No. 5 Florida, led by Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and an opportunistic defense, routed a turnover-plagued Hawai'i, 56-10, today in the football season opener for both teams at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.

A crowd of 90,575 fans at "The Swamp" saw Gators win their season-opener for the 19th straight year, while UH dropped its fourth season opener in the last five years.

Hawai'i's offense got off to rough start in Greg McMackin's debut as UH head coach with 181 yards passing and 60 rushing for 241 total yards, most of it with the game out of reach. Florida finished with 406 yards total offense, including 255 rushing.

UH gave up four interceptions, two fumbles and UH quarterbacks were sacked four times.

Tebow completed 9 of 14 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown and rushed nine times for 37 yards in three quarters.

The Warriors got their first points of the game on a 30-yard field goal by Dan Kelly with 9:38 to go in the game. Inoke Funaki completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Greg Salas with 1:37 to go to make it 56-10.

After a scoreless first quarter, Florida took advantage of Hawai'i turnovers to score four touchdowns to take a 28-0 halftime lead and never looked back. Three turnovers and punt return led to four of Florida's touchdowns in the first half.

The Gators added 28 more points in the third quarter.

The Warriors received the opening kickoff. Greg Alexander started the game at quarterback. During their first drive, the Warriors drove to the Florida 47 then were forced to punt after Alexander was sacked on third-and-10.

Florida drove to the Hawai'i 41 on its first drive, but on fourth-and-1 received a 5-yard false start penalty and was forced to punt. UH took over on its own 20 after the punt went into the end zone.

UH drove to the Florida 27, but Alexander was intercepted in the end zone by Ahmad Black.

Florida had the ball as the first quarter ended. Tebow drove the Gators 80 yards on 10 plays to the first score of the game.

Brandon James scored on a 1-yard run to give Florida a 7-0 lead with 11:39 remaining. Tebow's 8-yard run to the UH 1 set up James' score.

On UH's next drive, Major Wright scored on a 32-yard interception return off an Alexander pass to give Florida a 14-0 lead with 10:47 remaining in second quarter.

Alexander's troubles continued when the ball slipped out of his hands on the next drive and Florida's Joe Haden recovered at the UH 42 with 9:26 to go in the second quarter.

UH's defense held, and Florida was forced to punt.

UH was forced to punt when its drive stalled at the UH 32. Ahmad Black scored on a 74-yard punt return to give Florida a 21-0 lead with 5:35 remaining in second quarter.

On UH's next drive, receiver Aaron Bain fumbled after catching an Alexander pass giving the ball back to Florida at the UH 49. Two plays later Chris Rainey ran for a 33-yard touchdown to give Florida a 28-0 lead with 3:22 remaining in the second quarter.

Tebow was 5 of 8 for 56 yards in the first half. He also had six rushes for 26 yards. Rainey had four rushes for 53 yards.

Alexander was 10 of 19 for 51 yards, was intercepted twice and sacked two times in the first half. Leon Wright-Jackson had three catches for 19 yards. Daniel Libre was UH's leading rusher in the first half with four carries for 35 yards. Wright-Jackson also had six carries for 30 yards.

The Gators got the opening kickoff of the second half and kept the drive going on a fake punt on fourth-and-16 at the Florida 26. Punter Chas Henry took the ball 17 yards to the Florida 43 for a first down. After a delay of game penalty, Jeff Demps scored on a 62-yard run to give Florida a 35-0 lead with 12:16 remaining in the third quarter.

After UH was forced to punt on its next possession, Tebow completed a 48-yard pass to Louis Murphy to give Florida a 42-0 lead with 9:42 to go in the third quarter.

Brent Rausch replaced Alexander on UH's next possession, but the Warriors went four-and-out.

Cam Newton replaced Tebow during Florida's next drive and scored on a 1-yard run to give the Gators a 49-0 lead with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter.

Black added his second touchdown on an interception return — an 80-yarder off an overthrown Rausch pass — to give Florida a 56-0 lead with 20 seconds to go in the third quarter.

After three quarters, Florida had 382 yards of total offense to UH's 111.

Funaki replaced Rausch on UH's next drive and drove to the Florida 8, setting up Kelly's field goal.

Statistics:

http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/custompages/Stats/Fball/083008.HTM