October 24, 2009 Week 8 · Regular Season Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 29–19, on the road at Mississippi State.

Home · Challenger

Mississippi State 19

Away · Defending Holder

FloridaAP No. 2 29

AP poll, week 8: Florida No. 2 at Mississippi State unranked · No. 1 that week: Iowa. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida came in 289 days into reign #270, which began with a win over Oklahoma, with 6 defenses already behind it; this was its 7th defense. Florida went on to defend it 5 more times before Alabama took it on December 5, 2009, 331 days after the reign began.

For Mississippi State this was its 17th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

It was the 2nd of 2 belt games between the two; going in, Florida led the belt series 1–0; all-time Florida leads 2–0.

AI-Written

Recap

Florida's defense dominated Mississippi State throughout the game, forcing three turnovers and holding the Bulldogs to just 237 total yards in a defensive slugfest. Mississippi State struck first with Derek DePasquale's 43-yard field goal in the first quarter, but Florida answered with a field goal of their own and then took control with Tim Tebow's 26-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter. Mississippi State's best moment came on a dramatic pick-six when Johnthan Banks intercepted Tebow at the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to cut Florida's lead to 13-10 at halftime. Florida pulled away in the second half with Chris Rainey's 8-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and an interception return for a touchdown by Dustin Doe that sealed the 29-19 victory and allowed Florida to keep the belt.

Tim Tebow's 26-yard rushing touchdown in Q2 gave Florida early offensive momentum and a two-score lead
Johnthan Banks' 100-yard pick-six return in Q2 kept Mississippi State in the game at halftime
Chris Rainey's 8-yard touchdown run in Q4 extended Florida's lead to more than two scores late in the game
Dustin Doe's interception return for a touchdown in Q4 sealed Florida's defensive victory and belt retention

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

Mississippi StateFlorida

Total yards237376

Rushing yards92249

Passing yards171132

First downs1318

3rd down conv.2/122/13

Turnovers32

Penalties–yards5–253–25

Time of possession16:1919:27

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 13:40	Mississippi State	+1 yd	Tyson Lee pass intercepted by A.J. Jones at the MisSt 47, returned for 1 yard to the MisSt 46.
Q1 13:11	Florida	+21 yd	Brandon James rush for 21 yards to the MisSt 25 for a 1ST down.
Q1 12:17	Florida	+37 yd	Caleb Sturgis 37 yard field goal MISSED.
Q1 9:05	Mississippi State	+43 yd	Derek DePasquale 43 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 6:05	Florida	+21 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Riley Cooper for 21 yards to the MisSt 8 for a 1ST down.
Q1 3:36	Florida	+20 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 68 yards returned by Leon Berry for 20 yards to the MisSt 22.
Q1 3:36	Florida	+21 yd	Caleb Sturgis 21 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 13:16	Florida	+26 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 26 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 13:16	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q2 13:16	Florida	+26 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 60 yards returned by Leon Berry for 26 yards to the MisSt 36.
Q2 8:30	Florida	+20 yd	Chris Rainey rush for 20 yards to the MisSt 6 for a 1ST down.
Q2 7:15	Florida	+21 yd	Caleb Sturgis 21 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 7:15	Florida	+41 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 69 yards returned by Leon Berry for 41 yards to the MisSt 42.
Q2 0:27	Florida	+100 yd	Tim Tebow pass intercepted by Johnthan Banks at the MisSt 0, returned for 100 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 0:27	Mississippi State	+0 yd	Derek DePasquale extra point GOOD.
Q3 12:50	Mississippi State	+54 yd	Tyson Lee pass complete to Christian Ducre for 54 yards to the Fla 25 for a 1ST down.
Q3 9:32	Mississippi State	+33 yd	Derek DePasquale kickoff for 61 yards returned by Brandon James for 33 yards to the Fla 42.
Q3 9:32	Mississippi State	+31 yd	Derek DePasquale 31 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 5:15	Florida	+27 yd	Caleb Sturgis 27 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 5:15	Florida	+21 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 58 yards returned by Leon Berry for 21 yards to the MisSt 33.
Q3 4:31	Mississippi State	+24 yd	Chris Relf rush for 24 yards to the Fla 39 for a 1ST down.
Q3 1:30	Florida	+22 yd	Chris Rainey rush for 22 yards to the Fla 33 for a 1ST down.
Q4 9:08	Florida	+8 yd	Chris Rainey rush for 8 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 8:25	Mississippi State	+23 yd	Tyson Lee pass intercepted by Dustin Doe at the MisSt 23, returned for 23 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 8:25	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q4 8:25	Florida	+35 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 66 yards returned by Leon Berry for 35 yards to the MisSt 39.
Q4 4:01	Mississippi State	+1 yd	Tyson Lee pass intercepted by Major Wright at the Fla 1, returned for 1 yard to the Fla 2.
Q4 3:51	Florida	+20 yd	Tim Tebow pass intercepted by Johnthan Banks at the Fla 20, returned for 20 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 3:51	Mississippi State	+32 yd	Derek DePasquale kickoff for 57 yards returned by Brandon James for 32 yards to the 50 yard line.

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

Mississippi State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tyson Lee	15/23	145	6.3	0	3	5.5

Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tim Tebow	12/22	127	5.8	0	2	33.3

Rushing

Mississippi State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Boobie Dixon	15	53	3.5	11
Chris Relf	8	34	4.3	24
Christian Ducre	2	14	7.0	14
Robert Elliott	1	-4	-4.0	0
Tyson Lee	9	-5	-0.6	4

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Chris Rainey	12	90	7.5	1	22
Tim Tebow	22	88	4.0	1	26
Emmanuel Moody	5	32	6.4	0	9
Brandon James	2	28	14.0	0	21
Jeff Demps	5	13	2.6	0	5

Receiving

Mississippi State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Christian Ducre	2	61	30.5	54
O'Neal Wilder	3	21	7.0	8
Boobie Dixon	3	21	7.0	9
Marcus Green	3	20	6.7	9
Brandon Heavens	1	13	13.0	13
Brandon McRae	2	6	3.0	10
Chad Bumphis	1	3	3.0	3

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Riley Cooper	4	63	15.8	21
Aaron Hernandez	5	32	6.4	15
Deonte Thompson	1	19	19.0	19
Emmanuel Moody	1	8	8.0	8
Jeff Demps	1	5	5.0	5

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Mississippi State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Johnthan Banks	2	120	2

Florida

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Dustin Doe	1	23	1
A.J. Jones	1	1	0
Major Wright	1	1	0

Kick Returns

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Leon Berry	7	184	26.3	41	0

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	4	95	23.8	33	0
Rick Burgess	1	8	8.0	8	0

Kicking

Mississippi State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Derek DePasquale	2/2	100.0	43	1/1	7

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caleb Sturgis	3/4	75.0	27	2/3	11

Punt Returns

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Chad Bumphis	1	0	0.0	0	0
Leon Berry	1	0	0.0	0	0

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Chris Rainey	1	7	7.0	7	0
Brandon James	3	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Heath Hutchins	4	148	37.0	0	0	39

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Chas Henry	4	173	43.3	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 292970344) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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