Baugh keeps Florida unbeaten with historic start

What Happened

Florida running back Baugh turned 29 carries into 142 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s 52-28 win over Ole Miss, earning his first Week 4 honor and pushing Florida to a 4-0 start. The award is the latest marker in a run that has made Baugh a serious Heisman Trophy candidate. Against Ole Miss, he produced his fourth consecutive game with at least 135 rushing yards and multiple touchdowns. Over his last five games, he has topped 100 yards every time, a stretch matched in Florida history only by Fred Taylor and Emmitt Smith. Baugh has 600 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns through four games. His yardage total is the fastest any Florida player has reached 600, while his touchdown total ties Najee Harris in 2020 and Leonard Fournette in 2015 for the most by an SEC player through four games since 1992. The Gators already have matched their win total from a 4-8 season in 2025. They have scored at least 44 points in every game, and Baugh’s workload showed how central the ground game has become: He carried 29 times while Florida scored 52 against an Ole Miss team that entered the game 3-0. The Ole Miss victory also marked Florida’s highest-ranked win in 11 years, according to the report, although the opponent’s ranking was not specified. Baugh’s numbers supplied the clearest detail. Florida did not need to spread the work around against the Rebels; it kept returning to the same runner. That makes Missouri the first immediate check on whether the Gators can keep playing through Baugh. He has already given Florida four unbeaten Saturdays and a place in the Heisman conversation. The next four SEC games will decide how far that argument travels.

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