Florida sluggish, needs late flurry to beat Miami (Ohio)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - No. 4 Florida opened the post-Tim Tebow era with a resounding thud. The Gators got four interceptions, several red-zone stops and two late touchdowns to pull away from heavy underdog Miami of Ohio, 34-12, Saturday.

But the real story was the anemic offense. "I didn't imagine the offense's incompetence that we experienced today," coach Urban Meyer said.

There were a bunch of fumbles, several bad snaps, some poor throws, six penalties and a whole lot of frustration in the Swamp.

Quarterback John Brantley was 17-for-25 for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 10-yarder to Omarius Hines that was the offense's longest play of the day until speedster Jeff Demps got loose for a 72-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Brantley also threw a 25-yard TD pass to Chris Rainey with 1:21 remaining. That fourth-and-21 pass bounced off a teammate before Rainey grabbed it in the end zone.

"I'm not embarrassed at all," Brantley said. "It was one those days, I guess you could say."

Florida finished with eight fumbles (three lost) and 212 yards, 187 of them in the final 13 minutes. Deonte Thompson dropped a perfectly thrown deep ball in the end zone. Mike Pouncey, who moved from guard to center this year, airmailed one snap over Brantley's head and chunked two others into the ground.- AP