Three top takeaways from Florida football's win over Florida State

The 2025 season has officially reached its final chapter for Florida football.

Forget about the records. This game was one of those competitive rivalry battles where the only thing that matters is making your opponent's 60 minutes of game action a nightmare.

The Florida State Seminoles came into this matchup with a bowl game in mind, needing one more victory for eligibility. But the Orange and Blue made sure to spoil the Seminoles' plans, winning 40-21.

On the side of the Florida Gators, despite it being a rock-bottom season to forget, they wanted to finish it on a high note and against their in-state rival.

And that's what exactly what we saw on Saturday. Here are the three top takeaways from Florida's game against Florida State.

Jadan Baugh reaches the 1,000-yard mark

Florida sophomore running back Jadan Baugh has been, without a doubt, the Gators' MVP this season and even though 2025 has been bumpy, he's found a way to find production week after week.

Baugh needed 96 yards going into Saturday's game to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark and he cleared that yardage well before halftime. He ended the game with 38 carries for 266 yards and two touchdowns, breaking a single-game sophomore record in Florida football history.

He also recorded the second-most rushing yards in a single game in Florida history behind the one and only Emmitt Smith. Smith had 316 yards against New Mexico State in 1989.

Baugh becomes the 12th Gator to rush for 1,000 yards and the first since Kelvin Taylor's 1,035-yard rushing season in 2015.

It looked like Florida's plan going into this one was to feed Baugh play after play and keep FSU's defense committed to the run so it could set up those play-action passes. Well, the game plan worked to perfection and this was one of Florida's best offensive showings this season.

DJ Lagway comes up with a hat trick

Florida quarterback DJ Lagway tied a season-high with three touchdown passes today against the Seminoles. Those throws went to J. Michael Sturdivant, Tony Livingston and Hayden Hansen.

The sophomore quarterback desperately needed to find something positive from this season as he heads into an offseason that's expected to be full of preparation and ways to get better after a disappointing 2025 season.

This season was supposed to be the year that Lagway builds upon his impressive freshman campaign. It was a season that was supposed to see him emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC. And it was anything but that.

From an injury-riddled offseason to a lack of reps, 2025 is a year that Lagway needs to flush away. It's nice to see him finish the season strong, but there has to be a lot of improvement made from now until next season's opening game.

The Florida defense brought the heat

There's something about playing against the Seminoles that just lights a fire in the players' heads. Florida's defense played with the most amount of energy I've seen all year, from racking up sacks, forcing turnovers and making multiple clutch fourth-down stops.

Florida linebacker Myles Graham led the defense with eight tackles, one quarterback hurry, one tackle for loss and a sack. The Florida defense as a whole had seven tackles for loss and four sacks.

I don't know what the message was to the team, but you can tell that the Gators were not just trying to get a win. They were here to make a statement. And that they did. They weren't going to have another embarrassment in the Swamp in front of Gator Nation for the second week in a row.

They knew that Florida State was one win away from bowl eligibility and they made sure to crush whatever dream they had left. A season to forget for the Orange and Blue ended with a sliver of hope.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Three top takeaways from Florida football's win over Florida State