Expectations were subverted on Saturday when the Florida Gators upset the Texas Longhorns in Austin, 27-24, in a game that exemplified why college football is the best game on turf.

The Orange and Blue had lost two straight games by blowout margins and were double-digit underdogs entering the matchup. Florida fell behind early by 14 points in the first half, but things started clicking heading into halftime as the Gators outplayed the Longhorns the rest of the way.

Tramell Jones Jr. looked strong in his first collegiate start while Jadan Baugh came close to the 100-yard mark, collecting 91 on 25 runs — both providing leadership and clutch performances for the offense. Meanwhile, the defense looked like it finally started to figure things out, holding Arch Manning and his corps to 17 points on 272 total yards.

It was, for all intents and purposes, an all-around effort from Florida in the Week 7 win.

Immediately after the final seconds ticked off the game clock, the Gators Wire staff submitted their instant reactions and analysis to the upset win in good, bad and ugly format. Here is what we had to offer.

Adam Dubbin

Without Jones leading the way with both his arm and feet, it is hard to see the Gators prevailing in this major upset victory for the Orange and Blue.

However, the punt return for a touchdown was not what one expects from a highly-touted corps — the Gators' defense opened up like the Red Sea and allowed Ryan Niblett to reach the promised land unscathed. There was also the first punt of the game where Florida had a chance to pin Texas at the 1-yard line; instead, it resulted in a touchback.

Alas, it ended up not being the difference-maker we had feared.

David Rosenberg

Cormani McClain blew up Hollywood Smothers for a 3-yard loss on 3rd and 1 in the 3rd quarter; Ty Jackson stuffed Smothers on 4th and 1 before halftime. The big play came when Lagonza Hayward and Ben Hanks III got Arch Manning on 3rd and 1 before Brendan Bett dropped him for a 3-yard loss on 4th and 2.

Texas kept finding itself in manageable situations. Florida just kept winning them.

The best example of this came after the Gators got to the Texas 29: second-and-14, Florida ran Jadan Baugh up the middle for 3; third-and-11, Tramell Jones Jr. dumped it off to Baugh behind the line of scrimmage for a 1-yard loss. Durkin saved the possession with a 45-yard field goal, but that sequence summed up much of the first half.

Short throws and runs rarely convert second-and-long or third-and-long, especially when you finally get the ball in enemy territory.

Then the Gators came out of halftime and converted all five third downs on their opening touchdown drive. They finished 8-for-12 on third down after the break, after failing to convert a single one before it. Whatever Florida figured out in the locker room obviously worked. It just would have been nice to figure it out before spending an entire half going 0-for-7.

Michael Trim Jr.

Michael Long

We may look back at the 4th and 12 throw from Tramell to Dallas Wilson late in the 2nd quarter as a turning point for this program.

The Florida secondary also stepped up big, making life difficult for Arch Manning, who was nearly picked off in the second quarter by Bryce Thornton. In the first half, Manning only had two completions over five yards; he had a total of 77 yards with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The run game has struggled to return to form, only managing to rush for 3.4 yards per carry. Florida failed to convert on 1st-and-goal at the start of the fourth that could have extended the lead further; Jones overthrew his intended receiver for one of his worst throws of the day. While they did control time of possession — especially in the second half — the Florida offense wasn't able to produce any explosive plays.

The Gators started to unravel a bit down the stretch with a dropped snap that was almost disastrous for Jones.