Florida Gators' DJ Lagway Shines in Clash With Samford

©Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

The Florida Gators (1-1) defeated the Samford Bulldogs (0-2), 45-7, on Sept. 7th in Gainesville, Fla. after a dominant display of defense and quarterback play from DJ Lagway. Lagway, a true freshman, led the Gators at quarterback in his first ever start for the Gators. Senior quarterback Graham Mertz had a concussion in Florida's first game against No. 12 Miami Hurricanes (2-0). The last quarterback to start as a true freshman was Treon Harris in 2014.

The two teams defended quite well for the first few drives, but that all went out the window when Lagway threw a 77-yard pass to Elijhah Badger who was tackled at the 3-yard line. Two plays later, running back Montrell Johnson Jr. ran the ball into the end zone, giving the Gators their first lead of the year. The Gators never looked back.

Unlike their first game against Miami, the Gators were able to run all over the Bulldogs, rushing for 166 yards as a team. With the running game going, the play-action passing game became much more available. Lagway found receiver Tank Hawkins for his first passing touchdown in his college career. He passed for 456 passing yards in his first start, leaving a very good impression with everyone who watched.

The Game Changer

The play that turned the game around was the 77-yard bomb thrown by Lagway to Badger. This changed the outlook of the game as it gave confidence to Lagway for the rest of the game. In his first four passes, he completed all of them and had 167 yards passing. He finished the first half with 8 passes completed and 210 yards passing. Both of the Gator's first half scores came off the back of deep Lagway passes to Badger.

©Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

The Bulldogs were not able to pull off any of their success from their first venture into The Swamp in 2021. Four of their five starting offensive linemen played in the game in 2021 and they believed that would give them an advantage going into the game in 2024. Unfortunately, Samford only had 61 rushing yards as a team. Their lead back, Demonta Witherspoon, had just 26 yards on the ground.

What It Means

For the Gators, this game was a must-win. If the Gators want to have any sort of success this season, they had to get the win in their "cupcake" game of the year. The Gators were tested by the Bulldogs, especially in the run game. However, the defense didn't give up first points until the third quarter. The Gators will follow up the win against Samford with another home clash, this time against the Texas A&M Aggies (1-1).

For the Bulldogs, they head back home to face Alabama State before traveling to South Carolina to face Furman. Samford came in to the game never expecting to the win the game. They did exactly what they wanted to do and that was get paid and make a FBS team sweat a little.