Over in the visitor’s locker room Saturday, Florida coach Billy Napier looked forlorn and said, “We just flat out have to play better.”

The Gators just flat out got worn out by the fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns.

“Look, we struggled to get anything going early,” Napier said. “We scored three times in the second half. But not good enough.”

Napier said quarterback DJ Lagway worked on his hamstring injury all week long. But when it came time for kickoff, the Gators started third-stringer Aidan Warner. The Texas defense turned on the pressure, generated three turnovers, flexed its depth and never let up en route to a 49-17 win.

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The Longhorns got a standout performance from linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., who had a team-high seven tackles. Andrew Mukuba bounced back from injury with six tackles and an interception. Freshman Kobe Black continues to climb the ladder; he had six tackles, too.

But it was more impressive how many defensive players got onto the field and earned playing experience against an SEC opponent.

Defensive end Trey Moore had his best half of the season with four tackles and a fumble recovery. Freshman Ty’Anthony Smith had five tackles and an interception. Freshman Colin Simmons made his presence felt with a grown-man tackle. Jaylon Guilbeau hauled in a tipped ball for another interception.

“Yeah, like I’ve been saying, I'm not too much worried about stats, just trying to play as strong as a defensive goal and what the coaches have in this game that we have to do,” Moore said. “So as long as we’re playing the way we play, winning games is really the most important thing.”

Texcalibur, UT’s turnover sword, was full of deflated footballs for turnovers and defensive goals by the time it was over.

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“As a whole, I think we were in there as a family just rallying to the ball and getting hat to the ball,” defensive back Jahdae Barron said. “Then we always play for a sword, and I think we stacked a lot of balls on that sword today.”

The final stats are somewhat misleading. Florida finished with 329 yards and went 6-for-14 on third down. But 182 of those yards came in the second half after Texas led 42-0. The Gators got the ball back and drove to the Texas 5-yard line only to miss a 23-yard field goal.

At that point, with 7:03 remaining in the third quarter, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian pulled starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and put backup Arch Manning.

“We just keep trying to bring these young guys along,” Sarkisian said, “because you never know when we’re going to need them. So when we can play them now, when that moment comes, we’re going to need one of the or two or three of these guys, I think their level of comfort and confidence will be even higher because of the experience that we're able to get them.”