Quinn Ewers threw for 333 yards and five touchdowns as No. 5 Texas easily defeated struggling Florida 49-17 on Saturday. This victory came just two days after Florida’s third-year head coach, Billy Napier, received a public vote of confidence from the school’s athletic director.
Ewers connected on touchdown passes to Matthew Golden and Gunnar Helm in the first quarter. Then, Quintrevion Wisner caught a screen pass and ran it 50 yards for a score. Ewers hit Golden again for a 32-yard touchdown in the second quarter, giving Texas a 35-0 lead by halftime.
Texas (8-1, 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference, No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings) had struggled offensively in recent weeks, but Coach Steve Sarkisian’s team exploded against the Gators. The Longhorns had 12 plays that gained more than 20 yards.
“The explosiveness of the offense showed back up today,” Sarkisian said.
Wide receiver Isaiah Bond returned to action after missing a game with an ankle injury. He had a 44-yard run on a misdirection play and caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Ewers. “We want people to feel our speed. We want people to fear our speed,” Sarkisian said.
Ewers’ performance could have been even better if a few deep passes hadn’t been dropped by his receivers. He was replaced by Arch Manning in the third quarter after throwing his fifth touchdown pass.
The five touchdown passes were a career-high for Ewers, just one short of the school record. The big numbers came on a short afternoon, giving a boost to a quarterback who had been briefly benched in a loss to Georgia and who has been dealing with an abdominal injury.
“Who wouldn’t be confident after that performance by the whole offense?” Ewers said. “I’m just trying to get the ball in the playmakers’ hands, and they make all the plays.”
Florida (4-5, 2-4) started Aidan Warner, a transfer from Yale, at quarterback because freshman DJ Lagway is still recovering from a hamstring injury. Warner, who was the third-string quarterback at the start of the season, went 12 of 25 passing for 132 yards and two interceptions.
“It got out of hand in the first half. You looked up and the game was over,” said Florida coach Billy Napier. “Aidan fought his tail off out there today. … 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.”
