Sturgis caps big day with game-winner

<p>A lifelong Florida fan, Caleb Sturgis said he always dreamed of kicking a game-winning field goal for his beloved Gators in The Swamp.</p><p> But after pushing a 37-yard attempt wide left in the first quarter on Saturday against Arkansas, his body language was that of someone possibly lacking the confidence to take advantage if the opportunity that presented itself later in the game.</p><p> "I got kind of down on myself early," Sturgis said.</p><p> Soon after, though, in part because of words from a teammate, he was able to put the miss in the past.</p><p> "Aaron (Hernandez) always tells me to trust in myself," Sturgis said.</p><p> The sophomore from St. Augustine did just that when he nailed a 30-yarder in the second quarter, a career-long 51-yarder in the third and then, with nine seconds left, a 27-yard field goal to give top-ranked UF a 23-20 victory.</p><p> Following the first-quarter miss (which Sturgis blamed solely on himself), Gator coach Urban Meyer said he briefly considered going back to senior Jonathan Phillips, whom Sturgis replaced as the starter following the Week 2 game against Troy.</p><p> "Sure I did," Meyer said. "I thought about that.</p><p> "But you win the battles during the week, and Sturgis has been hitting the ball (well). I can't remember how he missed (the first one), but I had a lot of confidence that Sturgis would win the game for us."</p><p> Afterwards, Sturgis said he was eager to make his first game-winner at any level, no matter how far he needed to boot it.</p><p> "I was ready to hit that ball from 57 (yards) when it was third down," said Sturgis, who added that Phillips helped keep teammates away so he could quietly focus before the kick. "I didn't really care what the distance was. I just wanted to knock it in for the team."</p>