No. 24 Florida's Hail Mary as time expired beats No. 23 Tennessee 26-20

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Feleipe Franks heaved a 63-yard touchdown pass to Tyrie Cleveland as the clock expired, and No. 24 Florida beat No. 23 Tennessee 26-20 in a wild, wacky and sometimes unwatchable rivalry game Saturday.

Franks scrambled away from the rush on a first-and-10 play with nine seconds remaining and found Cleveland behind safety Micah Abernathy for a Hail Mary that no one saw coming.

The final play capped a crazy fourth quarter in which the teams combined for 37 points and little, if any, defense.

"Oh my gosh, it's indescribable," Franks said. "You grow up waiting for moments like that to happen in your life, and when it does happen, you don't have any words to describe it."

Here's one: Unpredictable.

"We've just got to stay as deep as the deepest [receiver]," Vols coach Butch Jones said. "That's one of those plays that comes around every so often, and unfortunately they made the play and we didn't."

Tennessee (2-1, 0-1 SEC) can blame three missed field goals for not being ahead late. The Gators (1-1, 1-0) looked as if they had the game in hand early in the final quarter but found a way to let the Volunteers get back in it.

It looked for sure as if it was headed for overtime — and then Franks found Cleveland.

"It's crazy," Cleveland said. "I think this is about the fastest I ever ran."

Fellow receiver Brandon Powell was the first to congratulate Cleveland in the end zone. Powell slapped him so hard upside the helmet that it knocked his mouthpiece out. Their teammates and coaches — all of them — piled on a few seconds later.

"It was nothing to do with me," Florida coach Jim McElwain said. "Sometimes things like that are really special. I've got some burned images in my mind that I will carry with me the rest of my life."