By DAVID JONES
Florida Today

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Before Saturday, Buffalo Bills head coach Mike Mularkey hadn't caught one of his alma mater's games in person in 22 years.

But the former Florida tight end may be back soon after watching the Ciatrick Fason Show in Saturday's 20-3 win over Kentucky.

"He reminds me a little bit of Willis McGahee," Mularkey said of his own back with the Bills, who starred in college at Miami. "He's a little bit of a slasher. He's a power runner but he can still get outside."

On a day when UF quarterback Chris Leak had just the second three-interception performance of his career, Fason was the difference, running for a career-high 210 yards on 31 carries and bringing the fans to their feet.

With Hurricane Jeanne leaving Florida Field only about 80 percent full, Mularkey and the rest of the crowd watched the Gators struggle early, leading just 10-3 at halftime.

Then Fason went off. But not before tracking down his coach on the sidelines and giving him an earful.

Ron Zook said his star back was "kind of barking at me about running the football" early in the game. The coach responded to the player's pleas after telling him, "Be quiet and run the football and let me do the coaching."

"I wasn't frustrated at all," Fason said. "I just wanted to make sure the team got seven - no matter how we did it, passing or running."

Fason scored the game's first touchdown on a 46-yard run with 9:09 left in the first half that had Zook screaming, "What is he doing?"

By the time Fason was dancing in the end zone, Zook's hands were in the air signing touchdown.

Fason's clutch play was a run up the middle. He became the first Gator to rush for more than 200 yards since Emmitt Smith had 316 yards against New Mexico in 1989.

Remember, it was a year ago that Fason grew angry about a lack of playing time after the Kentucky game. He'd stormed into Zook's office announcing he wanted to transfer. Zook closed the door and told him there was no way that was going to happen.

And look at them now. The duo traded jokes and hugs on the sidelines after the fourth-best individual rushing effort in Florida history.

"I saw a little highlight from Emmitt, on one of those channels from back in the day," said Fason, who had a 100-yard first half for the third time in his career. "It was one of his big games. I was sitting there thinking, 'Man I wish I could have a big game like that one day.' "

Matt Leach kicked his second field goal of the game - a 21-yarder - in the third quarter to make it 13-3. Then Fason finished off the Wildcats with a 7-yard TD reception.

By the time he reached the end zone with 4:08 to play, the game was over.

"It's just great to see a guy where the hard work paid off," Zook said. "He just keeps plugging away and he does the things he's supposed to do. He catches the football, he protects, he runs."

Former college head coach Bill Curry, who called the game for ESPN2, is among those convinced Fason is the real deal.

"Of course, he's fast and he's got great instincts and all that," said Curry, who coached at Alabama, Georgia Tech and Kentucky. "But what he does better than anybody, he seems to get his pads down. He's got his weight on his feet. If you'll notice, when he hits tacklers he splatters them.

"That's what football is - it's a game of angles, a game of leverage."

Fason's first score came on the first play from scrimmage after Terrence Holmes' second interception of the season. Wildcats quarterback Shane Boyd overthrew a wide-open tight end Jeremiah Drobney on the play.

Holmes, the only Gator with an interception this season, fell down as he pulled the ball in. Fason scored his third TD of the year on the next play.

Florida took the opening kickoff and appeared to be headed toward an early score when Leak's pass was intercepted at the Wildcats' 11 by Chad Anderson. Leak came into the game ranked sixth in Division I-A in passing efficiency (179.14) with just one interception and six TD passes.

Kentucky became the second opponent in the Gators' first three games to take the lead on its first possession of the game, driving 56 yards in 14 plays. Taylor Begley completed the drive with a career-long 51-yard field goal with 6:06 to go in the first quarter.

Boyd keyed the drive, completing 7 of 9 passes for 47 yards and accounting for the other 9 yards on three runs against the Gators' defense that came in ranked 61st nationally against the pass.

But UK couldn't do much after that. The Wildcats had just 44 yards of total offense the rest of the first half. After the opening drive, they had 151 yards on their final 48 plays of the contest.

"Offensively, we couldn't get in sync," UK coach Rich Brooks said after the Wildcats' 18th straight loss to the Gators. "We couldn't get things moving the way we would have liked to do them. They were pretty dominant up front."

Kentucky had just 73 yards rushing. Boyd finished 17 of 35 for 134 yards.

Leak was 25 of 43 for 261 yards. Florida's Andre Caldwell caught eight balls for 84 yards.

The game was moved up from the original starting time of 6 p.m. to 11:30 a.m. because of Hurricane Jeanne.

"I have not thought about it," Zook said of Jeanne. "We'll think about it here now. I'll probably go home and all my furniture will be in the pool again, like it was last time (after Hurricane Frances)."

No. 16 FLORIDA 20, KENTUCKY 3

Kentucky	3	0	0	0-3
Florida	3	7	3	7-20

First Quarter

UK-FG Begley 51, 6:06.

UF-FG Leach 40, 00.

Second Quarter

UF-Fason 46 run (Leach kick), 9:09.

Third Quarter

UF-FG Leach 21, 11:49.

Fourth Quarter

UF-Fason 7 pass from Leak (Leach run), 4:08.

A-89,741.

	UK	UF
First downs	10	26
Rushes-yards	27-73	40-262
Passing	134	261
Comp-Att-Int	17-35-1	25-43-3
Return Yards	15	57
Punts-Avg.	7-36.3	2-30
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	1-0
Penalties-Yards	6-54	11-91
Time of Possession	26:16	33:44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Kentucky, Boyd 14-28, Little 3-18, Bwenge 5-16, Dixon 3-10, Beach 1-3, McClinton 1-(minus 2). Florida, Fason 31-210, Thornton 6-31, Leak 3-21.

PASSING-Kentucky, Boyd 17-35-1-134. Florida, 25-43-3-261.

RECEIVING-Kentucky, Holt 7-52, Mitchell 2-35, Dixon 2-1, Scott 1-15, Marchman 1-11, Tamme 1-7, Drobney 1-7, Dewalt 1-4, Little 1-2. Florida, Caldwell 8-84, Fason 5-43, Small 4-29, Baker 4-22, Jackson 2-67, Latsko 2-16.