Florida received the ball the start the game and was able to score on their opening drive. Ending the 65-yard drive, WR Percy Harvin ran the ball from 11 yards out to score a touchdown—this completed his streak of scoring a TD in every game of the regular season. Florida State was able to establish excellent field position by returning a Caleb Sturgis kickoff to the Florida 24-yard line. Florida's defense was able to prevent the Seminoles from scoring a TD and forced them to settle for a field goal; cutting the Gators' lead 7–3. After forcing a punt, the Seminoles regained possession, but put the ball back in Florida's hands. Florida safety Major Wright grabbed his third interception of the season picking off FSU QB Christian Ponder. Florida was able to capitalize on the turnover and score with a Tim Tebow touchdown pass to TE Aaron Hernandez. This completed the first quarter scoring with the Gators leading 14–3. After forcing Florida State to punt the ball early in the second quarter, true freshman RB Jeffery Demps of the Gators fumbled the ball during a run play, which was collected by Florida State's Neefy Moffett. This set the Seminoles in the red zone having the ball at the Florida 14-yard line. Just as in the first quarter, the Gators defense was able to prevent the Seminoles from scoring a touchdown and forced them to settle for another field goal—cutting the lead to 14–6. In response, the Gators put together a 10 play drive consuming 86 yards of the field ending with a 4-yard rushing touchdown by Tim Tebow over a pile of FSU defenders, bringing the score to 21–6 in favor of the Gators. With little working on offense, the Seminoles once again settled for a field goal on their following possession, their third of the game. With only 2:04 left in the half, Florida's offense was able to connect on 5 consecutive pass plays, ending with a 24-yard touchdown pass to TE Aaron Hernandez in only 1:07. This brought the score at the half to 28–9. The Gators amassed 284 yards of offense in the first half.