Florida Sports Wire

  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —  The No. 2-ranked Georgia football came up with several big plays late in the game to knock off Florida, 34-20, on Saturday afternoon at EverBank Stadium, earning its fourth win in a row over the Gators. With the game tied 20-20 with just over four minutes remaining, Georgia quarterback  Carson Beck  connected with wide receiver  Dominic Lovett  for a 10-yard touchdown with 4:01 to play in the game. That was followed soon after by an interception by linebacker  CJ Allen , and running back  Dwight Phillips, Jr.  later scored on a 4-yard run to seal the victory for the Bulldogs (7-2, 5-2 SEC). Georgia now leads the all-time series with Florida 57-44-2, including 50-41-2 in Jacksonville. On Saturday, Georgia, despite three turnovers, out-gained the Gators 455-228, with Beck passing for 309 yards and two touchdowns and running back  Nate Frazier  leading the ground attack with 82 yards and a touchdown. The Bulldog...

(Photo by Nancy Beecher/Florida Sports Wire)   TAMPA (Florida Sports Wire) - Garrett Nussmeier showed why LSU is confident he's capable of thriving as Jayden Daniels' successor. The 13th-ranked Tigers (10-3) launched the team's post-Daniels era with a 35-31, come-from-behind victory over Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Monday, with a calm Nussmeier leading a 98-yard drive to produce the winning touchdown in the closing minutes. "You do what you have to do to win the football game. It doesn't matter if you start from the 1, the 2 ... you just stick to the process play-by-play, move the chains, move the chains and put the ball in the end zone," the third-year sophomore said. "That doesn't just speak to me, it speaks to our entire group," Nussmeier added. "You can't do it by yourself. And to go 98 yards with the game on the line, that means a lot to me. To be the leader of the offense, that matters more." Stepping in to make his f...

 OXFORD, Miss. – The Red team came out triumphant in the annual Grove Bowl presented by Mississippi HomeCare on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Navy team in a last-second comeback victory 53-52 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.  "I thought it was a pretty exciting day, a lot of stuff going on, players making plays that were competitive. We moved the scoreboard there at the end to have some fun, make it a one-score game instead of a two-score game. It was good to see Jaxson and his team go down and I thought that was more important than a two-score game which would've been an irrelevant situation," said head coach Lane Kiffin. "I thought it was pretty neat, a lot of players making plays, some of the same guys you're familiar with."  "A lot of work to do still. I think that the competitive idea of the draft, like we've done many times before, makes it really interesting and makes the players really into it when they pick their own head coaches and all t...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Two Florida men's basketball players earned Southeastern Conference accolades on Monday as graduate forward Colin Castleton was named first-team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team and freshman guard Riley Kugel earned a place on the SEC All-Freshman Team. Castleton led the Gators in scoring (16.0) and rebounding (7.7) while his 3.0 blocked shots per game rank fourth in the nation and are a Florida single-season record. Castleton joined Dorian Finney-Smith as the only transfers to join the 1,000-point club at Florida, and his 1,165 points at UF rank 41st in program history.  His 194 blocked shots are third all-time for the Gators, and his 2.49 blocked shots per game are a program record. Castleton had four straight 20-point games before suffering a broken hand on Feb. 15 vs. Ole Miss that has sidelined him since. Castleton joins rare company in Florida history as a three-time All-SEC honoree becoming the fourth Gator this century, 13th all-time and the first in ...

GAINESVILLE, (Florida Sports Wire) - Colin Castleton was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday after helping the Gators earn a pair of victories last week. Castleton is the first SEC player this century to post 16 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots in a conference game, second to do so in any game (Ben Simmons, 12/2/15 vs. North Florida). Castleton is also the first player nationally to hit all of those marks vs. a D-I opponent in nearly four years (Jordan Murphy, Minnesota, 1/19/19 vs. Penn State) and only the fourth this century to do so against a power-conference opponent. Castleton also scored his 1,000th point as a Gator in the win vs. Missouri, becoming the second transfer in Florida history to reach the milestone (Dorian Finney-Smith) and the 55th overall member of Florida's 1,000-point club. Castleton's six assists and three steals vs. Mizzou both marked career highs, and his 13 rebounds were a season high, as he no...

