December 20, 2024 Postseason Neutral site Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 33–8, at a neutral site over Tulane.

Home · Defending Holder

Florida 33

Away · Challenger

Tulane 8

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida came in 27 days into reign #326, which began with a win over Ole Miss, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. Florida went on to defend it 1 more time before South Florida took it on September 6, 2025, 287 days after the reign began.

For Tulane this was its 16th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

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

AI-Written

Recap

Florida's defense dominated Tulane from the opening kickoff, forcing four interceptions and holding the Green Wave to just 194 total yards and 8 points. The Gators struck first with a field goal after Trikweze Bridges returned an interception to the Tulane 24-yard line, then added another field goal before halftime. DJ Lagway orchestrated the offense efficiently, connecting with receivers like Tony Livingston and Chimere Dike on multiple scoring drives, including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Livingston in the third quarter. Florida's defense continued to frustrate Tulane's Ty Thompson throughout the game, recording interceptions by Bridges, Alfonzo Allen Jr., and Myles Graham, while the Gators' special teams also contributed with Trey Smack making four field goals. The second-half onslaught included a 25-yard rushing touchdown by KD Daniels and a final goal-line score by Anthony Rubio as Florida cruised to victory and held onto the belt.

Trikweze Bridges' first-quarter interception return to the Tulane 24 set up Florida's opening field goal and established the defensive tone
DJ Lagway's 7-yard touchdown pass to Tony Livingston in Q3 gave Florida a commanding lead and capped a dominant drive
Four total interceptions by the Florida defense, particularly the consecutive picks by Alfonzo Allen Jr. and Myles Graham in Q3-Q4, shut down any Tulane comeback hopes
KD Daniels' 25-yard rushing touchdown in Q4 essentially ended the game as Florida's defense continued to suffocate the Green Wave offense

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

FloridaTulane

Total yards529194

Rushing yards22469

Passing yards305125

First downs2611

3rd down conv.6/163/13

Turnovers23

Penalties–yards9–953–33

Time of possession38:5721:03

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 12:51	Florida	+23 yd	Jeremy Crawshaw punt for 42 yds , Dontae Fleming returns for 23 yds to the TULN 40
Q1 12:43	Tulane	+4 yd	Ty Thompson pass intercepted Trikweze Bridges return for 4 yds to the FLA 24
Q1 10:10	Florida	+29 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Aidan Mizell for 29 yds to the TULN 19 for a 1ST down
Q1 7:48	Florida	+34 yd	Trey Smack 34 yd FG GOOD
Q1 0:47	Florida	+11 yd	DJ Lagway pass intercepted Kevin Adams III return for 11 yds to the FLA 24
Q2 14:53	Tulane	+35 yd	Patrick Durkin 35 yd FG MISSED
Q2 9:12	Florida	+44 yd	Trey Smack 44 yd FG GOOD
Q2 9:12	Florida	+21 yd	Trey Smack kickoff for 62 yds , Jack Tchienchou return for 21 yds to the TULN 24
Q2 5:55	Florida	+21 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Tony Livingston for 21 yds to the TULN 41 for a 1ST down
Q2 3:25	Florida	+0 yd	DJ Lagway pass intercepted, touchback. Dickson Agu return for no gain
Q2 4:54	Florida	+31 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to TJ Abrams for 31 yds to the TULN 10 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:01	Florida	+21 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Ja'Kobi Jackson for 21 yds to the TULN 37 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:00	Florida	+21 yd	End of 2nd Quarter
Q3 15:00	Florida	+21 yd	Trey Smack kickoff for 65 yds , Jack Tchienchou return for 21 yds to the TULN 21
Q3 10:35	Florida	+38 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Chimere Dike for 38 yds to the TULN 3 for a 1ST down
Q3 9:11	Florida	+24 yd	Trey Smack 24 yd FG GOOD
Q3 7:25	Tulane	+0 yd	Ty Thompson pass intercepted Alfonzo Allen Jr. return for no gain to the FLA 40
Q3 4:03	Florida	+7 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Tony Livingston for 7 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q4 14:52	Florida	+24 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Tony Livingston for 24 yds to the TULN 15 for a 1ST down
Q4 13:03	Florida	+30 yd	Trey Smack 30 yd FG GOOD
Q4 12:13	Tulane	+22 yd	Ty Thompson pass complete to Mario Williams for 22 yds to the TULN 49 for a 1ST down
Q4 11:33	Tulane	+22 yd	Will Karoll punt for 37 yds, fair catch by Chimere Dike at the FLA 14 Tulane Penalty, Personal Foul (-15 Yards) to the FLA 29
Q4 6:29	Florida	+25 yd	KD Daniels 25 Yd Run (Trey Smack Kick)
Q4 5:54	Tulane	+0 yd	Ty Thompson pass intercepted Myles Graham return for no gain to the TULN 47
Q4 1:11	Florida	+9 yd	Anthony Rubio run for 9 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q4 0:29	Tulane	+16 yd	Ty Thompson pass complete to Mario Williams for 16 yds for a TD (Ty Thompson pass to Zycarl Lewis Jr. for Two-Point Conversion)
Q4 1:11	Florida	+29 yd	Trey Smack kickoff for 64 yds , Bryce Bohanon return for 29 yds to the TULN 45

