Florida upsets No. 7 Texas 27-24 as Tramell Jones Jr. shines in first start

Gators erase a 17-3 hole

Florida trailed by two touchdowns in the second quarter before rallying to beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin on Saturday. Texas opened the scoring on Raleek Brown's 32-yard touchdown run and added a Gianni Spetic field goal to go up 10-0 in the first quarter.

Texas pushed the lead to 17-3 in the second quarter when Ryan Niblett returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown, his third career punt-return score. Florida answered before halftime when quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Lacota Dippre, cutting the gap to 17-10 with 18 seconds left in the half.

Jones ties it, then Florida takes over

Jones found Dippre again from 8 yards out early in the third quarter, capping a drive that ran nearly eight minutes and tying the score at 17. It was the first career start for Jones, who filled in for injured starter Aaron Philo, and it was his second touchdown pass of the day to Dippre.

A 28-yard field goal from Patrick Durkin gave Florida its first lead, 20-17, with 10:40 left in the fourth quarter. Jadan Baugh followed with an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 27-17. Texas answered when quarterback Arch Manning hit Cam Coleman for a 9-yard touchdown with 4:21 to go, but the Gators defense held from there, sacking Manning on Texas' final possession and recovering a fumble forced by linebacker Myles Graham.

By the numbers

Jones finished 22 of 35 for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Baugh carried 25 times for 91 yards and a score, and Eric Singleton Jr. led Florida's receivers with seven catches for 43 yards. Manning went 14 of 20 for 173 yards and a touchdown for Texas, Hollywood Smothers ran 12 times for 52 yards, and Emmett Mosley V caught two passes for 76 yards.

Florida out-gained Texas 313 yards to 272 and led 21-13 in first downs. Texas committed the game's only turnover, and Florida was penalized seven times for 55 yards compared to one penalty for 15 yards by Texas. Defensively, Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons had a sack and linebacker Justin Cryer led all tacklers with 11, while Florida's LJ McCray had 1.5 sacks and Myles Graham added 7 tackles along with the game-ending forced fumble.

What it means

The win moved Florida to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in Southeastern Conference play, and it marked the program's first road win over a top-10 opponent since 2012. The Gators had climbed as high as No. 8 after opening the season 4-0, before two straight blowout losses dropped them out of the rankings.

Texas fell to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in conference games, its second consecutive loss. Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game that his team did not play well and struggled to finish drives in the second half, while Florida held the ball for long stretches.

Facts per ESPN box score. Opinion is the taproom's.