Texas A&M Defeats Florida, 19-17

Saturday, October 14

Gainesville, Fla.

6 p.m.

Texas A&M

5-2 , 3-1

Florida

3-3 , 3-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Florida

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 14, 2017 | Football

Box Score A&M 19, Florida 17 - Final Stats (PDF)Photos

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Kellen Mond made several huge plays, Daniel LaCamera kicked four field goals and Texas A&M handed Florida a second home loss in as many weeks, 19-17 on Saturday night.

LaCamera's 32-yarder with 58 seconds remaining proved to be the difference, but Mond made everything happen for the Aggies (5-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference). The freshman completed eight passes for 180 yards, and added 52 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Mond had completions of 40 and 42 yards to set up fourth-quarter field goals, and Christian Kirk returned a punt 43 yards to set up the game-winner.

Florida (3-3, 3-2) had one final chance in its new, alligator-skin uniforms, but Feleipe Franks threw an interception on first down to end any chance of a comeback.

The loss essentially knocked the Gators out of contention in the SEC's Eastern Division race and surely will stoke more questions about the direction of the programs -- mostly the offense -- in coach Jim McElwain's third season.

Florida dominated in yards (371-263) and first downs (17-10), but came up short on the scoreboard.

The Gators may have been fortunate to score their first touchdown, which came after a bizarre do-over late in the second quarter.

Lamical Perine was seemingly stopped short on a fourth-and-1 play at the Texas A&M 17-yard line. But officials supposedly whistled the play dead before the snap. So Perine got another shot, picked up the first down and then scored on the next play against the stunned Aggies.

Perine made three defenders miss and then carried a fourth into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown and a 10-3 lead.

Texas A&M tied the game on the opening possession of the second half. Mond completed a 30-yard pass to Camron Buckley to start the drive and capped it with a 9-yard run on a third-and-goal draw play that caught the Gators off guard.

The Gators responded two series later, thanks mostly to Franks' 79-yard run in which five tackles failed to bring him down. Franks zigzagged his way across the field before getting brought down at the 13-yard line. A sideline infraction penalty moved the ball to the 6, and Dre Massey scored on a jet sweep on the first play of the fourth quarter.

But the Aggies controlled the final frame.

ABOUT THE GAME
• With the win the Aggies improved to 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play.
• The win was the 49th by the Aggies under the direction of Kevin Sumlin as Sumlin improved to 84-40 in his career.
• The 19-17 victory was the first in the Sunshine State for the Maroon & White since defeating Miami (FL) 70-14 in 1944.
• The Aggies claimed their first win in Gainesville, dropping the only other decision in 1962.
• Texas A&M scored at least 14 points for the 21st game in a row, the longest such streak in the SEC. Since joining the league the Aggies have topped the 14-point mark in 66 of 72 games (91.7 percent).

NOTABLES
• Texas A&M opponents have scored first in six of seven games and the Aggies have rallied from second-half deficits to win in four games this year, including tonight's game when the Aggies trailed by seven points in the fourth quarter.
• One of nation's top defenses in terms of producing three-and-outs, the Aggies totaled 7 tonight against the Gators. The Aggies entered the game averaging 5.7 3-and-outs per contest.
• Texas A&M entered the game with a SEC-best 23 QB sacks and had made at least two sacks in every game. Against Florida, the Aggies continued their pass rushing onslaught with five QB sacks.
• Texas A&M entered the game 17th in the country in turnover margin and corralled a pair of interceptions against Florida against just one turnover.
• With the two turnovers gained the Aggies have forced 15 turnovers after entering the game tied for 12th in the country in turnovers forced.
• The Aggies entered the game with a SEC-high 48.0 tackles for loss (8.0 per game) and matched their season average with 8.0 TFLs vs. the Gators.
• Junior PK Daniel LaCamera matched his career-high with four field goals on the night. The junior connected on a field goals of 46, 43, 25 and 32 yards to improve to a perfect 13-for-13 on FG of less than 50 yards this season.
• Senior WR Damien Ratley had a pair of long catches against the Gators -- a 30-yarder and a 42-yarder. It was the 5th and 6th 20-yard plus catch of the season for Ratley, who entered the game with a team-high 22.8 yards per catch average.
• Senior DB Armani Watts reeled in a Gator aerial in the endzone for his team-best fourth interception of the season. It was also the 10th of his career, making him the 11th Aggie in school to total double-digit interceptions in his career.
• Junior LB Otaro Alaka posted a game-high 12 tackles, which was his career high (his previous best was 11 vs. LSU in 2016). Sophomore LB Tyrel Dodson also chipped in 10 stops. It's the first time A&M has had two defenders with double-digit tackles since last year's Mississippi State game when Armani Watts had 12 and Justin Evans had 11.
• Senior RB Keith Ford rushed for 22 yards on five carries to push him over 1,000 rushing yards for his career (1,012 yards on 203 carries).
• With three tackles vs. the Gators, senior DT Zaycoven Henderson hit the 100-tackle plateau for his career (101 tackles in 42 career games).
• Senior P Shane Tripucka became the first punter in school history to average at least 40.0 yards per punt in the first seven games of a season (with a minimum of at least four punts each game). Tripucka averaged an impressive 48.6 yards on eight punts with two inside the UF 20 against the Gators.

GAME CAPTAINS, 12TH MAN
• Game captains for the Aggies were Cullen Gillaspia, Christian Kirk, Trayveon Williams and Armani Watts. The Aggies won the toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff.
• The Aggies' 12th Man representative was junior LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his 20th straight start.

