Gators 41, Wolverines 15

Gators 41, Wolverines 15 The Gators put an exclamation point on their 2018 turnaround season by dominating Michigan in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

Florida made its 44th bowl appearance all-time (23-21 overall record).

Saturday marked the 18th occasion that UF played in a New Year's Six Bowl Game and the first time since 2012.

QB Feleipe Franks has been through a lot since the season started, but Saturday he proved all his doubters wrong.

Dan Mullen became the third head coach in history to win 10 games in a debut season with a current Power Five program after inheriting a team that won less than five games the year prior.

Florida's band and cheerleaders assisted in creating an unbelievable environment for Florida's student-athletes inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Florida is one of five FBS teams that finished under .500 last year and won 10 games this season. Utah State (11-2), Cincinnati (10-2), Georgia Southern (10-3), and Syracuse (10-3) are the others.

Only five Gators rushed for 600-plus yards in the eight seasons from 2010-17, with Jordan Scarlett being one of them (889 yards in 2016).

Senior OL Martez Ivey was Florida's lone captain for the game.

Michigan appeared to have a 46-yard touchdown run by Christian Turner on its opening possession, but replays showed that he stepped out at the UF 38-yard line, a yard shy of a first down. The Gators' defense stood tall on the next two runs, forcing a turnover-on-downs and establishing the early tone.

Feleipe Franks joined Tim Tebow as the only other Gator since the start of the 2000 season to record a passing and rushing touchdown in a bowl game.

C.J. Henderson assisted UF's team in setting the tone defensively as he posted the third sack of his career in the first quarter.

Lamical Perine (826) and Jordan Scarlett (776) are the first pair of Gators with at least 775 rushing yards in a season since Elijah Williams (858) and Terry Jackson (780) both hit that mark in 1995.

Franks completed four passes of 20-plus yards during the game.

Van Jefferson caught four passes for 64 yards on Saturday.

Evan McPherson joins Bart Edmiston (71 of 71 in 1995) and Judd Davis (65 of 65 in 1994) school history to make 100 percent of his PATs (with a minimum of 50) in a season, as he finished the year 50-50.

Nick Savage assisted Dan Mullen in changing the culture around the program and getting the guys ready for this type of season.

Jordan Scarlett was one of many juniors who had a decision to make after the game about his NFL future.

McPherson finished the year 17 of 19 on field goal attempts (89.5 percent), which would have set a singleseason school record for field percentage, but he was one attempt short the 20 necessary to qualify.

Gator Nation had plenty to cheer about on Saturday.

With yet another five-sack performance, Florida's defense surpassed the 1996 and 1997 Gators to become the only UF team since the start of the 1990 season to record five-plus sacks in five games.

Senior TE C'yontai Lewis said this in the locker room after the game: "It's crazy. Around last December I was thinking about quitting football. If it weren't for you Coach Mullen, we wouldn't be here today."

Feleipe Franks’ 20-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter was his seventh of the year, the highest season total by a Gators quarterback since Tim Tebow ran for 14 in 2009.

Franks finished the season with 350 yards rushing and seven touchdowns on the ground.

Feleipe Franks was named the game’s Offensive MVP.

"It's was a great feeling, tears of joy, that I've always wanted to be in the middle of confetti falling down on me, winning championships. Coach Mullen's bringing that back to Florida." -- Feleipe Franks

The environment in Atlanta all week was fun for the coaches and student-athletes to see.

Florida's fight song was played many times on Saturday by the 'Pride of the Sunshine'.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson was named the game’s Defensive MVP. Gardner-Johnson snagged his team-leading third and fourth interceptions in the second half, becoming the first Gator with multiple interceptions in a game since he did it himself in the 2017 Outback Bowl win over Iowa.

Florida defeated Michigan for the first time in what was the fifth meeting between the two programs, and it also marked the Gators’ first win over the Wolverines in the fourth bowl game matchup between the two.

Amari Burney’s sack in the third quarter was the first of his career, and it was also just his second tackle for loss this year.

UF rushed for 200-plus yards for the ninth time this year, tying the 2008 Gators for the highest number of times it hit that mark in a season since the start of 1996. The Gators combined for eight 200-yard rushing games from 2015-17.

Florida amassed 425-plus total yards for the sixth time this year, tying the 2009 Gators for the most such games in a season since 2008, when it did it eight times in Mullen’s final season as offensive coordinator. From 2015-17, the Gators logged 425-plus yards in a combined total of five games.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who has declared for the NFL Draft, finishes his career with nine interceptions. Gardner-Johnson’s 30-yard interception return touchdown was the first pick-six by a Gator in a bowl game since his own 58-yard interception return touchdown in the aforementioned 2017 Outback Bowl.

Jachai Polite tied Clifford Charlton’s 1986 single-season school record for forced fumbles with his forced fumble in the middle of the second quarter, as it was Polite’s sixth of the 2018 campaign. Polite also became the fourth Gator in history with at least eight career forced fumbles, joining Charlton (15 – 1984-87), Guss Scott (11 – 2000-03), and Alex Brown (9 – 1997-2001).

C'yontai Lewis was a team leader all season long and helped guide his teammates through various hardships on and off the field.

"The Gators are back, and I'm proud of Coach Mullen and the staff they have here and how they keep pushing us. They're going to keep pushing us to be great players and great men in the world." -- LB Vosean Joseph

Mullen led the second-largest turnaround in school history, in terms of win total, as Florida is 10-3 after a 4-7 season.

"We got the result we wanted. I'm so proud of this team and this group of guys." -- Dan Mullen

"We did it Canon!'' fifth-year senior R.J. Raymond said to Canon Mullen, the head coach's son, as they untangled from a victory celebration.

Coach Mullen celebrates with his son, Canon.

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Champions.

A pictures says 1,000 words. Or 1,000 pieces of confetti.

There was a lot of love in Florida's locker room after the game.

Senior DL Cece Jefferson and Dan Mullen share a moment together after the huge win.

C'yontai Lewis fields questions from reporters after the win.

The culture around this team has changed... Who's excited for 2019?

Watch the game highlights

Appreciate

Gators 41, Wolverines 15 The Gators put an exclamation point on their 2018 turnaround season by dominating Michigan in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

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