(SportsDay photo by Nancy DeLander Beecher/Florida Sports Wire ) By Mike Bonts TAMPA (Florida Sports Wire) – Massimo Biscardi kicked the 27-yard winning field goal with four seconds to play as No. 22 Mississippi State rallied for a 19-10 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Illinois Monday before 35,797 at Raymond James Stadium. Mississippi State (10-4) lost their head coach Mike Leach to a heart condition last month. Players, coaches and fans kept his legacy alive throughout the game. Running back Simeon Price broke a season-long 28-yard run to the 2-yard line with 12 seconds to play to set up the winning score. He finished with a career-high 68 rushing yards on seven carries (9.7 average). Marcus Banks sealed the win with a 60-yard fumble return as time was running out. The Bulldogs tied the game on the first play of the final period. Facing a fourth and goal, quarterback Will Rogers threw a an eight-yard pass to Justin Robinson who stayed in bounds in the back of the end zone for the score...

(SportsDay Photo by Nancy Beecher/Florida Sports Wire) By Mike Bonts JACKSONVILLE (Florida Sports Wire) – Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner ran for two touchdowns and threw for three more as the Irish rallied to defeat South Carolina 45-38 before 67,383 in the Gator Bowl Friday. He was named the MVP. The sophomore threw for a career-high 274 yards with 18 completions on 33 attempts and three scores. He also added 61 yards on the ground. Tight end Mitchell Evans caught the winning TD from Buchner with 1:38 to play. The Irish offense ran for 264 yards total. Audric Estime led with 95 yards on 14 attempts. Logan Diggs added 13 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown. Chris Tyree added 21 yards on five rushes. Braden Lenzy added four catches for a game-best 89 yards and a touchdown. Buchner ran for an 11-yard score in the third quarter and 15 yards to tie the game with 5:54 to play in the first quarter. He had two passes returned for touchdowns. Trailing 38-31, O’Donnell Fortune picked off...

TALLAHASSEE (Florida Sports Wire) – Florida State scored 17 unanswered points early in the third quarter to build a 38-24 lead and then held on to beat rival Florida 45-38 Friday night in Doak Campbell Stadium. Trey Benson’s 17-yard touchdown run with 4:06 left in the game broke a 38-38 tie and Florida’s last-minute drive to send the game into overtime died when Anthony Richardson’s pass on fourth and long fell harmlessly into the end zone. While Seminoles quarterback Travis Jordan’s passing numbers were modest, he was nearly unstoppable running the ball. Jordan finished 13 of 30 through the air for 270 yards and a touchdown and gained 83 yards on 15 carries with a pair of touchdowns. FSU’s defense gave up some big plays through the air, but limited UF’s Richardson to just nine completions on 27 attempts for 198 yards but three of those were for touchdowns. Travis Etienne led UF’s running game with 129 yards on 17 carries. Florida State finishes the regular season with a 9-3 record an...

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mike Wright threw for three scores and Ray Davis added 122 yards on the ground to lift Vanderbilt to a 31-24 SEC victory over Florida Saturday at FirstBank Stadium. Up 14-12 late in the third quarter, Wright found Gavin Schoenwald from 10 yards out and Ben Bresnahan for a 28-yard score in a 77-second span to break open the game.  The Commodores (5-6, 2-5 SEC) then held off a Gator rally, with Anthony Richardson finding Daejon Reynolds for touchdown passes covering 74 and 16 yards in the final period, to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Wright finished the day 10 of 16 passing for 108 yards, while Davis carried 30 times in recording his third straight 100-yard effort. CJ Taylor led the Lady defense—which allowed just 45 net yards rushing—with 10 stops and a pass break up, with Anfernee Orji contributing eight tackles and Jeremy Lucien seven. Ventral Miller and Amari Burney paced the Gators (6-5, 3-5 SEC) with 11 and 10 tackles, respecti...

  ATHENS, Ga, –   Vince Dooley, a 1994 College Football Hall of Fame inductee and the legendary coach at Georgia from 1964-1988, passed away Oct. 28, He was 90. Vince Dooley’s fame spreads across two states. Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, he attended Auburn University; was captain of the football team; and was an Auburn assistant coach for eight years. In December 1963, at age 32, Dooley moved to the University of Georgia. There, he was sometimes head football coach, sometimes director of athletics, sometimes both. He performed at the top level everywhere. No wonder, then, that he has been elected to both the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. The winningest football coach in Georgia history, Coach Dooley amassed a 201-77-10 record during his 25 seasons leading the Bulldog program. His teams appeared in 20 bowls, claimed six SEC titles and the 1980 national championship. He was named NCAA National Coach of the Year by every major poll in 1980, and...