TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Florida took advantage of mistakes from all facets of Iowa's game before Chris Leak put away the Hawkeyes.

Tremaine McCollum scored on a blocked punt, Vernell Brown returned an interception for a touchdown and Leak threw two touchdown passes as the 16th-ranked Gators jumped out early and posted a 31-24 victory over the No. 25 Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl.

It took less than two minutes for Florida (9-3) to get on the scoreboard. After holding Iowa to a three-and-out in its first possession, Jemalle Cornelius blocked a punt and McCollum scooped it up and ran six yards for the score.

In the second quarter, Brown, who suffered a broken leg earlier in the season, intercepted a tipped pass and ran 41 yards down the right sideline untouched.

"Vernell Brown (has been) told he can't do this, do that, he had a broken leg and said he would come back. And he did," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "He's what Florida Gators stand for. Florida's football is about out-working your opponent. You know who Vernell Brown is, he's a graduate of the University of Florida and he scored a touchdown in the bowl game."

After a roughing the punter penalty and an unnecessary roughness call aided the Gators, Leak found Dallas Baker down the right sideline for 26 yards and a 24-7 lead with one second remaining in the half.

"We did a lot of things that didn't look like us in the first half," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

The duo connected again from 38 yards out with 5:23 left in the third period to increase the edge to 31-7.

"Coach Meyer told me I need to be more vocal and help the team more next year," Baker said. "Running the ball well set up our pass plays.

"Iowa's a great team, they have a great defense," Baker said. "When we have that much time to prepare, it's hard to beat us. I was happy I caught a touchdown (to end the first half) and happy we were getting the ball to start the second half.

Drew Tate threw two fourth-quarter TD passes to Ed Hinkel and Kyle Schlicher kicked a 45-yard field goal to fuel a late comeback bid for Iowa (7-5), but the Hawkeyes did not catch a break when they were called for a controversial offsides penalty after recovering an onside kick with 90 seconds to play.

"I'm a little biased, he looked a lot onside to me," Ferentz said. "Looked like we executed it beautifully. We thought we were still in the ball game."

Leak completed 25-of-40 passes for 279 yards for Florida, which won four of its last five games. Baker caught 10 passes for 147 yards.

Tate was 32-of-55 for 346 yards. He had three touchdowns and one interception, as he tried to make up for a running game that netted just 76 yards.

"Florida made plays they needed to make," Ferentz said. "We competed down to the end. Our guys fought to the end. It wasn't good enough today."