October 17, 2009 Week 7 · Regular Season Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 23–20, at home over Arkansas.

Home · Defending Holder

FloridaAP No. 1 23

Away · Challenger

Arkansas 20

AP poll, week 7: Arkansas unranked at Florida No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Iowa. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida came in 282 days into reign #270, which began with a win over Oklahoma, with 5 defenses already behind it; this was its 6th defense. Florida went on to defend it 6 more times before Alabama took it on December 5, 2009, 331 days after the reign began.

For Arkansas this was its 11th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

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

AI-Written

Recap

Florida's defense held firm in a defensive struggle, with the Gators surviving a turnover-plagued performance to retain the belt in Gainesville. Arkansas struck first with a one-yard rushing touchdown from Broderick Green in the second quarter, but Florida answered with a field goal before halftime to trail just 10-3. The Gators' explosive plays made the difference in the second half, as Tim Tebow connected with Deonte Thompson for a 77-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter to give Florida a 13-10 lead. Arkansas clawed back with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Mallett to Greg Childs in the fourth quarter to take a 20-16 lead, but Florida's Jeffrey Demps punched in a one-yard rushing touchdown with under eight minutes remaining to secure a 23-20 victory and hold onto the belt despite four turnovers.

Broderick Green's 1-yard touchdown run in Q2 gave Arkansas an early 7-0 lead
Tim Tebow's 77-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson in Q3 swung momentum to Florida and put them ahead 13-10
Ryan Mallett's 75-yard touchdown pass to Greg Childs in Q4 gave Arkansas a 20-16 lead late in the game
Jeffrey Demps' 1-yard rushing touchdown with 7:27 remaining sealed the belt-retaining victory for Florida

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

FloridaArkansas

Total yards391357

Rushing yards136133

Passing yards296242

First downs2413

3rd down conv.4/132/13

Turnovers40

Penalties–yards3–1610–92

Time of possession19:1317:20

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 13:30	Florida	+22 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Aaron Hernandez for 22 yards to the Ark 30 for a 1ST down.
Q1 11:17	Florida	+37 yd	Caleb Sturgis 37 yard field goal MISSED.
Q1 11:01	Arkansas	+42 yd	Dennis Johnson rush for 42 yards to the Fla 48 for a 1ST down.
Q2 14:57	Arkansas	+1 yd	Broderick Green rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 14:57	Arkansas	+29 yd	Cameron Bryan kickoff for 64 yards returned by Brandon James for 29 yards to the Fla 35.
Q2 14:57	Arkansas	+0 yd	Alex Tejada extra point GOOD.
Q2 1:40	Florida	+30 yd	Caleb Sturgis 30 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 1:40	Florida	+23 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 60 yards returned by Dennis Johnson for 23 yards, fumbled, recovered by Ark Lucas Miller at the Ark 33.
Q2 1:23	Arkansas	+46 yd	Ryan Mallett pass complete to Greg Childs for 46 yards to the Fla 21 for a 1ST down.
Q2 0:00	Arkansas	+22 yd	Alex Tejada 22 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 15:00	Arkansas	+20 yd	Cameron Bryan kickoff for 68 yards returned by Brandon James for 20 yards to the Ark 30, ARKANSAS penalty 15 yard personal foul accepted.
Q3 12:44	Florida	+20 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Aaron Hernandez for 20 yards to the Ark 22 for a 1ST down.
Q3 10:53	Florida	+51 yd	Caleb Sturgis 51 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 10:53	Florida	+30 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 57 yards returned by Dennis Johnson for 30 yards to the Ark 43.
Q3 3:10	Arkansas	+40 yd	Alex Tejada 40 yard field goal MISSED.
Q3 2:59	Florida	+77 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Deonte Thompson for 77 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 2:59	Florida	+33 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 62 yards returned by Dennis Johnson for 33 yards to the Ark 41.
Q3 2:59	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q3 0:07	Arkansas	+31 yd	Alex Tejada 31 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 1:33	Arkansas	+25 yd	Dennis Johnson rush for 25 yards to the Fla 32 for a 1ST down.
Q4 9:40	Arkansas	+75 yd	Ryan Mallett pass complete to Greg Childs for 75 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 9:40	Arkansas	+0 yd	Alex Tejada extra point GOOD.
Q4 7:27	Florida	+10 yd	Jeffery Demps rush for 10 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 7:27	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q4 9:27	Florida	+20 yd	Jeffery Demps rush for 20 yards to the Ark 47 for a 1ST down.
Q4 6:01	Arkansas	+26 yd	Ryan Mallett pass complete to London Crawford for 26 yards to the Fla 40 for a 1ST down.
Q4 3:08	Arkansas	+38 yd	Alex Tejada 38 yard field goal MISSED.
Q4 0:09	Florida	+27 yd	Caleb Sturgis 27 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 0:09	Florida	+21 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 50 yards returned by Seth Armbrust for 21 yards to the Ark 41.

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

Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tim Tebow	17/26	255	9.8	1	0	58.3
Riley Cooper	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	0.0

Arkansas

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Ryan Mallett	12/27	224	8.3	1	0	44.4

Rushing

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Tim Tebow	27	69	2.6	0	16
Jeff Demps	9	54	6.0	1	20
Emmanuel Moody	3	7	2.3	0	6
Chris Rainey	6	6	1.0	0	7
Brandon James	1	0	0.0	0	0

Arkansas

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dennis Johnson	14	107	7.6	0	42
Broderick Green	10	40	4.0	1	15
Knile Davis	1	0	0.0	0	0
Ronnie Wingo Jr.	1	-1	-1.0	0	0
Ryan Mallett	7	-5	-0.7	0	7
Cobi Hamilton	1	-8	-8.0	0	0

Receiving

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Aaron Hernandez	7	92	13.1	0	22
Deonte Thompson	1	77	77.0	1	77
Riley Cooper	6	58	9.7	0	13
Chris Rainey	1	14	14.0	0	14
David Nelson	1	13	13.0	0	13
Brandon James	1	1	1.0	0	1

Arkansas

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Greg Childs	4	135	33.8	1	75
Jarius Wright	3	30	10.0	0	14
London Crawford	1	26	26.0	0	26
Broderick Green	2	23	11.5	0	14
Dennis Johnson	1	15	15.0	0	15
Ronnie Wingo Jr.	1	-5	-5.0	0	0

Show more stats (4 more categories)

Kick Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	4	81	20.3	29	0

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Dennis Johnson	5	124	24.8	33	0
Seth Armbrust	1	21	21.0	21	0

Kicking

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caleb Sturgis	3/4	75.0	51	2/2	11

Arkansas

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Alex Tejada	2/4	50.0	31	2/2	8

Punt Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	5	34	6.8	16	0

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jerell Norton	1	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Chas Henry	3	129	43.0	0	0	51

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Dylan Breeding	7	262	37.4	0	0	46

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 292900057) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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