Miss. upends No. 6 Florida 17-14

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Posted 7:05PM on Saturday, October 5, 2002

OXFORD, Miss. - Matt Grier returned the second of his two interceptions 24 yards for the go-ahead touchdown as Mississippi shut out No. 6 Florida in the second half to beat the Gators 17-14 Saturday. The celebration for the Rebels' biggest victory in decades started a second too soon, though. Ole Miss (4-1, 2-0 SEC) tried to let the clock tick to zero without running a final fourth-down play, but officials stopped it with one second left while fans were already pouring onto the field. It took a few moments to clear the field so Eli Manning could run one more play, take a knee and start the party. The Gators (4-2, 2-1) found themselves in a defensive struggle as Rex Grossman threw four interceptions. He was 19-of-41 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. The Rebels' defense, which allowed 38 points and more than 400 yards to Vanderbilt two weeks ago, bottled up the Gators' big-play threats and gave up only four second-half first downs. Taylor Jacobs had five catches for 80 yards and Earnest Graham ran for just 52 yards on 16 carries. Neither scored a touchdown or had a play longer than 20 yards. Manning was 18-for-33 for 154 yards, and for the first time in his career he didn't throw a touchdown pass as a starter. Grossman was intercepted on the first possession of the second half by Grier, who returned it 10 yards to the Florida 18. Three plays later, Vashon Pearson scored from the 4 and Manning hit Jason Armstead for the 2-point conversion to cut the Gators' lead to 14-10. Grier grabbed another pass from Grossman - this one thrown into double-coverage - at the Florida 24 and made a nice cutback before vaulting into the end zone to give Ole Miss its first lead, 17-14, midway through the third quarter. The Gators contributed to their own problems with 11 penalties, as well as some poor throws and shoddy pass blocking. An illegal-man-downfield penalty by Florida wiped out a big gain on pass from Graham to Grossman that would have given the Gators a first down at the Rebels 12 in the fourth quarter. An illegal-formation penalty on the same drive led to a fourth-and-13 from the 30. Florida coach Ron Zook decided against letting shaky kicker Matt Leach attempt a potential game-tying field goal. Instead, Grossman was sacked by Eddie Strong on the fourth down. Leach, who is 3-for-5 on field-goal attempts on the season and has missed five extra points, had a 35-yard attempt blocked in the first half. On the Gators' next possession, Grossman threw his final interception, a pass that floated over the head over Jacobs and into the arms of Travis Blanchard with 2:58 left. Florida kept the game close with a strong defensive effort against the Rebels, who had been averaging 35 points a game. The Gators' front stuffed the run and sacked Manning three times, and Ole Miss had just 191 total yards. Florida did not have a first down in five possessions in the third quarter, with Grossman going 2-for-10 for minus 2 yards. Grier left the game with a foot injury following his second interception, but he returned late in the fourth quarter. Florida is the first top-10 team Ole Miss has beaten since knocking off No. 8 LSU in 1997. Grossman threw two touchdowns to Carlos Perez in the first half to give the Gators a 14-0 lead, but his intentional-grounding penalty under a heavy rush in the end zone gave Ole Miss its first points.