Florida Football: Gators keep Seminoles out of first bowl in 36 years

Florida football took down rival Florida State on Saturday. With their seventh loss of the season, a 36-year streak of bowl eligibility ends for the Seminoles.

Against the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon, Florida State needed a victory to get to six wins and keep their 36-year streak of bowl appearances alive for another year. The hosts were able to keep things close, but ultimately the Seminoles will be home for their first postseason under new head coach Willie Taggart after a 41-14 loss to the rival Gators to end the regular season.

Feleipe Franks showed his dual-threat skills for the Gators on Saturday. The quarterback threw for 254 yards and three scores on 16-of-26 passing. He added another 46 yards on the ground on 12 rushing attempts. It was one of the most complete performance for Franks against an FBS opponent this season.

Franks benefitted from the contribution of Lamical Perine on the ground. The backfield star went off for 129 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Jordan Scarlett added another 88 yards and a score on 20 carries as Florida finished with a net total of 282 yards on the ground against their rival.

Florida State was not nearly as lucky on offense, as the Gators defense held the Seminoles under 300 total yards for the day. Deondre Francois struggled at quarterback for Florida State, finishing the day with only 154 yards in the air on 14-of-29 passing. Francois did throw a touchdown pass and run in another for a score, but he also tossed a pair of costly interceptions and gave up a fumble on a fourth-quarter sack.

With the loss, Florida State has no chance left to get to the postseason for the 37th straight season. The nation’s longest bowl streak now falls to Virginia Tech, which has to win on December 1 against Marshall in a game that will make up the September showdown against East Carolina that was cancelled due to Hurricane Florence.

Florida, meanwhile, kept alive a shot at reaching 10 wins in their first season under new head coach Dan Mullen. The former Mississippi State coach might also have kept the Gators in the running for an at-large spot in one of the New Year’s Six bowl games after wrapping up a 9-3 regular season.