Quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. and teammates celebrate after Saturday's upset win at No. 7-ranked Texas. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
Gators Get A Texas-Sized Lift
Saturday, October 17, 2026 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — They left their hotel shortly after 8 a.m. Central Time to play a football game at 11. By the time the Gators landed back home just before 8 p.m. Saturday, on Eastern time, they still seemed to be walking on air.
It was a mid-October day the Gators won't soon forget. They pulled off an improbable 27-24 win at No. 7 Texas, reviving memories of their 4-0 start under first-year coach Jon Sumrall. After back-to-back lopsided losses, the Gators showed they were far from dead in the water.
They did it behind quarterback Tramell Jones Jr., who made his first career start, and a defense that rediscovered its bite in Florida's largest comeback win on the road against a ranked Southeastern Conference team and its first road win over the Longhorns.
"Our guys fought," Sumrall said. "And we happened to win the game too, which is huge. But the most important thing that happened today is we fought. I want us to always win, but how you play the game matters as much to me. And we today showed a lot of character, a lot of growth, and the fact that we fought when maybe things had not been going our way, and a lot of it was self-inflicted.
"Grateful for our guys' response and the mental toughness and the resiliency to fight."
Head coach Jon Sumrall addresses his team in the locker room after Saturday's victory. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
In the days leading up to Saturday's matchup, the Gators revisited many of the same themes they had discussed the previous week, following a 38-19 Homecoming loss to South Carolina. Two weeks earlier, a 45-17 thumping at Missouri forced Florida to confront issues winning teams rarely face.
Sumrall questioned the team's mental toughness. Players spoke about pushing through adversity and fighting harder when you get punched in the face.
Then the Gators stepped onto the field Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 100,000 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium and spent much of the first quarter as a punching bag. Texas scored on its first two possessions and, late in the second quarter, extended its lead to 17-3.
Everyone could see where this was headed. Everyone except the team on the visiting sideline.
"We just started off slow, and I just had to stay the course," Jones said. "Offensive line played great, protected their butt off, and defense showed up on the back end and the front seven."
As momentum began to swing Florida's way, one play stood out above all others. On fourth-and-12 from the Texas 36-yard line with 56 seconds left before halftime, Sumrall opted to go for it rather than send out kicker Patrick Durkin for a 53-yard field-goal attempt.
Jones dropped back and delivered a perfect pass to Dallas Wilson on the far sideline. Wilson made the catch and got his feet inbounds for a 17-yard gain and a first down. Three plays later, Jones hit tight end Lacota Dippre for a 7-yard touchdown.
The Gators were back in the game.
"It gave the team a spark, and that's what we needed," Jones said.
On the opening drive of the second half, Jones connected with Dippre again for an 8-yard touchdown pass, capping a 15-play, 69-yard drive that consumed more than eight minutes.
Defensive back Kanye Clark clutches the football after recovering a game-sealing fumble. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
Meanwhile, Florida's defense turned in its best performance of the season, limiting the Longhorns to 272 yards. Texas quarterback Arch Manning finished 14 of 20 for 173 yards and a touchdown, but Jones led the Gators to victory. Starting for the injured Aaron Philo, Jones completed 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
Running back Jadan Baugh, who finished with 91 yards on 25 carries, scored on an 11-yard run with 6:22 remaining, giving the Gators 24 unanswered points and a 27-17 lead. Texas cut the deficit to 27-24, but its comeback bid ended when Myles Graham sacked Manning and forced a fumble. Kanye Clark recovered with 1:58 remaining, and the Gators ran out the clock for their highest-ranked road win since Tim Tebow and Co. beat No. 4 LSU 17 years ago.
The Gators partied like it was 2009 immediately afterward.
"It just shows that we have, like, the potential to be great," Baugh said. "I feel like the main thing we have to do is not look at the press clippings, looking at the internet, understanding that they are going to say this and they are going to say that. I can't wait to do it again."
Sumrall left the stadium wearing a cowboy hat and a grin. The Gators stared down adversity and refused to blink.
"It helps us get better," Sumrall said. "If we've learned anything about this, in this game or in life, you don't get to go, 'Hey, I was good last week, so I get to be good next week, right?' What it does for us, it gets us another win.
"But the thing it does more than a ranked win or a road win or whatever those stats are, what it does for me, it gives me belief and hope that our guys understand you have to fight your tail off every time you play the game."
In Sumrall's eyes, the Gators remain far from a finished product. They have Texas-sized improvements to make if they want to join the ranks of the elite.
They'll spend the bye week making those corrections before turning their attention to Georgia, which started Saturday as the nation's No. 1-ranked team.
The Bulldogs lost to Auburn on Saturday. The game ended about 45 minutes before Florida's plane touched down in Gainesville, prompting the sort of reaction you might expect from folks dressed in orange and blue.
It was a great day to be a Florida Gator.
And one of the sweetest trips home in a long, long time.