Sawin' em off after a huge win!! #12thMan pic.twitter.com/RJPZDe5YL2
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 15, 2017

.@tdots25 seals the Aggie win with the interception! #12thMan pic.twitter.com/bpoqX07E5c
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 15, 2017

.@dlacamera18 puts the Aggies in front with his fourth field goal of the night! #12thMan pic.twitter.com/pqQHEuMcIy
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 15, 2017

.@CoachSumlin on the field after the win #12thMan #TAMUvsUF pic.twitter.com/VeGlfL0Bv4
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 15, 2017

Hear from @dlacamera18 after his big night! #12thMan #TAMUvsUF pic.twitter.com/BfT26j547a
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 15, 2017

.@connorlanfear74 after the victory #12thMan #TAMUvsUF pic.twitter.com/NmhHifa2Ub
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 15, 2017

2017 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Head Coach

"We focused this week on composure because we were going on the road and playing in an environment like this. We have been traveling coast to coast. We went to Pasadena and now here with a lot of young guys. You go back to Florida's history with Jim (McElwain) and they play a lot of close games, so composure on the road is a big deal."

"I thought we had some times in the game where we weren't doing well offensively in the first half. Our defense played really well in the fourth quarter to give us great field position. These guys have done a great job at just always playing and it's a team effort. These guys believe in each other."

On Daniel LaCamera: "He's a Florida boy and he had his family here today. He has grown up a lot. The weather was perfect and I'm really happy for him to do that in front of his family."

On Kellen Mond: "It was tough sledding for him. Florida's defense did a great job playing physical like they have done all year. They changed plays on him and for a young quarterback, things happen really fast out there. It wasn't perfect but every snap is a learning experience. His ability to take care of the football and his composure gives us a chance to win in a tough environment."

On Christian Kirk: "He struggled a little bit tonight, but he still comes back and makes a big play to get us a field goal to start the second half. Obviously, that punt return was a great play at the end of the game. All of that was set up by our defense. I don't know what the statistics were in the fourth quarter but field position changed we were able to flip the field and that helped our team."

Junior Kicker Daniel LaCamera

On last moment of the game: "The offense is really the hero of the game, they set me up for a chip shot. Basically all I had to do is kick an extra point."

On getting points against Florida's defense: "We knew that coming into this game that it was gonna be a big field goal game. I knew I needed to get my mind right and the special teams unit needed to get their mind right. They are a great defense and a great team, so I'm really proud of our team and what we did today."

On kicking the game winner: "I have not kicked a game-winner before, this was my first. It felt great to do it back in my home state, I had 16 tickets for the game."

On defense: "I'm so proud of our defense because we were down for a little bit but we've fought back almost every game, and we've proven to be a mentally and physically strong team."

On fan noise: "The 12th Man down at Kyle Field, they really helped me out in this situation because they are a lot louder than this stadium, Florida has great fans, but there is nothing like the 12th Man."

Sophomore Offensive Lineman Erik McCoy

On his emotions after the game: "It's unbelievable, coming to the swamp, an SEC game and winning it. We are excited and fired up"

On Kellen Mond's demeanor: "He was composed, he kept his cool when he needed to, he went out and made some plays."

On offensive line play: "Probably about a C minus, we did not play as good as we should."

On rising up and winning the game: "Coach Sumlin's word this week has been composure and we were definitely focused on that. We stayed composed even when things didn't go our way."

Jim McElwain, Florida Head Coach

"That hurt. The crowd was awesome. They did an unbelievable job. The guys, they played hard. They played hard. We didn't make a couple plays down the stretch that we needed to in order to come out on the right side of the scoreboard. I'll tell you what, they left it all out there. The defense played great in the first half. They got a couple explosive plays in the second half to flip the field."

"Offensively, the third downs in the second half, we got to stay on the field and give ourselves an opportunity to be successful. They did a good job. We knew they were good pass rushers. They did a good job pressuring the quarterback. They didn't disappoint. They did a good job of harassing us, and we maybe got a little jumpy in there at times. Heading into this bye week, we'll have an opportunity to work some things in practice. We'll get some good work in and get ready for Georgia. I believe in these guys. I believe in this team. We'll continue to do that. We'll continue to push and get a little bit better. We got a lot of ball ahead of us and a lot of good teams, and we're going to go take care of business."

On the thought process of the last play of the first half… "Just trying to take a shot. Maybe get a PI and get into Eddy's field goal range. We didn't have any ability to stop it."

On Feleipe's run and overall evaluation … "He did some good things. Thought he was good on third down early. You know, he made some good throws and knew where he was going with it. I think the rush might have got to him a little bit."

On angling punts away from Kirk… "That's what's supposed to happen and it didn't, and it came back and bit us."

On defense in the fourth quarter… "Well I think there were a couple explosives players in there that ultimately flipped the field on us. Give them credit, they took advantage of it. Their defense did a pretty darn good job in the red area, you know keeping them out of the end zone. It was a good call by them on the quarterback draw, came underneath with two blocks, but you know what, they made a play and we didn't."

Redshirt Freshman QB Feleipe Franks

On Texas A&M's defense: "They (Texas A&M) had a good defense with good players. They're an SEC team, they were going to recruit just as big of players as we are. Texas A&M is a good team, coached very well. There are obviously little things that we can work on; I can do a better job in many aspects. Ultimately, it's my job to get the offense moving and there were series here and there where you want that to happen, but I didn't make it happen, so ultimately it's on me and something to improve on."

On his 79-yard run: "The guys (offensive lines) did a good job blocking for me and on the back end. The receivers did a good job, the line did a good job of creating a hole for me and [it was] just a good run."

Junior OL Martez Ivey

On the game plan: "We knew the game plan up front. Texas A&M didn't want to get behind the sticks on first down, and they want to put pressure to you, that's where they create problems at. So, I understand the game plan, and we knew it, so when it comes down to it, we've got to finish and execute. That's all it is."