership is really hard. It requires a lot from you. I think these guys have stepped up in a major way.”
Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3 SEC) outgained Florida 464-344 in yards, but UF’s defense held the Rebels scoreless in three red zone trips. Sophomore Florida safety Bryce Thornton came up with pair of fourth quarter interceptions. DJ Douglas also recovered a muffed punt for UF in the third quarter, which led to a Trey Smack 53-yard field goal that put UF up 17-14 in the third quarter.
“Special teams, offense and defense, everybody just came to play, and it was a great team win,” Florida quarterback DJ Lagway said. “Everybody did their job, and it was just amazing.”
Here are three things learned from UF’s upset win over Ole Miss:
Florida football QB DJ Lagway is looking healthier
The 6-foot-3, 239-pound Lagway completed 10 of 17 passes for 180 yards with 2 TDs and 1 interceptions. He also used his legs more, scrambling five times for 12 yards in his second game back from a hamstring injury. Lagway didn’t try to scamble at all last week against LSU.
“I’m feeling better each week,” Lagway said. “I didn’t have any set backs during the game, so I’m just continuing to get better and continuing the recovery process.”
Lagway finished with -9 yards rushing because he was sacked three times, but was able to get up from all sacks. He also made some big throws with defenders draped on him in the first half, including a 27-yard catch-and-run play by Elijhah Badger that helped set up UF’s second touchdown.
“The good Lord blessed DJ Lagway,” Napier said. “It pays off to be 6’3¼”, 240 pounds. Yeah, those were phenomenal plays. Guys are draped all over him, he finds a guy, keeps his eyes downfield.
Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks is emerging as a pass rush threat
The 6-foo-6, 325-pound Banks, a transfer from Louisville, finished with 2.5 sacks against Ole Miss and has 3.5 sacks over this last two games.
As a team, Florida has posted 11 sacks over its last two games. Florida defensive lineman Cam Jackson, a fellow transfer from Memphis, said the two have been pushing each other since they arrived on campus in 2023.
“Me and Caleb, like I said, we’re always competing with each other,” Jackson said. “So, like, we’ll be on the sideline, like, I tell him, I’m about to go get a sack. He’ll tell me he’s going to get a sack. Just competing with each other and just pushing each other to that limit. It’s great playing beside Caleb.”
Florida football is building more chemistry, camaraderie
With back-to-back wins over No. 22 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss, the chemistry that Florida has built off the field is starting to yield results on it. Napier said it’s getting to the point where UF’s upperclassmen are starting to serve as positive mentors for its underclassmen.
“You get it rolling is when the veteran players are establishing expectations and standards and young players show up, they get in line and they do what they see being done,” Napier said. “Until you get to that place, you haven’t established anything, and I think this year was the first time I could say with conviction that we’ve established that.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: What Florida football learned from Ole Miss win
