August 30, 2025 Week 1 · Regular Season Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 55–0, at home over Long Island University.

Home · Defending Holder

FloridaAP No. 15 55

Away · Challenger

Long Island University 0

AP poll, week 1: Long Island University unranked at Florida No. 15 · No. 1 that week: Texas. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida came in 280 days into reign #326, which began with a win over Ole Miss, with 2 defenses already behind it; this was its third defense. It was the last defense: South Florida took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 6, 2025.

For Long Island University this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t; this remains its only belt game.

This is the only time Florida and Long Island University have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Florida dominated Long Island University from start to finish, winning 55-0 to retain the belt with a dominant defensive performance that held the Sharks scoreless. The Gators struck early with Jadan Baugh's 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, then put the game away with an explosive second quarter that saw DJ Lagway orchestrate four touchdown drives, including a 41-yard completion to Vernell Brown III followed by an 8-yard scoring strike to J. Michael Sturdivant with just 10 seconds left in the half. Florida's defense forced two critical turnovers, including a 37-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Bryce Thornton in the first quarter, while Long Island managed just 86 total yards of offense and went 1-12 on third-down conversions. The Gators' superior field position and execution kept Long Island perpetually on its heels, with Trey Smack adding field goals to punctuate Florida's relentless offensive assault.

Bryce Thornton's 37-yard fumble return for a touchdown in Q1 set an early tone of Florida dominance
DJ Lagway's four touchdown passes in the second quarter, capped by the 8-yard score to Sturdivant with 0:10 left in the half, effectively ended any competitive hope
Long Island's lone third-down conversion and inability to sustain any offensive drive kept them perpetually behind the chains
Florida's zero turnovers versus Long Island's two turnovers exemplified the gulf in execution between the teams

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.

By Quarter

Line score

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Florida	14	24	10	7	55
Long Island University	0	0	0	0	0

Pulled directly from CFBD’s play-by-play record, the same source as every score in the lineage.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

FloridaLong Island University

Total yards45186

Rushing yards20037

Passing yards25149

First downs282

3rd down conv.7/131/12

Turnovers02

Penalties–yards0–012–100

Time of possession34:2725:33

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
Q4 9:14	Long Island University	+28 yd	Luca Stanzani pass complete to Deion Richardson for 28 yds to the FLA 30 for a 1ST down
Q4 0:25	Florida	+11 yd	Tramell Jones Jr. pass complete to Taylor Spierto for 11 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q1 13:41	Long Island University	+37 yd	Bryce Thornton 37 Yd Fumble Return (Trey Smack Kick)
Q1 10:26	Florida	+32 yd	Jadan Baugh run for 17 yds to the LIU 38 for a 1ST down Long Island University Penalty, Personal Foul (Trey Watkins) to the LIU 23 for a 1ST down
Q1 9:29	Florida	+4 yd	Jadan Baugh run for 4 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q1 6:52	Long Island University	+21 yd	Will Lynch punt for 40 yds , Vernell Brown III returns for 21 yds to the LIU 44
Q1 3:02	Florida	+40 yd	Trey Smack 40 yd FG MISSED
Q1 4:06	Florida	+0 yd	Ja'Kobi Jackson run for no gain to the LIU 18 Ja'Kobi Jackson fumbled, recovered by FLA Damieon George Jr.
Q2 14:47	Florida	+56 yd	Trey Smack 56 yd FG GOOD
Q2 12:46	Long Island University	+20 yd	Will Lynch punt for 46 yds , Vernell Brown III returns for 20 yds to the FLA 42
Q2 9:21	Florida	+39 yd	Trey Smack 39 yd FG MISSED
Q2 11:51	Florida	+24 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Vernell Brown III for 24 yds to the LIU 25 for a 1ST down
Q2 8:28	Long Island University	-13 yd	Ethan Greenwood run for a loss of 13 yards to the LIU 10 Ethan Greenwood fumbled, recovered by FLA Bryce Thornton
Q2 7:04	Florida	+4 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Eugene Wilson III for 4 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q2 5:15	Florida	+41 yd	Jadan Baugh run for 26 yds to the LIU 38 for a 1ST down Long Island University Penalty, Face Mask (15 yards) (Deuce Cooper) to the LIU 47 for a 1ST down
Q2 3:45	Florida	+28 yd	Jadan Baugh run for 23 yds to the LIU 9 for a 1ST down Long Island University Penalty, Block Below Waist (Trey Watkins) to the LIU 4 for a 1ST down
Q2 3:26	Florida	+4 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Hayden Hansen for 4 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q2 1:02	Florida	+41 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Vernell Brown III for 41 yds to the LIU 8 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:10	Florida	+8 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to J. Michael Sturdivant for 8 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q3 10:53	Florida	+41 yd	Trey Smack 41 yd FG GOOD
Q3 14:50	Long Island University	+25 yd	Will Lynch kickoff for 62 yds , Vernell Brown III return for 25 yds to the FLA 33
Q3 13:00	Florida	+21 yd	Tramell Jones Jr. pass complete to TJ Abrams for 21 yds to the LIU 27 for a 1ST down
Q3 4:42	Florida	+32 yd	Tramell Jones Jr. pass complete to TJ Abrams for 32 yds to the LIU 32 for a 1ST down
Q3 4:14	Florida	+12 yd	Tramell Jones Jr. pass complete to Naeshaun Montgomery for 12 yds Naeshaun Montgomery fumbled, recovered by FLA Naeshaun Montgomery for a 1ST down
Q3 2:03	Florida	+4 yd	Tramell Jones Jr. pass complete to Tony Livingston for 4 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q4 10:49	Florida	+57 yd	Trey Smack 57 yd FG MISSED

