Marshall University Athletics
Football Team Falls to Top Ranked Florida
9/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Football Team Falls to Top Ranked Florida
9/2/2001
Junior Quarterback Byron Leftwich threw for 274 yards and a touchdown against the #1 ranked Florida Gators. |
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Rex Grossman looked like the right choice at quarterback, and Florida put on an opening-night show worthy of its No. 1 ranking, against Marshall Saturday night.
Grossman set his career high by halftime and finished with 375 yards passing Saturday night to lift the Gators to a 49-14 victory over the Thundering Herd.
The sophomore quarterback, who won the job over Brock Berlin this offseason, threw for three touchdowns and Earnest Graham scored three times as the Gators improved to 12-0 in openers under Steve Spurrier.
"It was a good throw-and-catch night for our guys," Spurrier said. "Rex threw the ball well, and the receivers caught pretty doggone well."
No opening-day opponent in recent times has come to Florida with the pedigree of the Thundering Herd, the four-time defending Mid-American Conference champions.
But through a dominating first half, the Gators made it clear that they meant business.
Somebody asked Marshall coach Bob Pruett -- the former Gators defensive coordinator -- if he thought that was the best team he would see this year.
"I hope so," Pruett said. "They might be the best team anybody sees all year long."
It wasn't all because of Grossman.
Pass-rush specialist Alex Brown, who chose to stay for his senior season, had two sacks, as did Andra Davis, the senior linebacker who missed last year with a knee injury.
"It felt great to finally be out on the field with my teammates for the real thing," Davis said.
Playing almost exclusively with seven defensive backs, Florida made things tough on quarterback Byron Leftwich and forced Marshall to pick and poke its way downfield to little avail.
Marshall's only big play came in the third quarter, when Leftwich hit Darius Watts for a 62-yard score that cut the deficit to 35-6. Leftwich did finish the game with a solid 27-for-43 for 274 yards effort with the TD and no interceptions.
Florida's Jabar Gaffney, caught five passes for 102 yards.
"I think we executed incredibly well in the first quarter," Grossman said. "I said going into this game that I was going to play with as few mistakes as possible, and did pretty good at that tonight."
A crowd of more than 85,000 was on hand in the "Swamp" - the largest crowd ever to watch Marshall play and the largest opening day crowd in Florida history.
Marshall will attempt to rebound when it plays host to UMass on Saturday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m.
