GATOR BOWL : This Time, Florida Wins With Defense

Steve Spurrier, who has built a winning program at Florida around an explosive offense, won his first bowl game with defense.

The Florida defense forced an Outback Steakhouse Gator Bowl-record 11 punts during a 27-10 victory over North Carolina State in a heavy fog Thursday.

“The only way N.C. State scored was as a result of turnovers,” said Spurrier, who was given the game ball by his players.

“The story of the game was our defense,” he added. “They played sensational.”

The Gators (9-4) held the ball 19 minutes in the second half, and its defense limited the Wolfpack to 13 first downs and its lowest scoring total of the season.

Shane Matthews and Errict Rhett provided most of Florida’s offense.

Matthews threw two touchdown passes and Rhett ran for 182 yards as the 14th-ranked Gators ended a two-game losing streak.

“We came in and wanted to throw the ball, but we found out we couldn’t,” Spurrier said. “I wasn’t counting on running it that many times, but I felt like running it was our best plan of attack.”

Matthews, the most successful passer in Southeastern Conference history, also scored on a one-yard run and Judd Davis kicked two field goals.

For the second year in a row, North Carolina State lost a bowl game in its bid for the school’s first 10-victory season. The Wolfpack, ranked 12th going into the game, watched a seven-game unbeaten streak end and finished 9-3-1. East Carolina defeated the Wolfpack last season in the Peach Bowl.

“We were never able to control the line of scrimmage,” Wolfpack Coach Dick Sheridan said. “It seems like we would get a good play and then their defense would come up with a better one.”

Linebacker Carlton Miles, who led the Gators with 12 tackles, was surprised at North Carolina State’s game plan.

“I thought it was going to be a smash game, but they were more finesse,” Miles said. “Once we realized they weren’t coming at us, we began playing for the soft passes and things like that.”

Matthews threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Willie Jackson on Florida’s first possession of the second half to give the Gators a 17-0 lead, and he teamed with Harrison Houston on a 34-yard scoring play with 1:10 left in the game.

Matthews completed 19 of 38 passes for 247 yards and finished his career with a 4-0 record in the Gator Bowl, where Florida also won three regular-season games over Georgia.

North Carolina State scored its first points with 7:08 left in the third quarter on a 23-yard field goal by Steve Videtich. The field goal was set up by a fumbled punt by Monty Duncan at his 29.

The Wolfpack got its only touchdown with 2:14 left on Terry Jordan’s 11-yard pass to Aubrey Shaw.

The fog arrived at the beginning of the second quarter and grew increasingly heavy during the game, making it nearly impossible for fans to see across the field or follow the football--conditions that rivaled the 1981 game between Arkansas and North Carolina.

Matthews, who threw for 9,287 yards and 74 touchdowns in his career, attempted only nine passes in the second half, while Rhett amassed the third-best rushing total in Gator Bowl history.

Floyd Little of Syracuse gained 216 yards in 1966 and Florida State’s Tony Smith had 201 in 1985.