Quarterbacks Shine as Florida Gators Defeat Mississippi State, 45-28

Florida Gators win its first game against an FBS opponent since October of 2023 behind stellar play from its two quarterbacks.

Sep 21, 2024; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz (15) rolls out to pass against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the third quarter at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-Imagn Images / Matt Bush-Imagn Images

STARKVILLE, Miss.-- The Florida Gators' 45-28 win over Mississippi State on Saturday belonged to the quarterbacks.

Veteran Graham Mertz, who started, and freshman DJ Lagway, who rotated in on every third possession, combined for 277 yards and three touchdowns with only two incompletions. Both quarterbacks led multiple scoring drives.

Mertz, who earned his first win as the starting quarterback in seven starts completed 19 of his 21 passes for 201 yards and three scores. He also added a 24 yards and score on the ground. Lagway finished 7-for-7 with 76 yards.

"Really was impressive this week in practice, I thought (Mertz) had a great week - just really sharp. The ball was jumping out of his hand," said UF head coach Billy Napier. "And then DJ obviously got some great experience last week, and then we just kind of went with our gut there, kind of what we felt like was best for the team. We're still committed to playing DJ. I think today, he showed that he'll get a little better the more experience that he gets, I think he'll improve."

On his second drive, Mertz led the Gators on a 13-play, 84-yard drive, which ended in a three-yard touchdown pass to tight end Arlis Boardingham. The Gators were also aided by a Mississippi State roughing-the-passer penalty and converted three third downs.

It was also Florida's first lead against an FBS opponent this season, but that lead quickly disappeared as Mississippi State went on an eight-play, 62-yard touchdown drive capped off by a short run from Davon Booth to tie the game.

Mississippi State transitioned its momentum to its defense on the ensuing drive by forcing and recovering a fumble off of Montrell Johnson Jr. Florida's defense held strong, however, and Mertz went back to his efficient work.

After relying on short passes from Mertz and runs from Ja'Kobi Jackson, Mertz took a shot down the field off a pump-fake and found Marcus Burke wide-open for a 20-yard score, the receiver's first in his career. He found Hayden Hansen for a 35-yard score on his next possession.

Mertz had completed 12-straight passes to that point and was his first three-touchdown game since the loss to Arkansas last season. It was also his first game with three touchdown passes in the first half as a Gator.

Lagway replaced Mertz on the ensuing drive and found similar results. In a 10-play, 91-yard drive, which included a 27-yard pass to Elijhah Badger, Lagway accounted for 52 yards of offense. Jackson found the end zone from 10-yards out to give Florida a 28-7 lead.

"I was talking to DJ, I thought we were just really efficient," Mertz said. "I was most proud of him, we had a great plan going into the game, I thought we did a good job of seeing the field today, kind of a lot of plays, RPO answers stuff like that, when you get in that mode where you can move fast and have answers for what they are doing, it’s always on attack mode, so, I thought we did a good job.”

From there, a pair of 75-plus-yard drives quickly put the Bulldogs back in contention as the Gators' defense, which had bent up to that point, finally broke.

Quarterback Blake Shapen only needed six plays in under a minute to rebound, and his three-yard score to cut the lead to two scores gave the Bulldogs some much-needed momentum heading into the halftime break.

In its opening drive of the third quarter, Mississippi State recorded four plays of over 10 yards and converted both a 3rd-and-10 and a 4th-and-3 on a 13-play, 76-yard drive. Shapen hit Jordan Mosley for a 13-yard score to make it a one-possession game.

Mississippi State recorded 264 of its 480 total yards in the second half.

"Look, we are what we are. I don't have any other answer for you other than I think we're capable of better, I think we can play better, I think we can coach better," Napier said. "And look, we've got an open date here. We need to take a good look in the mirror on both sides of the spectrum, players and coaches. And maybe we need to adjust who plays and who doesn't play."

Mertz nearly had another touchdown pass on the ensuing drive as Aidan Mizell took a short pass 68 yards for a score, but it was called back on a questionable Johnson Jr. blindside block penalty. Still, Mertz recovered with a 28-yard pass to Chimere Dike and a one-yard rushing touchdown.

 "Look, they've got a hard job to do, much like we have a hard job to do," Napier said of the call. "Those are tough judgment calls. The point of view there, the angle. We don't have anything to do with it. We can't control it, so we're not going to spend time worrying about it. We overcame it. That's a good thing."

Florida's bend and break defense transitioned to one that held strong on the next possession. Facing fourth-and-goal, Mississippi State elected to run an option pitch, which was fumbled and recovered by Grayson Howard on the 7-yard line.

"Big, big momentum play. And really great to see our defense kind of stand up there. Again, we know that there's multiple opportunities to prevent even getting into that position. But a big stop. I thought we called it well right there, not just the fourth down, but first, second and third to get it to fourth.

Lagway retook the field, but it was fellow freshman Jadan Baugh who led the way with 53 yards rushing. Facing 3rd-and-3 from the Bulldogs' 6-yard line, Lagway avoided a tackle in the backfield for a five-yard gain but fumbled into the end zone, which was recovered by offensive lineman Austin Barber for a score.

 “Yeah, my coach always tells us to chase the ball, you see the ball get on the ball, and then, we rep it a lot so we just, I saw it on the ground and did my best to just get on it as fast as I can,” Barber said.

With a 42-21 lead and eight minutes left, Florida had essentially iced the game for its first win over an FBS opponent in nearly a year.

Mississippi State added another score late on a 10-yard run by Johnnie Daniels, and Florida added another on a 47-yard field goal by Trey Smack.

"It's good to win on the road in this league, it's always tough," Napier said. "And this can be a challenging place to play. Look, we have more work to do. Okay, we won today, but we are very much a work in progress. And this group can get so much better. I mean, we got so many individual players, position groups and units on our team, that we're not even close to being who we can be - and they know that."

Florida (2-2) gets a much-needed break next week with its first bye of the season before taking on UCF on Oct. 5 in the Swamp.