Surging No. 21 Florida hammers No. 4 Ole Miss as favorite — SkimNews
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- No. 21 Florida crushed No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28 in Gainesville on Saturday, leading from start to finish as 3½-point favorites to reach 4-0 for the first time since 2019 and tie the program's most points against a top-five team since the 1996 national championship.
- Jadan Baugh ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns while Duke Clark added 126 yards and a score, powering a Florida ground game that finished with 302 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
- Jon Sumrall became the first coach in SEC history to lead his team to 200 or more points in his first four games, per the article, after the Gators scored touchdowns on five consecutive second-half drives to pull away.
- Baugh joined Emmitt Smith (1987-88) and Fred Taylor (1997) as the third player in Florida history to top 100 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
- Trinidad Chambliss, the Heisman Trophy front-runner, threw for 298 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 44 yards and two scores, but injured his left thigh on Ole Miss's second series and was seen using an exercise bike between drives.
- Clark's 45-yard TD run early in the third quarter — in which he juked cornerback Antonio Kite and former Florida safety Sharif Denson — was the turning point, set up by London Montgomery's 74-yard kickoff return.
- Ole Miss fell to 3-1 a week after spoiling former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin's LSU return, with coach Pete Golding calling the loss "an old-fashioned butt whooping."
Why it matters: Florida's first 4-0 start since 2019 and Sumrall's SEC-record 200-plus points in four games mark a sharp reversal for a program the new coach described as a sleeping giant. Ole Miss drops to 3-1 and likely loses its top-four grip after Heisman frontrunner Chambliss gutted out 298 passing yards on a left thigh injury, raising questions about how far the Rebels can go if he's limited.
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