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Florida Gators vs. Florida State Seminoles: Noles Get Defensive, Use 4 Turnovers to Whip Gators 21-7

The Gators and Noles renew their grudge match in Gainesville on Saturday.

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11 Total Updates since November 21, 2011
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Florida-Florida State: Noles Use 4 Turnovers to Whip the Gators 21-7

The Florida State Seminoles won their second straight victory against arch rival Florida. The Noles put together a dominant defensive performance, forcing four Gator turnovers and holding the Florida offense to just 184 yards of total offense.

The Seminoles didn’t do much offensively, either. FSU was held to just 95 yards of total offense. EJ Manuel finished 6-of-13 for 65 yards and was sacked 4 times.

Devonta Freeman scored twice and had 44 yards on 15 carries.

FSU DB Terrance Parks put the game away midway through the 4th quarter with a 29 yard interception return for a touchdown.

Florida avoided a shutout by forcing a fumble deep in FSU territory. Freshman QB Jacoby Brissett hit Quinton Dunbar in the back of the endzone for a 6 yard score to avoid a shut out.

Florida Senior QB John Brantley completed his tough final campaign in Gainesville by tossing three interceptions and getting knocked out on the final drive of the first half.

Brantley finished 9-of-15 for 104 yards and the 3 picks. Brissett didn’t fare much better, getting sacked twice while going 4 of 13 for 27 yds, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

The Florida running game was grounded as well, held to just 54 yards, 42 of those by Chris Rainey.

The victory was the second straight for FSU over the Gators.

The Noles wrap up the regular season at 8-4. Florida is bowl eligible despite their 6-6 finish.

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Gators-Seminoles: Gators Avoid Shut out with a Touchdown

Florida avoided an embarrassing shut out on their home field thanks to a fumble by FSU running back Jermaine Thomas forced by LB Michael Taylor. The fumble was recovered by Jaye Howard who returned it to the Noles 27.

Two plays later, Jacoby Brisset connected with Quinton Dunbar in the back of the end zone for a 6 yard score to make it 21-7 with 3:21 left in the ball game.

Florida hasn’t been shut out in Gainesville since the 1980’s.

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Gators-Seminoles: Parks Interception Puts FSU Up 21-0

Florida QB Jacoby Brissett made a freshman mistake as he scrambled and threw a pass up for grabs. Instead of finding a receiver or a sideline, he found FSU defensive back Terrance Parks who intercepted the pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown putting the Seminoles up 21-0.

The only question now is can the Seminoles hold on to the shutout in Gainesville. There’s 10:51 left to play.

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Gators-Seminoles: FSU Playing Field Position as They Cling to 14-0 Edge After 3 Quarters

With little offense to speak of on either side, Florida State was content with playing field position and keeping the Gators at bay.

The Noles have been able to pin the Gators deep in their own side of the field and are playing eight men in the box to bottle up the Florida rushing attack.

Gator Freshman QB Jacoby Brissett hasn’t been able to sustain any drives for Florida thus far as the Gators haven’t crossed the 50 in the third quarter.

FSU got a superb return by Greg Reid deep in to Florida territory but the man with the golden shoes Dustin Hopkins missed a 50 yard field goal.

FSU is still under 100 yards of total offense for the game (77 yards) as the three Gator turnovers are basically the difference in the game.

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Gators-Seminoles: FSU leads 14-0 at Half, Gators' QB Brantley Knocked Out

It’s been a rough senior night for Florida quarterback John Brantley. Two of his three first half interceptions set up rival Florida State in point blank range leading to the Noles’ 14-0 lead.

Then, on the final drive of the first half, Brantley was sandwiched between two FSU defenders and took a blow to the head. He appeared woozy and was taken immediately to the locker room.

Its likely, Brantley’s night is done, leaving Florida with two freshman quarterbacks to try to bring the Gators back. He finished 9-of15 for 104 yards and 3 interceptions.

FSU has 39 yards of total offense but took advantage of the Gator turnovers, converting with two Devonta Freeman 1 yard touchdowns.

EJ Manuel was 3-of-5 for 40 yards and has been sacked 3 times.

Florida’s usually anemic offense has put up 140 yards. The Gators twice drove deep into FSU territory – the first drive ended with a Brantley interception while the second ended at the Florida State 15 yard line as the Gators were denied on 4th and 1.

Coach Will Muschamp said at half-time, “We’ll take a look at him (Brantley) during the half but it looks like our two young freshman quarterbacks who we like a lot and think will do great things here at Florida will play in the 2nd half.”

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Gators-Seminoles: Florida Turnovers Killing the Gators, FSU Up 14-0

Florida State has score 14 points off turnovers as they opened the second quarter with a second one yard Devonta Freeman score to take a 14-0 lead with 14:24 left in the first half.

The second Seminoles touchdown was set up by a terrible John Brantley pass, where deep in FSU territory, Brantley attempted to throw across his body and hit a receiver on the far side of the field.

The pass was thrown into quadruple coverage (yes, you read that right – quadruple coverage) and intercepted by Mike Harris and returned 89 yards to the Florida 4 yard line.

Three plays later, Freeman went in again.

On the next drive, Brantley threw his third interception of the game, giving FSU the football at the 48 yard line. It was Greg Reid’s second of the game.

FSU leads 14-0 with 12:57 left in the first half..

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Noles take advantage of a turnover, lead7-0 lead on Gators

FSU opened the scoring in Gainesville with a Devonta Freeman one yard touchdown run,. The score was set up by an interception by DB Greg Reid at the Florida 32 yard line. He would return it 12 yards to the Gators’ 20. The Gators held FSU on 3rd and goal by forcing a fumble at the one yard line by EJ Manuel. Manuel recovered the fumble but a personal foul penalty on the Gators’ Robert Powell extended the drive for the Noles.

One play later, Freeman dove into the endzone for a score.

The scoring drive went 20 yards on 7 plays in 2:46.

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Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.