FINAL SCORE: Texas A&M 33, Florida 20

WHAT HAPPENED: Redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reedwho was starting for the first time in his career, posted 261 yards of offense and three touchdowns to power a Texas A&M offense that met little resistance and inflicted a 33-20 loss on Florida in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at Spurrier/Florida Field on Saturday. Reed, who replaced the injured second-year starter, Connor Weigmancompleted 11 of 17 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns, while also running 13 times for 83 yards and a touchdown, effortlessly stealing the QB storyline of the game from UF's opponents Graham Mertz And DJ Lagway. By the time the final numbers were in, A&M had ended a 10-game road losing streak by scoring on its first five possessions, totaling 488 yards of offense, not losing the ball and dominating time of possession by more than 15 minutes. The game, which was halted for 47 minutes in the first half due to lightning strikes in the area, was one-sided from the start, with the Aggies scoring on all four possessions of the first half (and the first of the second, as it turned out). Reed's 29-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter was between two Randy Bond Field Goals. These three points came while the UF offense played only 12 snaps in the first four series and scored a total of minus 17 yards. The killer sequence, however, came after Florida's punter Jeremy Crawshaw With 8:07 left in the first half, A&M pinned it at the 1. The Aggies drove 99 yards in 15 plays — with no passes — and scored a touchdown on Reed's 1-yard run 44 seconds before halftime to take a 20-0 lead to the locker room. At that point, the score was 302-73 in favor of the visitors, the Gators had minus-4 yards in the running game and the Aggies were on the Gators' side 53-18 in offense. Mertz started the second half and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Badger to 20-7, barely three minutes into the third quarter. The Aggies needed just two plays and 49 seconds to respond when Reed rolled to his left, threw himself against his body and scored Cyrus Allen ran all alone behind the UF secondary and scored a 73-yard touchdown bomb and a 26-7 lead. The attempt at a two-point conversion was unsuccessful. After an exchange of blows, A&M Safety Bryce Anderson intercepted a deflected pass from Mertz on the run and ran 45 yards unchallenged for a touchdown and a 33-7 lead. UF managed two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, one with each quarterback, both with runs of over 70 yards to make the scoreboard and stat sheet look closer. Lagway threw a 17-yard touchdown to Chimere Dikewhile Mertz led the unit to a 2-yard plunge from Ja'Kobi Jackson With 5:13 left, Mertz completed 12 of 15 passes for 195 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while Lagway struggled to find the rhythm that allowed him to outrush FCS-ranked Samford for 458 yards last weekend. He completed just six of 13 passes for 54 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions and was sacked twice. The Aggies rushed for 310 yards, led by Le'Veon Moss's 110 in 18 runs.

 

WHAT IT MEANS: That's three of the last four years the Gators have lost their SEC opener, and now they've lost six home games under coach Billy NapierThat so-called “noise in the system” will soon return after a week of optimism and praise for the young quarterback. However, Lagway got a dose of SEC reality on Saturday.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Mertz was definitely superior to Lagway, whatever that means for the rest of the season. Reed, however, was clearly superior to both of them.

AMAZING STATISTICS: Before the game, A&M's last true road win was a 35-14 victory at Missouri on Oct. 16, 2021. Of the 10 consecutive games the Aggies have lost since then, half have been against ranked teams.

NEXT: Florida (1-2, 0-1) is on the road for the first time this season, playing at Mississippi State (1-1, 0-0). For the Bulldogs, who lost 41-14 at home to Toledo on Saturday night, the game is their SEC opener after starting the season with a 56-7 home win over Eastern Kentucky and then losing 30-23 to Arizona State. The Gators have a 34-19-2 lead in the series overall, including a 13-6 win in Starkville in 2018. Next week's game will be just the second in the series in the last 14 seasons.