What did Florida football learn from the Gasparilla Bowl? We now know three things

TAMPA — Florida football ended the 2024 season with its fourth straight win, pulling away in the second half to beat Tulane 33-8 in front of 41,472 fans at Raymond James Stadium.

The Florida Gators (8-5) overcame a 1-2 start that included lopsided home losses to Miami and Texas A&M to finish strong and bring some positive momentum into 2025.

“I’m really proud of how the coaches and players worked together to get us back on track,” Florida football coach Billy Napier said. “Things could have easily gone wrong once the season started, but we gained confidence and confidence and felt like we could compete with anyone in the last half of the season.”

Florida earned its first bowl win since 2019 against Virginia in the Orange Bowl, defeating Tulane 529-194 and forcing three turnovers.

“The adversity we faced this season really brought this team closer together,” Florida wide receiver Chimere Dike said.

Here are three things Florida learned from its victory over the Green Wave:

Florida football has some promising young players on the horizon

Freshman quarterback DJ Lagway completed 22 of 35 passes for 305 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, earning Gasparilla Bowl MVP honors. He became the first Florida quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in a game in bowl history.

But Lagway wasn’t the only newcomer to stand out against the Green Wave. Myles Graham recorded his first career interception and running back KD Daniels recovered a lagway fumble and ran 27 yards for a touchdown.

The bowl game provided opportunities for several of UF’s young players throughout the game. Freshman linebacker Aaron Chiles also had a solid game with two tackles and a quarterback hurry.

“That was one of the exciting things about the game because there were a lot of players who were going to play a bigger role in the game,” Napier said.

Florida football maintained its strong defensive play without two key players

Even with Jack Pyburn and TJ Searcy heading into the transfer portal, Florida football still played an exceptional game on defense, holding Tulane scoreless until quarterback Ty Thomspon found receiver Mario Williams for a TD pass with 29 seconds left.

UF forced three turnovers, all by interceptions, and finished the year with 25 takeaways.

Florida allowed an average of just 13.0 points per game during its season-ending four-game winning streak.

“To be a consistent championship contender you have to play really good defense,” Napier said. “We went to Tennessee and played pretty good defense and we kept that up the rest of the season.”

Florida football TE Tony Livingston could play a role in 2025

Livingston finished the game with four catches for 58 yards and a TD, including a 24-yard catch in the first half in an exhibition game for the Tampa sophomore. Livingston is a big target at 6-foot-4 and 254 pounds and has shown better hands as the season has progressed. On Friday he caught all four balls aimed his way.

Kevin Brockway is the Florida beat writer for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Football’s Gasparilla Bowl win over Tulane: 3 things we learned