Gators dine on Terrapins in Orange Bowl 56-23

MIAMI -- This starting stuff is overrated.

Banished to the bench for the first 20 minutes of the Orange Bowl, Rex Grossman led Florida to touchdowns on all six of his drives and the No. 5 Gators set record after record in a 56-23 crushing of No. 6 Maryland on Wednesday night.

Grossman threw for 248 yards and four touchdowns. Another so-called backup, third receiver Taylor Jacobs, caught 10 passes for 170 yards, both Orange Bowl records, to help turn coach Steve Spurrier's quarterback shuffle into a stunning offensive highlight show.

Jabar Gaffney caught two touchdowns for Florida and tailback Earnest Graham ran for 149 yards and two scores. Florida gained 659 yards to break a 49-year-old Orange Bowl record and the Gators showed they might, indeed, have the most talent in the nation, even though they're not playing for the national title in the Rose Bowl.

Seemingly determined to prove that point, Spurrier kept Grossman in the game deep into the fourth quarter, and when he threw a long pass incomplete with 4 minutes left, the dwindling Maryland crowd booed.

But that was hardly the worst of it for the Terrapins (10-2), whose magical season -- the Atlantic Coast Conference title, first bowl appearance in 11 seasons, second winning season in a decade -- came to a resoundingly disappointing close.

Jacobs also caught two touchdown passes -- one from first-time starter Brock Berlin, one from Grossman -- as the Gators (10-2) rolled to a rout, hardly distracted when Spurrier unexpectedly yanked Grossman from the starting lineup for missing curfew.

Berlin played about the way an untested sophomore would be expected to.

Berlin, strongly considering transferring to Miami next season, went 11-for-19 for 196 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions, both the result of badly misjudged throws into double coverage.

His six drives to open the game produced two touchdowns and two interceptions, a bunch of nice passes and a handful of dreadful ones, a slim 14-10 lead despite a prolific 224 yards in total offense.

Grossman stood on the sideline with his helmet on during the first quarter and a half. Then, his time came.

"Brock did OK," Spurrier said at halftime. "But we just thought it was time for Rex to go in there."

The Heisman Trophy runner-up entered to big cheers with 6:03 left in the second quarter and showed exactly how he earned the starting position and kept it through all 11 regular-season games.

Gaffney finished with seven catches for 118 yards, but Jacobs was the best receiver on this night.