Florida thumps FSU, announces Sumrall as new coach

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Well, the Gators 2025 season ended exactly as we all expected, right? 40 points scored against FSU in a game where D.J. Lagway threw four passes in the second half?

It’s been a frustrating run this season. With playoff expectations and a consensus top-15 ranking to start the year, finishing with a win to get to 4-8 definitely feels both anticlimactic and disappointing. And with the Kiffin news swirling since Friday morning, it’s easy to be discouraged with where things sit.

But what’s the point of watching if you’re not going to enjoy winning a rivalry game going away? And while 40-21 isn’t 52-20 in either magnitude of score or significance, it does put some things in perspective.

The 2025 season is likely rock bottom for a Gators program that is about to get new leadership and a much easier schedule (thanks Kentucky and South Carolina!) moving forward.

Across the field is a Florida State team that somehow boat-raced Alabama to open the year and then fell apart, missing a bowl game and perhaps even worse for ‘Noles fans, missing out on an ACC Championship game that now features a 7-5 Duke team. All FSU fans have is certainty that their coach isn’t going to get the job done and don’t have the funds to make a change.

And for whomever takes over for the Gators, that should be a big recruiting advantage right off the bat.

Run the Baugh

What Jadan Baugh did in this one was damn-near heroic. After going into halftime with a 17-14 lead that should have been much bigger, Baugh took over in the second half.

Don’t get me wrong, Baugh was really good in the first half, running 18 times for 101 yards (5.6 yards per rush). But then Baugh carried the ball 20 times for 165 yards in the second half (8.3 yards per rush!). His overall line of 38 rushes for 266 yards and 2 TDs rivals anything any Florida back has done in The Swamp.

What made it even more impressive is that Florida State’s strategy was clearly to load the box and try to force Lagway to beat them. There were a few times that Florida was able to take advantage in the first half, the most notable being the 34-yard pass to J. Michael Sturdivant that set up the touchdown to go up 10-0. But Lagway proved to be inconsistent (not bad) in the first half, missing a handful of really easy throws.

The result is that the Florida staff just decided to put the ball in Baugh’s hands and let him go to work after the opening drive of the second half produced a 5-yard Baugh run and then two Lagway sacks.

After Florida State failed to convert a fourth-and-1 in their own territory, Baugh ripped off 20-yard and 14-yard runs on consecutive plays to set up a 3-yard TD pass to Hayden Hansen to give the Gators some breathing room.

And on the next drive that put the game away, Baugh punctuated an 8-play drive with his sixth run of the drive, a 22-yard TD run on a pitch where he went into the endzone untouched.

Any time a running back goes for 266 yards, you need to give a lot of credit to the offensive line. That 22-yard run I cited above in many parts is due to them. But part of the reason they didn’t touch Baugh is because he’d worn them down at that point.

It was pretty clear by Baugh’s 38th carry of the night that the ‘Noles wanted nothing to do with bringing him down, and they didn’t as Baugh made sure Florida broke the 40-point barrier for the first time since the opener against LIU.

Cashing In

This game really came down to two things: Baugh, and converting scoring opportunities. I suspect those two things are not unrelated.

Florida had seven scoring chances (possessed the ball inside FSU’s 40-yard line) and scored 40 points in those opportunities (5.71 points per opportunity). Anything more than 4.0 is typically very good. On the other hand, FSU had six scoring chances and scored 14 points (2.33 points per opportunity).

This was really the difference in the game.

FSU matched Florida in number of explosive offensive plays (5), but the ‘Noles had three drives where they produced an explosive end with a turnover on downs, a fumble, and a missed field goal. Conversely, the Gators scored on every drive with an explosive (2 FGs, 3 TDs).

The interception by Lagway after Mizell slipped kept the game close for a little bit, but after FSU couldn’t convert on another fourth-and-1 and Florida realized FSU couldn’t stop Baugh, the game was over.

People will probably say something like: “why couldn’t the rest of the season have been like this game?” But the reality is that this wasn’t too far off from what we’ve seen all year. A limited Lagway, a bend-but-don’t-break defense (6.3 yards per play allowed), and the opponent’s QB not being quite good enough to make that defense pay.

The difference was that the Gators offense averaged 6.4 yards per play. And when it came time to put the ball in the endzone, D.J. Lagway was able to do so (his high throw to VB3 to on the opening drive excluded).

Part of that gives me hope that this offensive performance is in there. But part of it also makes me recognize that whoever takes over next has a lot of work to do.

Coach Sumrall

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an atmosphere at a tailgate like I did on Saturday.

Everyone who is there is a die-hard Gator fan who bleeds orange and blue. But everybody was also perplexed by the entire Kiffin situation and – to be kind – unenthusiastic at the idea of Jon Sumrall as the next best alternative.

I have to say that I’m in agreement with them.

Sumrall has a good overall record at Troy and Tulane (42-11). He does have a penchant for playing close games (17 total) and winning them (14-3). As we know from our experiences with Jim McElwain and Billy Napier, these things tend to even out over time. Sumrall likely should have lost 5 more games than he has, which would put his overall record at 37-16, still good but probably not in-line for THE Florida job.

With the rumors circulating about booster involvement in the Kiffin situation, I’m not sure the “THE” deserves to be capitalized right at this moment though. Florida fans – including this one – scoffed at the idea that LSU might be the better job, doubly so after the open involvement of the Louisiana Governor in the firing of Brian Kelly and the LSU AD.

But perhaps what I missed is that the Governor essentially put in his hand-picked AD to run things. Regardless of the way in which LSU got there, they now have alignment at the highest levels of their football program. I may think this is a dysfunctional way to get there, but they are in alignment.

