Box Score Post-Game Audio: 
HC Mario Cristobal LB Scott Bryant QB Paul McCall WR T.Y. Hilton
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FIU went into Florida Field with an upset on their mind, but the top-ranked Florida Gators scored early and often to leave no doubt and beat the Panthers 62-3, Saturday afternoon in Gainesville.
For the Panthers, T.Y. Hilton looked to be back to his old self as he led all FIU receivers with four catches and 75 yards. He also returned four kicks for 92 yards giving him 167 all-purpuse yards. On defense, underclassmen led the way as freshmen Jonathan Cyprien and Markieth Russell had nine and seven tackles, respectively while sophomore Aaron Davis had eight stops.
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow threw for 215 yards and a pair of scores, and ran for 102 and one touchdown to lead the balanced Florida attack.
After a roughing the punter penalty gave FIU the ball back following a three and out, Paul McCall threw an interception on the first play of the ensuing drive, and Florida's Brandon Spikes returned it 41 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Florida lead.
FIU went three and out on their next possession, giving the ball to ebow and the Florida offense on their own 16-yard line. On the fifth play of the drive, Tebow broke off a 55-yard run to put the Gators up 14-0 with 9:18 to go in the first quarter. The run was the longest of Tebow's career.
With 13:39 to go in the second quarter, a Tebow threw a shovel pass to Chris Rainey that the running back took to the endzone for a 27-yard TD that put the Gators up 21-0.
The Gators added seven more on a 22-yard run by Rainey.
On the ensuing kickoff, Wayne Times returned the ball 47 yards to midfield, giving FIU their best drive starting field position of the first half. On third and six, Wayne Younger took off and picked up 16 yards to give the Panthers their first non-penalty first down of the game. However, the drive stalled at the UF 16, forcing FIU to kick a field goal that sailed wide right to keep the score at 28-0 with 5:17 left in the first half.
Florida would add another score on a Jeff Demps three-yard TD.
Aided by a dirty hit by Florida's Major Wright, FIU was able to march down the field and kick a flied goal to get on the board before the end of the half. On the third play of the drive, McCall found Colt Anderson for an 18 yard completion. After Anderson ran out of bounds, Wright launched himself at Anderson's head, drawing the flag and a 15-yard penalty. Later in the drive, McCall connected with Hilton, who made a great one-handed catch before being brought down at the Florida 10. After the drive stalled, Dustin Rivest converted a 37-yard kick to put the Panthers on the scoreboard with 29 seconds to go in the first half.
The Gators opened up the second half with a 34-yard kickoff return that set up a 41-yard scoring drive, capped off by a TD pass from Tebow to Riley Cooper to make the score 42-3.
Tebow then exited the game, giving way to John Brantley, who threw three passing touchdowns as the Gators added 27 second-half points to bring the final score to 62-3. The 62 points is the most ever given up by FIU and the 59-point loss matches the worst defeat in FIU history.
The Panthers have a bye week coming up before hosting Florida Atlantic on December 5th in the 2009 Shula Bowl.
Of note:
-#27 - John Ellis, #30 - Jonathan Faucher and #44 Scott Bryant served as team captains for FIU
-Freshman Markeith Russell's seven tackles are a career-high.
-Freshman Wayne Times' 47-yard kickoff return is his longest of the season.
-T.Y. Hilton's 167 all-purpose yards are the most he has had since racking up 224 against ULM on October 3.
-Dustin Rivest took over punting duties after Carlos Munera got hurt on his first kick of the afternoon. He kicked five times and averaged 40.2 with a long of 50 yards.
-Scott Bryant's fourth quarter tackle was his fifth of the game and 295th of his FIU career, which tied him with John Harritan for second on FIU's all-time list. He then passed him with his sixth tackle of the game. He finished the contest with six stops, giving him 296 for his career. Keyonvis Bouie is the all-time leader with 299.
-The 62 points is the second most ever given up by FIU and the 59-point loss matches the worst defeat in FIU history (59-0 at Penn State - 9/1/07).
