September 26, 2009 Week 4 · Regular Season Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 41–7, on the road at Kentucky.

Home · Challenger

Kentucky 7

Away · Defending Holder

FloridaAP No. 1 41

AP poll, week 4: Florida No. 1 at Kentucky unranked · No. 1 that week: Michigan. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida came in 261 days into reign #270, which began with a win over Oklahoma, with 3 defenses already behind it; this was its 4th defense. Florida went on to defend it 8 more times before Alabama took it on December 5, 2009, 331 days after the reign began.

For Kentucky this was its 17th shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.

This is the only time Florida and Kentucky have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Florida dominated Kentucky from start to finish, putting up 41 points while holding the Wildcats to just 7 in a decisive belt-holding performance. The Gators struck immediately with Tim Tebow scoring twice in the first quarter on short rushing touchdowns at the 7:11 and 2:15 marks, sandwiched around a blocked punt touchdown by Chris Rainey that gave Florida a commanding 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Kentucky's only touchdown came late in the second quarter on a Mike Hartline pass to Ross Bogue, but Florida's defense continued to shut down the Wildcats' offense throughout the second half, with Major Wright recording a 33-yard interception return in the fourth quarter that set up another Gators touchdown. The lopsided statistics told the story: Florida accumulated 495 total yards and converted 5 of 13 third downs while forcing two interceptions, while Kentucky managed just 179 yards and converted only 3 of 16 third-down attempts.

Tim Tebow's two rushing touchdowns in Q1 (7:11 and 2:15 marks) established Florida's early dominance and put the game out of reach immediately
Chris Rainey's blocked punt recovery for a touchdown at Q1 6:04 turned a Kentucky drive into 7 points for Florida and exemplified the Gators' superior execution
Major Wright's 33-yard interception return in Q4 set up Florida's final touchdown and sealed the belt defense
Florida's 28-0 first-quarter lead made this a non-competitive game that never threatened the belt holder

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

KentuckyFlorida

Total yards179495

Rushing yards86362

Passing yards110139

First downs1125

3rd down conv.3/165/13

Turnovers21

Penalties–yards9–696–55

Time of possession16:3419:15

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 13:25	Florida	+30 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 30 yards to the Kent 36 for a 1ST down.
Q1 11:13	Florida	+22 yd	Caleb Sturgis 22 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 7:11	Florida	+3 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 3 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 7:11	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q1 7:11	Florida	+22 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 65 yards returned by Derrick Locke for 22 yards to the Kent 27.
Q1 6:04	Kentucky	+0 yd	Team punt blocked by Chris Rainey, Chris Rainey for no gain, to the Kent 0 for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 6:04	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q1 2:15	Florida	+2 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 2:15	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q1 2:15	Florida	+20 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 64 yards returned by Alfonso Smith for 20 yards to the Kent 26.
Q1 0:00	Florida	+44 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Aaron Hernandez for 44 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 0:00	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q2 2:44	Kentucky	+2 yd	Mike Hartline pass complete to Ross Bogue for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 2:44	Kentucky	+0 yd	Lones Seiber extra point GOOD.
Q2 2:04	Florida	+22 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Riley Cooper for 22 yards to the Kent 45 for a 1ST down.
Q2 0:49	Kentucky	+21 yd	Mike Hartline pass complete to Chris Matthews for 21 yards to the Kent 43 for a 1ST down.
Q3 13:34	Florida	+30 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 30 yards to the Kent 46, FLORIDA penalty 10 yard illegal block on Riley Cooper accepted for a 1ST down.
Q3 3:45	Florida	+32 yd	Caleb Sturgis 32 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 3:45	Florida	+23 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 63 yards returned by Derrick Locke for 23 yards to the Kent 30.
Q3 6:59	Florida	+32 yd	Emmanuel Moody rush for 32 yards to the Kent 28 for a 1ST down.
Q3 0:38	Kentucky	+4 yd	Mike Hartline pass intercepted by Janoris Jenkins at the Fla 47, returned for 4 yards to the Kent 49.
Q4 11:55	Kentucky	+20 yd	Moncell Allen rush for 20 yards to the Kent 47 for a 1ST down.
Q4 6:39	Kentucky	+33 yd	Mike Hartline pass intercepted by Major Wright at the Kent 41, returned for 33 yards to the Kent 8.
Q4 6:39	Florida	+8 yd	John Brantley pass complete to Riley Cooper for 8 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 6:39	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q4 3:44	Florida	+20 yd	Mike Gillislee rush for 20 yards to the Kent 30 for a 1ST down.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Kentucky

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Mike Hartline	13/28	85	3.0	1	2	8.5
Will Fidler	1/2	8	4.0	0	0	16.3
Randall Cobb	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	3.2

Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tim Tebow	5/10	103	10.3	1	0	92.4
John Brantley	4/6	30	5.0	1	0	16.0

Rushing

Kentucky

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Derrick Locke	13	36	2.8	6
Moncell Allen	3	28	9.3	20
Alfonso Smith	7	12	1.7	5
CoShik Williams	1	7	7.0	7
John Conner	2	7	3.5	4
Randall Cobb	1	3	3.0	3
Will Fidler	2	-1	-0.5	6
Mike Hartline	3	-6	-2.0	4

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Tim Tebow	16	123	7.7	2	30
Jeff Demps	12	97	8.1	0	17
Emmanuel Moody	5	57	11.4	0	32
Mike Gillislee	6	39	6.5	0	20
Chris Rainey	9	36	4.0	0	12
Brandon James	1	7	7.0	0	7
John Brantley	2	3	1.5	0	5

Receiving

Kentucky

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Chris Matthews	3	28	9.3	0	16
Randall Cobb	5	24	4.8	0	9
Matt Roark	1	15	15.0	0	15
John Conner	1	9	9.0	0	9
Nick Melillo	1	8	8.0	0	8
Moncell Allen	1	7	7.0	0	7
Ross Bogue	1	2	2.0	1	2
Alfonso Smith	1	0	0.0	0	0

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Aaron Hernandez	3	54	18.0	1	44
Riley Cooper	2	30	15.0	1	22
David Nelson	2	27	13.5	0	14
Emmanuel Moody	1	18	18.0	0	18
Jeff Demps	1	4	4.0	0	4

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Kentucky

No recorded stats in this category.

Florida

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Major Wright	1	33	0
Janoris Jenkins	1	4	0

Kick Returns

Kentucky

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Derrick Locke	4	82	20.5	23
Alfonso Smith	2	33	16.5	20
Winston Guy	1	14	14.0	14

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	2	40	20.0	27	0

Kicking

Kentucky

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Lones Seiber	0/0	0.0	0	1/1	1

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caleb Sturgis	2/2	100.0	32	5/5	11

Punt Returns

Kentucky

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Randall Cobb	1	0	0.0	0	0

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Chris Rainey	1	23	23.0	23	1
Brandon James	6	-2	-0.3	3	0

Punting

Kentucky

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Ryan Tydlacka	8	322	40.3	0	0	52

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Chas Henry	4	135	33.8	0	0	45

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 292690096) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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