Can the same be said for the Gators?

The fans I spoke with in Gainesville certainly aren’t. They’re openly discussing how Kiffin would have gotten them to support Florida Victorious in new ways but Sumrall will not. There was an impromptu noon protest at the stadium to demand Scott Stricklin’s firing.

Are the boosters?  It’s hard to tell what’s truth from fiction given some of what’s been shared over the past month, but I think it’s safe to say that the people who feed Gator media information – and who are typically pretty spot-on with that information – were blindsided by Florida’s decision to move on from Kiffin. Whether Kiffin said “no” and Florida leaked to save face or whether Florida’s decision-makers decided to move on is less material to me than the fact that so many who are normally “in the know” were not in this case.

Is the Athletic Director? Nick de la Torre of Florida Victorious tweeted that he spoke with several UAA sources who said that “no donors have been involved in the coaching search or hiring process.” Well then that means that the Kiffin PR debacle falls at the feet of Scott Stricklin. The same Scott Stricklin who gave Napier a vote of confidence when most everyone knew he wasn’t the guy after the Texas A&M loss last year. The same Scott Stricklin who could have hired Kiffin last year had he made the move then. And the same Scott Stricklin who let the stealth Kiffin rumors swirl for nearly a month after firing Napier only to move on at the eleventh hour.

Will Kiffin succeed wherever he ends up? I have my doubts about his ability to navigate the challenges of a big-time job. But I’m also not the guy who ID’d him as the number one target (I have advocated for a transition to a GM-run organization while saving money on the head coach), nor am I the one who allowed the Kiffin hype to build so high that anyone else would be a massive let down.

Much like I wrote after the Jaden Rashada debacle early in Napier’s tenure, the thing the Florida program was missing then – and is missing now – is a clear, communicable strategic vision. Just hiring a new coach doesn’t accomplish that if there isn’t a reason to believe that this one will be different.

Thus far, Stricklin is failing yet again to communicate that vision in a way that will energize his fan base.

Family and Goodbye

I’ve been writing about Gator football at Read & Reaction since 2017. My kids at the time were 7, 4 and 1. That 1-year old is now 10-years old (Max) and one of the kids I took to the game on Saturday night. We’ve since added another little boy to our brood as well.

I’ve taken each of the little people to Gators games when they’ve turned seven years old, and Max is the only one to really embrace it. He asks me to go to the tailgates, he screams every time the opponent has the ball, and nobody yells “move back you suck” louder than that little guy when there’s a penalty that drives the opponent back (it helps that his mother disapproves of the language). It also helps that the Gators apparently only play their best when Max is in the house.

But the fact that he’s the only one who’s really taken to it means there are things the other kids need.

After the Mississippi State win and subsequent Napier firing, Read & Reaction Patreon subscriber Rich wrote the following in the comments of my postgame recap about Napier not ceding offensive playcalling responsibilities:

“It’s tough to see a guy that you know is a role model and trying his best just not be good enough (at this level). I wonder if any of us who love a thing so much, would be willing to give it up in order to continue doing the other parts that are okay, but not your passion.”

Here was my response at the time:

“That’s why you have to surround yourself with people who are kind enough to tell you the truth rather than just being nice and telling you what you want to hear. I hope I’ve done that in my life, though sometimes I have to admit that it takes me a while to listen to them when they’re telling me something I don’t want to hear.”

I’m lucky enough to have some of those people in my life. One of those is a guy named Josh who I met through the website but has become a trusted confidante. I was wrestling with the time the football writing was taking and reached out to Josh about potentially shutting down Read & Reaction. To be honest, I kind-of wanted him to talk me out of it.

But he said something about himself that made the decision pretty clear for me. He said, “If my profession is preventing me from being the best father and husband I can be, then it’s an easy decision to stop.”

Because here’s the thing. My wife and kids won’t talk about how eloquently I wrote about D.J. Lagway or Jadan Baugh at my funeral, just like they won’t talk about how good I was at formulating paint. Part of the story they’ll tell will surely be my love for the Gators and going to games like Saturday night. But part of that story also needs to be about things we did on Sundays instead of Dad napping in the afternoon to make up for being up at 3am finishing up his postgame recap.

There’s nothing shameful about working hard, and there are plenty of people who have to sacrifice time with their families to make sure there’s food on the table. But thankfully that isn’t the situation I’m currently in.

I doubt I’ll be able to completely get away entirely. I’m already in talks with Nick about what the magazine is going to look like if I’m not writing weekly during the season. And my resolve will no doubt be tested the next time Florida doesn’t go for it on a fourth down or when recruiting isn’t quite up-to-snuff.

The first article I ever wrote for Read & Reaction talked about what launching the website meant to me. I followed that up a couple of years later with a piece about Tiger Woods that is still probably the favorite thing I ever wrote for the site.

Here’s how it ended: “As great as Tiger Woods is at golf, he’s still a flawed human being fighting his own demons just like the rest of us. And in some way, his win at the Masters is a call to filter out the critics and do something worthwhile when you have the ability even if you’re worried you’ll look foolish.”

“Otherwise, you’ll only be the person who decided that greatness was reserved for someone else.”

While I love the interaction I’ve had with you all over the past eight years, it’s clear that it’s time for me to focus my energies where they are needed most and where me being at my best can have the largest impact. I have baseball games to coach, college visits to go on, and a few date nights to go on the docket.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for reading my work. Thank you for encouraging me. Thank you for assuring me that I’m actually good at this at times that I needed it. And thank you for all of you who have subscribed or supported this endeavor financially either through Patreon or through purchasing the magazine. But most of all, thank you for going on this ride with me.

Go Gators always.