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
Tramell Jones Jr.	12/18	131	7.3	2	0	44.7
D.J. Lagway	15/18	120	6.7	3	0	29.8

Long Island University

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	QBR
Luca Stanzani	1/3	28	9.3	--
Ethan Greenwood	3/6	21	3.5	--
Chris Howell	0/2	0	0.0	--

Rushing

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jadan Baugh	9	104	11.6	1	26
Anthony Rubio	5	27	5.4	0	12
Ja'Kobi Jackson	7	24	3.4	0	13
Duke Clark	5	19	3.8	0	5
Tramell Jones Jr.	5	14	2.8	0	9
KD Daniels	4	9	2.3	0	5
D.J. Lagway	3	3	1.0	0	9

Long Island University

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Kam Ingram	4	14	3.5	6
Luca Stanzani	5	6	1.2	4
Ethan Greenwood	12	6	0.5	5
Cory Nichols	1	5	5.0	5
O'Shawn Ross Jr.	5	3	0.6	4
Deion Richardson	1	2	2.0	2
Chris Howell	1	1	1.0	1
Tyselle Spencer	1	1	1.0	1
Jordan Kinsler	1	0	0.0	0
Team	1	-1	-1.0	0

Receiving

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Vernell Brown III	3	79	26.3	0	41
Tawaski Abrams	2	53	26.5	0	32
Hayden Hansen	3	27	9.0	1	16
Naeshaun Montgomery	2	19	9.5	0	12
Tony Livingston	2	16	8.0	1	12
Tank Hawkins	1	14	14.0	0	14
Taylor Spierto	1	11	11.0	1	11
Amir Jackson	1	10	10.0	0	10
Jackson Wade	1	10	10.0	0	10
J.Michael Sturdivant	2	7	3.5	1	8
Muizz Tounkara	1	4	4.0	0	4
KD Daniels	1	3	3.0	0	3
Duke Clark	1	3	3.0	0	3
Ja'Kobi Jackson	1	-1	-1.0	0	0
Eugene Wilson	5	-4	-0.8	1	4

Long Island University

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Deion Richardson	2	37	18.5	28
Cory Nichols	1	11	11.0	11
Jaiden Dozier	1	1	1.0	1

Show more stats (6 more categories)

Defense

Florida

Player	TOT	SOLO	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
Myles Graham	5	4	1	0	0	0
Kamran James	5	2	0.5	0	0	0
Jaden Robinson	4	4	2	0	0	0
Myles Johnson	4	3	0	0	0	0
Brendan Bett	3	3	1	0	0	0
Devin Moore	2	1	0	0	0	0
George Gumbs	2	1	1.5	0	1	0
Jeramiah Mccloud	2	1	0	0	0	0
Aaron Gates	1	1	0	0	0	0
Bryce Thornton	1	1	0	0	0	1
Dijon Johnson	1	1	0	0	0	0
Kofi Asare	1	1	1	0	0	0
Teddy Foster	1	1	0	0	0	0
Titus Bullard	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tyreak Sapp	1	0	0	0	0	0
Michai Boireau	1	0	0	0	0	0
Lagonza Hayward	1	0	0	0	0	0
Brien Taylor Jr.	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jordan Castell	0	0	0	0	1	0
Micheal Caraway Jr.	0	0	0	1	0	0
J'Vari Flowers	0	0	0	1	0	0

Long Island University

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Rafael Fasolino	9	7	0	4	0	0
Elijah Casey	8	6	1	1	0	0
Kyon Conyers	6	2	0	0	0	0
Naquan Johnson	5	3	0	0	0	0
Deuce Cooper	5	2	0	2	0	0
Marshall Washington Jr.	4	3	0	0	0	0
Taveon Wheeler	4	2	0	0	0	0
Kezni Brown	4	1	0	1.5	0	0
Scoop Gardner Jr.	4	1	0	0	0	0
Chase Davis	3	3	0	0	1	0
Lacory Walker Jr.	3	3	0	0	0	0
Omari Lewis	3	2	0	0	0	0
Jeremie McGurn	3	1	0	0	0	0
Keith Bourque	3	0	0	0	0	0
Norman Massey	2	1	0	0	0	0
Braylon Vincent	2	1	0	0	0	0
Jalen Bell	2	1	0	0	0	0
DQ Watkins	1	1	0	0	0	0
Rodney Mills	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jaylin Lewis	1	1	0	0	0	0
Breon Askins	1	1	0	0	0	0
Franklin Smith	1	0	0	0	0	0
Trey Watkins	1	0	0	0.5	0	0
Nathan Hajduk	1	0	0	0	0	0
Ja'Nyus Morgan	0	0	0	0	0	1

Fumbles

Florida

Player	FUM	REC
Naeshaun Montgomery	1	0
Ja'Kobi Jackson	1	0
Bryce Thornton	0	2

Long Island University

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Ethan Greenwood	1	1	0
Chris Howell	1	1	0

Kick Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Vernell Brown III	1	25	25.0	25	0

Long Island University

No recorded stats in this category.

Kicking

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Trey Smack	2/5	40.0	56	7/7	13

Long Island University

No recorded stats in this category.

Punt Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Vernell Brown III	3	45	15.0	21	0

Long Island University

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Tommy Doman	1	47	47.0	0	1	47

Long Island University

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Will Lynch	9	383	42.6	0	1	58

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 401752668) · This game in the downloadable dataset

← Tulane at Florida South Florida at Florida →