It’s a Swamp thing

Hogs 0-4 at home of Gators

Florida defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy (15) runs for a 42-yard touchdown after intercepting an Arkansas pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013.(AP Photo/John Raoux)

Florida defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy (15) runs for a 42-yard touchdown after intercepting an Arkansas pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013.(AP Photo/John Raoux)

Sunday, October 6, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Arkansas skirted the jaws of Florida’s vaunted defense for one quarter Saturday night, but the No. 18 Gators bit back with force to thump the Razorbacks 30-10 before a crowd of 90,043 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Arkansas (3-3, 0-2 SEC) fell to 0-4 at The Swamp and dropped its ninth game in a row to the Gators.

Florida (4-1, 3-0 SEC) fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter before scoring 24 unanswered points behind its swift pressure defense and three touchdown passes from quarterback Tyler Murphy in his second career start.

The Gators got after Arkansas’ passing game, pressuring Brandon Allen into an unsightly 17 of 42 passing for 165 yards. Allen threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Loucheiz Purifoy and lost a fumble on a Purifoy sack.

“Just too many issues,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. “We had too many dropped balls, we had a pick-six, we had a couple of missed tackles that directly resulted in 14 easy points for them.

“Playing a ranked opponent … on their own turf, you can’t do those things and expect to win.”

Florida played turnover free and completed its 20-point victory by stopping Arkansas on fourth-and-goal from the 4 in the final minute.

Florida, gashed early by the Arkansas run game, took the lead for good on Purifoy’s 42-yard interception return with 8:33 remaining in the second quarter, which electrified the big orange-and-blue crowd.

“Momentum was a big part of that game right there,” Allen said. “Once they got that pick-six and made a couple more big plays, they were able to keep the momentum on their side.”

Florida Coach Will Muschamp credited the night-game atmosphere as being a huge part of the Gators’ comeback.

“It made a huge difference in the game when we got them backed up,” he said. “The fans made it hard for them to check off and hard to communicate.”

Arkansas lost key personnel as well as the game. Center Travis Swanson, cornerback Will Hines, quarterback Allen and tight end Hunter Henry had to leave the field, with Hines and Swanson not able to return.

Hines’ injury appeared the most serious, as he was quickly fitted with an air cast on his broken right arm and carted off the field late in the third quarter. Swanson also didn’t return after going down with a knee injury late in the third quarter, which Bielema said was a tweaked medial collateral ligament.

Allen suffered an injury to his throwing hand early in the fourth quarter, but was able to return, as did Henry.

Gators’ receiver Solomon Patton turned two curl routes into touchdowns covering 51 and 38 yards to spark Florida late in the first half and early in the second.

Both touchdowns were aided by missed tackles.

“He made two really big plays that changed the game and won the game for them,” Arkansas defensive end Chris Smith said.

Patton’s 51-yard touchdown represented a huge shift in momentum, coming with 20 seconds left in the half and putting Florida up 17-7.

“They really got the mojo back over there before the end of the half,” Bielema said.

Arkansas gained 120 yards in the first quarter as the Gators struggled to contain tailbacks Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams. But Arkansas had 155 total yards and three points in the final three periods.

The Razorbacks also couldn’t catch a break, drawing a rarely seen penalty on a punt return late in the first half. The Gators’ Purifoy bobbled a punt at his own 10 and the loose ball bounced directly to Arkansas’ Jarrett Lake, who won a wrestling match for the ball with Purifoy.

However, the officials called Arkansas for interference with the opportunity for a fair catch, which extends to the return man after a bobble if the ball doesn’t hit the ground.

Then, late in the third quarter, a Florida defender appeared to get away with grabbing Collins on a screen pass from the Florida 13.

The Razorbacks pulled to 24-10 on Zach Hocker’s 30-yard field goal, then immediately went for an onside kick. Javontee Herndon caught Hocker’s perfectly chipped kickoff in the air, but Herndon and another Razorback were offside on the play, negating a potential momentum changer.

“A critical point, if we were going to get back in it, we had to cleanly execute that onside kick,” Bielema said.

Arkansas dictated the first-quarter tempo, rushing for 81 yards on 11 carries. The Razorbacks surpassed Florida’s average rushing yards allowed per game (53.5) by their seventh carry, after which they had 62 yards on the ground.

Collins had a 28-yard run over the left side, then added a 10-yarder early on the Hogs’ first scoring drive.

Williams picked up 12, and that heavy emphasis on the run set up Allen’s 31-yard play-action pass to Hunter Henry to the Gators’ 4.

Williams took a pitch at left end, met immediate resistance in the backfield, reversed back to the right, caught a couple of blocks and opened the scoring with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter.

Arkansas’ Dan Skipper blocked his second field goal of the season, a 48-yard try in the first quarter, after the Hogs stuffed Florida following a Purifoy-forced fumble on Allen at the Arkansas 29.

The Gators drove 55 yards to the Arkansas 6 early in the second quarter but settle for a field goal to trim their deficit to 7-3.

Allen threw for a blanketed Keon Hatcher on the Hogs’ next series and Purifoy made the easy interception for a touchdown to get the Swamp crowd energized.

Game sketch RECORDS Arkansas 3-3, 0-2 SEC; Florida 4-1, 3-0 STARS Florida quarterback Tyler Murphy completed 16 of 22 passes for 241 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Gators’ Solomon Patton had two touchdowns among his six catches for 124 yards.

TURNING POINT Florida punt returner Loucheiz Purifoy bobbled a punt into the hands of Arkansas’ Jarrett Lake at the Gators’ 10-yard line late in the second quarter, but interference with a fair catch negated the turnover. Florida scored moments later on Solomon Patton’s 51-yard catch with 20 seconds left in the half for a 17-7 lead.

KEY STATS Florida averaged 10.9 yards per pass and held Arkansas to 3.8 yards per pass. The Hogs have gone two SEC games without forcing a turnover UP NEXT Arkansas returns home to face South Carolina at 11:21 a.m. Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

Sports, Pages 23 on 10/06/2013