Dazed And Confused: That's How The Gators Played Against Texas.

Aidan Warner hands off to Ja'Kobi Jackson. (UAA photo)

Lagway suited up for warmups and did his best to go, but after watching him pregame, the decision was made to sit him.

Dazed and confused. That’s how Florida’s version of the Wounded Warrior Project looked at halftime Saturday in Austin. With Matthew McConaghey, one of the stars of the 1993 film “Dazed and Confused” and a University of Texas alum on the sidelines, it seemed that everything the 5th-ranked Longhorns tried worked and everything unranked Florida tried failed. It was 35-0 at the half and probably could have been worse.

Even with a two-deep decimated by key injuries the only way to describe what happened at Darrel K. Royal Stadium is a debacle. The Gators not only looked dazed and confused, they played that way. Puzzling. Seriously puzzling. Where was the resistance?

Among those on the missing in action list were quarterback DJ Lagway, wide receivers Elijhah Badger and Tre Wilson, right guard Damieon George Jr., backup tackle Devon Manuel and corners Jason Marshall Jr., Devin Moore and Ja’Keem Jackson. Many others who played weren’t 100 percent.

The one that hurt most was Lagway, who lit up Kentucky three weeks ago and had Georgia on the ropes when he injured his hamstring last Saturday. Withy Lagway the threat of the deep ball is always there, so opposing safeties have to honor the possibility.

Lagway suited up for warmups and did his best to go, but after watching him pregame the decision was made to sit him. Immediately, Florida’s offensive possibilities nosedived. The game hadn’t even begun and the Gators’ chances were dazed and confused.   

“I do think that he probably felt as good as he's felt since the injury today pregame,” Florida coach Billy Napier said. “That's kind of what he voiced to me. But not quite ready. I think there was risk with putting him out there with a soft tissue injury. All of the metrics said he's not quite ready to do it but we're hopeful. He's made some progress and we'll get a good feel for it early next week."

With Lagway relegated to sideline cheerleader, walk-on Yale transfer Aidan Warner got his first start since he played high school ball in Winter Park. Warner played better than he did a week ago when he came into the Georgia game cold, but for Florida to have a chance, the Gators would have had to match the Texas offense touchdown-for-touchdown, which meant Warner had to heat up the offense.

It didn’t happen.

For most of the first half, Warner was deer in the headlights. He completed 7x12 passes for 64 yards but had one pass picked off which Texas converted into a touchdown. He was actually better in the second half because he played with more poise but the numbers were similar -- 5x13 passing for 68 yards with his second interception. Just like the first pick, this one was converted into a Texas touchdown that made the score 42-0.

At that point Warner led the Gators on a 15-play, 70-yard drive that culminated in a field goal, thus keeping the streak alive. The Gators haven’t been shut out since 1988. It’s the longest streak of avoiding shutouts in NCAA history. Warner went on to lead the Gators on a 9-play, 56-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter Warner led the Gators on a drive that resulted in a field goal and a 9-play, 56-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Warner and the Gators drove 67 yards in seven plays for a TD.

Napier found it difficult to point fingers of blame at his quarterback. Warner was the third string quarterback when Graham Mertz tore an ACL at Tennessee a month ago. He didn’t start taking reps with the starters until this past week.

“Obviously, Aidan fought his tail off out there today,” Napier said. “Some good things for a guy making his first start against a really good defense, one of the better defenses in the country. Good to see him move the team a little bit in the second half, but again, we rushed the ball but in general, we had no continuity.

“You go into the game understanding that you're playing with your third quarterback and you know you have to defend them and we did not do that. I think we lost a little bit of our steam there because of that. Just in general, not good enough. Period.”

The problem with a Warner-led offense had plenty to do with experience but there was also the problem of arm strength. There isn’t a throw Lagway can’t make. Warner is no threat to go over the top or throw it on a rope to complete a 15-yard out pattern.

Toss in the absence of Badger, second in the nation in yards per catch, and the Texas defense could play the safeties within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

The only thing that kept the outcome from getting further out of hand was a running game that pounded out 123 second half yards, somewhat of a surprise since Texas came into the game allowing only 105.5 yards per game and 3.14 per carry. For the game, the Gators ran for 197 yards, averaging 4.8 per carry. A week ago against Georgia they averaged only 3.03 yards per carry.

Ja’Kobi Jackson had his best game as a Gator, running for 116 yards, scoring on a 7-yard run in the fourth quarter. Jadan Baugh ran for 88, scoring on a 2-yard run in the third quarter. Without them, the final score would have been much, much worse.

By the time the Gators figured out they could consistently run the ball on the Longhorns with any measure of consistency, the game was out of hand. On the field goal drive, which covered 70 yards on 15 plays, Baugh carried five times for 27 yards and caught a pass for seven. Jackson carried four times for 21.

On Florida’s first touchdown drive, Jackson carried five times for 27 yards with Baugh getting the last four including the TD on two carries. On that drive, Warner was 2-2 throwing the ball for 25 yards.

In the fourth quarter, Jackson, Warner and Chimere Dike accounted for all the yards. Jackson carried four times for 31 yards, scoring on a 7-yard run. Warner completed two passes in three attempts, both to Dike for 36 yards. Dike finished his night with five catches for 95 yards.

From an offensive standpoint, Florida’s first half left plenty to be desired. The Gators managed only 138 yards (Texas had 353) in the first half. In the second half once they got the running game established, the Gators had a much more respectable 191 yards to finish the game with 329. This was the first game all season in which Texas allowed more than 294 yards.

The offense at least found some footing in the second half. The defense struggled bell-to-bell. Some of that had to do with the injuries, but this proved to be Florida’s worst tackling and coverage game since the blowout loss to Texas A&M. Against Florida’s patchwork secondary, Quinn Ewers completed 19 of 27 passes for 333 yards and

Defensively is where the injuries took their biggest toll on the Gators. Texas QB Quinn Ewers took advantage of Florida’s patchwork secondary, completing 19-27 passes for 333 yards (12.33 per attempt) and five touchdowns. Poor coverage, poor tackling, no pass rush overshadowed good efforts from some guys in the secondary.

“Let me tell you something, I appreciate the toughness,” Napier said. “DD, Cormani, Trikweze ... they played today through some things, but just in general I didn't think we covered well, and again, the rush is not landing. The loose plays, the perimeter tackling, we didn't play the perimeter plays well at all -- and obviously that's the secondary.”

The Gators managed only one sack and were credited with only one quarterback pressure.

The Texas passing game opened up running lanes. Only once all year have the Gators done a good job of stuffing the run (UCF), but Texas (210 yards) had the best day running the ball against UF since the Mississippi State game. Gainesville native Jerrick Gibson led Texas with 100 yards and a TD.

Florida’s defense, which had shown marked improvement since the Mississippi State game, took two very big steps backward Saturday. Now, even if the defense had played with above average effort, this was a game that Florida probably couldn’t  have won.

The reasons were numerous.

"I didn't think we tackled well,” Napier said. “I didn't think we played the perimeter plays well, and I don't think when it was pocket-pass, we're not landing. We didn't affect the quarterback. That's one of the things we've been doing well. We've been affecting the quarterback, and the rush and coverage have been working well together. We did not do that well today. That paired with some of the tackling and the way we played on the perimeter, that's when you look up and it's 10 yards a play in the first half.”

Injuries had something to do with the way the Gators played against Texas. This was like showing up for a gun fight with a pocket knife. The personnel differential was that great.

Even so, Florida could have compensated but instead of a consistent effort the Gators spent far too much of the game playing like they were dazed and confused. You don’t win games like that in the Southeastern Conference.