SOUTHEASTERN ROUNDUP : Florida Sputters, Still Wins; Florida St. Next

No. 3 Florida has enough offensive weapons to beat a letdown and Vanderbilt on the same afternoon.

Florida got past Vanderbilt, 24-7, Saturday at Nashville.

The Gators, 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference, clinched their third consecutive SEC Eastern Division title last week against South Carolina and will face No. 8-ranked Florida State next week.

The 24 points Saturday was Florida’s lowest output of the season. The Gators’ previous low came in a 31-0 victory at Tennessee in September.

“We didn’t play very well today,” Florida Coach Steve Spurrier said. “We threw the ball a lot better last week. But give Vandy credit for being able to cover and for having a good pass rush.”

Vanderbilt (5-5, 2-5) lost to the Gators, 52-0, last year but blitzed and stunted in sacking Danny Wuerffel four times and holding Florida to 221 yards passing, well below its 367-yard average.

“Offensively, we sputtered again,” Spurrier said. “It seems like (Vanderbilt defensive coordinator) Carl Reese’s defense is tough on us. We never go far throwing the ball against Vandy. We didn’t do very well last year, we didn’t do very well this year.”

Florida rushed 42 times for 229 yards behind Taylor and Elijah Williams, who had 15 carries for 96 yards. The Gators had averaged 167 yards rushing while leading the SEC in total offense at 488 yards a game.

Louisiana State 49, Tulane 25--Jamie Howard threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score at New Orleans as the Tigers (3-7) won one for fired coach Curley Hallman.

Hallman, fired Tuesday after four consecutive losing seasons, is 15-28 heading into next Saturday’s finale against Arkansas.

Howard threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Kennison 49 seconds into the game, but Tulane (1-10) got even on 72-yard run by Adam Moorhead. LSU was on top, 28-10, by halftime.

Tennessee 52, Kentucky 0--Peyton Manning passed for two touchdowns and ran for one at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee (6-4, 4-3) dominated every phase of the game, rolling up 471 yards to 162 for Kentucky (1-10, 0-8).

It was Tennessee’s 10th consecutive victory in the series.