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GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Doug Johnson threw four touchdown passes in a 9:46 span bridging the first and second quarters as fourth-ranked Florida prepared for its showdown with Tennessee with a 58-27 thumping of Central Florida. The Gators (2-0) welcome the defending national champs to "The Swamp" next week, with the winner having the inside track to the East Division title of the Southeastern Conference as well a better position for the Bowl Championship Series. Last year, the Gators suffered a 20-17 overtime loss at Neyland Stadium and a late loss at Florida State relegated them to the Orange Bowl, in which they defeated Syracuse. "We were pretty horrible the second half, but we'll have our guys ready next week," Gators coach Steve Spurrier said. "We got the entire team ready, our real season starts now, all our suspensions are history. Gerard Warren's back, Anthony Mitchell, we'll have our whole team ready. Mighty Gators and mighty Vols, should be quite a game." "The season starts next week, it's a big game for us," added Johnson. "This game is always a pivotal game in the season. We are going to try and practice the best we can this week and worry about ourselves." The Gators also improved their home winning streak to 29 games, the longest active streak in the nation. After spotting Central Florida (0-2) a 7-0 lead, the Gators fully opened the throttle to their scoring machine, reeling off 58 of the next 65 points to open a 44-point lead. Johnson, who only played the opening half, completed 15-of-23 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns. "It showed us they were not here just to lay down," Johnson said about the early deficit. "They were going to give us the best of what they were made of. We played pretty well for the first half and kind of relaxed in the second." The 271 yards pushed Johnson to 5,093 for his collegiate career, moving him past Spurrier and into sixth on the school's all-time list. Earnest Graham added 65 yards and a touchdown for Florida, which has scored 113 points in routs of the Golden Knights and Western Michigan. Vic Penn was 34-of-55 for 379 yards for the Golden Knights, whose defense has been torn to shreds in the first two games. They have allowed 105 points, and the road does not get any easier with road dates at ranked foes Georgia Tech and Georgia to complete September. "We came into this game to win the game, bottom line," said Penn. "Every guy on this football team wanted to win the game. It didn't happen and it's disappointing for us, but we still have another chance. We get to play Georgia Tech next week and it's going to take another hard week of practice. We're a young football team and we're going to get better and better." This marked the first meeting between the intrastate rivals and the first time Florida played an instate foe other than Miami or Florida State since a 45-0 rout of Stetson on October 10, 1953. The Golden Knights showed no nerves in their first game at Florida Field, marching 84 yards on nine plays. Edward Mack found a hole in the middle of the Gators defense and scampered 42 yards 5:28 into the contest. That raised the ire of Florida's offense, which needed all of 2:30 to tie the game. Johnson tried to find Travis Taylor on the final three plays of the drive, finally doing so on a post route from 15 yards. Penn fumbled at his own 23 and defensive end Derrick Chambers recovered. Johnson threw a fade down the right sideline to Darrell Jackson on the first play to give Florida a 14-7 lead. A shanked 11-yard punt by Javier Beorlegui gave the Gators the ball at the Central Florida 14, from where it took two rushes by Graham and a one-yard fade from Johnson to Taylor for a 21-7 lead with 2:51 to go in the first quarter. The duo hooked up for another TD, this time from 31 yards with 11:59 left in the half. The special teams woes for the Golden Knights continued as Beorlegui had his punt blocked and recovered by Marquis Westbrook in the end zone. "Doug was very sharp there most of the game," Spurrier said. "He had a real good game. He's definitely our best quarterback. He threw some nice, catchable balls." "We just need to fine-tune some things," said Taylor, who finished with five catches for 61 yards. "I don't think we have a long way to go before we reach our potential. We have some great athletes on this team and we need to get the most out of them." Penn nailed Charles Lee with a slant pass that turned into a 50-yard catch-and-run for the Golden Knights, but Graham capped a 15-play, 71-yard drive with a three-yard burst through the middle. Robert Gillespie made it 48-14 in the final minute of the first half with a three-yard sweep around right end. The Gators finished with 501 yards of total offense. Backup quarterback Jesse Palmer went 9-for-16 for 100 yards and a score, while Jackson had a team-high 95 receiving yards. Lee finished with 11 catches for 170 yards for the Golden Knights, while Tyson Hinshaw added seven receptions for 76 yards. Central Florida finished with 447 yards of total offense.
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