November 28, 2009 Week 13 · Regular Season Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 37–10, at home over Florida State.

Home · Defending Holder

FloridaAP No. 1 37

Away · Challenger

Florida State 10

AP poll, week 13: Florida State 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 324 days into reign #270, which began with a win over Oklahoma, with 11 defenses already behind it; this was its 12th defense. It was the last defense: Alabama took the belt in the very next belt game, on December 5, 2009.

For Florida State this was its 6th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

It was the 3rd of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Florida State led the belt series 2–0; all-time it is 2–2. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Florida dominated the in-state rivalry from start to finish, with Tim Tebow putting on a masterclass performance to keep the belt at home. The Gators struck quickly, with Tebow finding Aaron Hernandez for an 18-yard touchdown just 6:48 into the first quarter, and never looked back. Florida's offense was nearly unstoppable, converting 10 of 13 third-down attempts while racking up 545 total yards, with Tebow accounting for four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) and key big plays like a 47-yard scramble in the third quarter. Florida State managed only a field goal in the third quarter and a late fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Jarmon Fortson, but their struggling offense—which converted just 2 of 11 third-down attempts—could never challenge Florida's relentless pace and execution.

Tim Tebow's 18-yard TD pass to Aaron Hernandez (Q1 6:48) — established Florida's early momentum and tone
Tebow's TD run and second Hernandez touchdown pass (Q2 3:59-1:07) — extended Florida's lead to 24-0 by halftime
Riley Cooper's 39-yard TD reception (Q3 11:27) — put the game completely out of reach with Florida dominating possession and yards
Florida State's only offensive TD to Jarmon Fortson (Q4 6:03) — merely a consolation score in a lopsided belt defense

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

FloridaFlorida State

Total yards545281

Rushing yards31183

Passing yards239214

First downs2218

3rd down conv.10/132/11

Turnovers22

Penalties–yards12–805–45

Time of possession17:3617:16

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 15:00	Florida State	+26 yd	Dustin Hopkins kickoff for 70 yards returned by Brandon James for 26 yards to the Fla 26.
Q1 14:26	Florida	+20 yd	Jeffery Demps rush for 20 yards to the Fla 46 for a 1ST down.
Q1 6:48	Florida	+18 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Aaron Hernandez for 18 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 6:48	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q1 6:48	Florida	+35 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 70 yards returned by Greg Reid for 35 yards to the FlaSt 35.
Q2 14:55	Florida	+37 yd	Caleb Sturgis 37 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 3:07	Florida	+45 yd	Chris Rainey rush for 45 yards to the FlaSt 44 for a 1ST down.
Q2 3:59	Florida	+18 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 18 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 3:59	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q2 1:07	Florida	+37 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Aaron Hernandez for 37 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 1:07	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q2 0:53	Florida State	+0 yd	E.J. Manuel pass intercepted by Joe Haden at the Fla 28, returned for no gain to the Fla 28.
Q3 11:27	Florida	+39 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Riley Cooper for 39 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 5:56	Florida State	+41 yd	Dustin Hopkins 41 yard field goal MISSED.
Q3 5:16	Florida	+47 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 47 yards, fumbled, recovered by FlaSt at the Fla 23.
Q3 5:06	Florida State	+20 yd	E.J. Manuel pass complete to Bert Reed for 20 yards to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down.
Q3 0:00	Florida State	+20 yd	Dustin Hopkins 20 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 15:00	Florida State	+23 yd	Dustin Hopkins kickoff for 70 yards returned by Brandon James for 23 yards to the Fla 23.
Q4 10:18	Florida	+1 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 10:18	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q4 14:15	Florida	+62 yd	Jeffery Demps rush for 62 yards to the FlaSt 15 for a 1ST down.
Q4 10:18	Florida	+26 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 70 yards returned by Greg Reid for 26 yards to the FlaSt 26.
Q4 6:03	Florida State	+9 yd	E.J. Manuel pass complete to Jarmon Fortson for 9 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 6:15	Florida State	+29 yd	E.J. Manuel pass complete to Jarmon Fortson for 29 yards to the Fla 9 for a 1ST down.
Q4 6:03	Florida State	+23 yd	Dustin Hopkins kickoff for 70 yards returned by Frankie Hammond Jr. for 23 yards to the Fla 23.
Q4 6:03	Florida State	+0 yd	Dustin Hopkins extra point GOOD.
Q4 4:00	Florida	+28 yd	Mike Gillislee rush for 28 yards to the FlaSt 37 for a 1ST down.
Q4 0:13	Florida State	+0 yd	E.J. Manuel pass intercepted by Adrian Bushell at the Fla 0, returned for no gain for a touchback.
Q4 1:55	Florida State	+22 yd	E.J. Manuel pass complete to Rod Owens for 22 yards to the Fla 34 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

Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tim Tebow	17/21	221	10.5	3	0	87.0
John Brantley	2/2	13	6.5	0	0	98.7

Florida State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
EJ Manuel	19/31	198	6.4	1	2	16.2

Rushing

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jeff Demps	7	106	15.1	0	62
Tim Tebow	15	90	6.0	2	47
Chris Rainey	8	73	9.1	0	45
Mike Gillislee	6	44	7.3	0	27

Florida State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
EJ Manuel	11	27	2.5	14
Jermaine Thomas	7	21	3.0	6
Lonnie Pryor	3	18	6.0	9
Bert Reed	2	10	5.0	7
Taiwan Easterling	1	7	7.0	7

Receiving

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Aaron Hernandez	5	83	16.6	2	37
Riley Cooper	3	62	20.7	1	39
David Nelson	2	23	11.5	0	19
Brandon James	3	20	6.7	0	10
Deonte Thompson	2	13	6.5	0	8
Jeff Demps	1	11	11.0	0	11
Chris Rainey	1	9	9.0	0	9
Justin Williams	1	8	8.0	0	8
Cade Holliday	1	5	5.0	0	5

Florida State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jarmon Fortson	4	58	14.5	1	29
Rod Owens	5	40	8.0	0	17
Bert Reed	5	39	7.8	0	20
Beau Reliford	1	22	22.0	0	22
Jermaine Thomas	2	17	8.5	0	12
Taiwan Easterling	1	12	12.0	0	12
Willie Haulstead	1	10	10.0	0	10

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Florida

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Joe Haden	1	0	0
Adrian Bushell	1	0	0

Florida State

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	2	49	24.5	26	0
Frankie Hammond	1	23	23.0	23	0

Florida State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Greg Reid	2	61	30.5	35
Patrick Robinson	2	37	18.5	19
Vincent Zann	1	14	14.0	14

Kicking

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caleb Sturgis	1/1	100.0	37	4/5	7

Florida State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Dustin Hopkins	1/2	50.0	20	1/1	4

Punt Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	3	20	6.7	18	0

Florida State

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Chas Henry	1	38	38.0	0	0	38

Florida State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Shawn Powell	5	211	42.2	0	0	52

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 293320057) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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