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
D.J. Lagway	22/35	305	8.7	1	2	49.4

Tulane

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Ty Thompson	11/29	125	4.3	1	3	10.6
Mario Williams	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	2.6

Rushing

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jadan Baugh	14	70	5.0	0	19
Ja'Kobi Jackson	12	57	4.8	0	14
KD Daniels	5	55	11.0	1	25
Anthony Rubio	6	32	5.3	1	9
Marcus Burke	1	5	5.0	0	5
D.J. Lagway	4	4	1.0	0	7
Desmond Watson	1	1	1.0	0	1
Team	1	0	0.0	0	0

Tulane

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Makhi Hughes	8	29	3.6	6
Ashaad Clayton	5	18	3.6	5
Ty Thompson	9	17	1.9	7
Jamauri McClure	1	5	5.0	5
Arnold Barnes	3	2	0.7	2
Bryce Bohanon	1	-2	-2.0	0

Receiving

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Chimere Dike	6	96	16.0	0	38
Tony Livingston	4	58	14.5	1	24
Aidan Mizell	4	50	12.5	0	29
Tawaski Abrams	1	31	31.0	0	31
Ja'Kobi Jackson	2	29	14.5	0	21
Hayden Hansen	2	18	9.0	0	10
Elijhah Badger	2	17	8.5	0	10
Jadan Baugh	1	6	6.0	0	6

Tulane

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Mario Williams	6	91	15.2	1	22
Alex Bauman	2	17	8.5	0	9
Dontae Fleming	1	13	13.0	0	13
Ashaad Clayton	1	4	4.0	0	4
Yulkeith Brown	1	0	0.0	0	0

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Florida

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Shemar James	5	5	0	0	0	0
Kamran James	3	3	1	1	0	0
George Gumbs	3	3	0	0	0	0
Jordan Castell	3	3	0	1	1	0
Tyreak Sapp	3	3	0	0	0	1
D'Ante Robinson	3	3	0	0	0	0
DJ Douglas	2	2	0	0	0	0
Dijon Johnson	2	2	0	1	0	0
Aaron Chiles	2	2	0	0	0	1
Michai Boireau	2	2	0	0	0	0
Teddy Foster	2	2	0	0	0	0
Myles Graham	2	1	0	0.5	0	0
Trikweze Bridges	1	1	0	0	0	0
Desmond Watson	1	1	0	0	0	1
Ja'Markis Weston	1	1	0	0	0	0
Alfonzo Allen	1	1	0	0	0	1
Jaden Robinson	1	1	0	0	0	0
Hayden Hansen	1	1	0	0	0	0
L.J. McCray	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tony Livingston	1	1	0	0	0	0
Gregory Smith	1	1	0	0	0	0
Brien Taylor Jr.	1	1	0	0	0	0
Sharif Denson	1	0	0	0.5	0	0
Bryce Thornton	0	0	0	0	1	0
Javion Toombs	0	0	0	0	1	0

Tulane

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Tyler Grubbs	8	4	0	0	0	2
Dickson Agu	7	7	0	1	0	1
Jalen Geiger	6	4	0	0	0	0
Sam Howard	6	4	0	0.5	0	0
Johnathan Edwards	6	3	0	0	0	0
Chris Rodgers	5	3	0	0	0	0
Bailey Despanie	4	2	0	0	1	0
Micah Robinson	4	1	0	0	0	0
Adin Huntington	3	3	1	1	0	0
Jack Tchienchou	3	3	0	0	0	0
Adonis Friloux	3	2	0	0	0	0
Patrick Jenkins	3	1	0	0	0	1
Elijah Champaigne	3	1	0	0.5	0	0
Kevin Adams	3	1	0	0	0	0
Lucius Tillery	2	2	0	0	0	0
Gerrod Henderson	2	2	0	0	0	0
Javion White	2	2	0	0	0	0
Dontae Fleming	1	1	0	0	0	0
Eric Hicks Jr.	1	1	0	0	0	0
Terrell Allen	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jayden Lewis	1	1	0	0	0	0
Deshaun Batiste	1	1	0	0	0	1
Javon Carter	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Florida

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Team	1	0	0

Tulane

No recorded stats in this category.

Interceptions

Florida

Player	INT	YDS
Trikweze Bridges	1	4
Alfonzo Allen	1	0
Myles Graham	1	0

Tulane

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Kevin Adams	1	10	0
Dickson Agu	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Florida

No recorded stats in this category.

Tulane

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jack Tchienchou	2	42	21.0	21	0
Bryce Bohanon	1	29	29.0	29	0

Kicking

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Trey Smack	4/4	100.0	44	3/3	15

Tulane

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Patrick Durkin	0/1	0.0	0	0/0	0

Punt Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Chimere Dike	1	0	0.0	0	0

Tulane

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Dontae Fleming	2	37	18.5	23	0

Punting

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Jeremy Crawshaw	3	126	42.0	0	0	43

Tulane

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Will Karoll	5	199	39.8	0	2	53

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 401677084) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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