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“That was a lot of fun!” – Jim McElwain after Florida outlasted Tennessee.
Indeed, coach, it was fun.
Changing a culture typically takes time in any business. At Florida, “time” really isn’t a luxury, it’s more a line from the Hootie and the Blowfish song of that title: “time … why you punish me?”
After a rousing dispensing of Tennessee that featured baffling clock management decisions on both sides, which led to two failed 55-yard field goal attempts made possible only because of timeout hoarding by Butch Jones, it’s fair to wonder what Florida’s ceiling suddenly is.
You can, without question, see a difference. Down 27-14 with around seven minutes left and 86 yards to go, the Gators had to basically double their point total to have a shot at winning against a team that had been knocking them around all afternoon.
Many of the players were similar (to the Will Muschamp era), but the response was decidedly different.
The infusion of McElwain’s culture was very evident, as the Gators went 5 for 5 on fourth downs, snare two touchdowns, and ultimately win the game, aided a little by Tennessee getting drunk with the clock and not making much haste in its final drive.
Not that McElwain was perfect. It was clear that there was overall disarray on the field before Tennessee’s final field goal — the Gators were fortunate to not get tagged with a 12-men-on-the-field penalty — but you know what? Coaching is hard, and sometimes you screw up on things in the heat of the moment.
Your real question out of this game is, “How good is Florida now that there’s been a clear shift in the culture?”
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The Gators were often an undisciplined powder keg under Muschamp. McElwain at least established that you’re getting a serious backside chewing in public if you go that route under his regime.
Show of hands on who likes being verbally torn to pieces with 80,000 people watching?
Didn’t think so.
Clearly, though, Florida has a confidence about it — this team believes it’s capable of getting out of hairy situations, including a wacky 4th and 14 that led to the Gators’ final touchdown. That is hard to institute immediately, especially with a team not yet used to winning those games.
Tennessee, for its part, was a willing foil, just as it was against Oklahoma a few weeks ago. The Vols feel like they could still find a way to get a major flesh wound if you tossed them in a padded room.
Things we learned about Florida:
1. The Gators have serious sack.
2. Quarterback Will Grier is a big timer.
Time and time again on the game-winning 86-yard drive, he made electric plays out of nothing when the blocking broke down. Save for a few cannon-armed deep throws that would have sailed over Godzilla, he’s looking like a real leader at a position that had questions coming in.
Make no bones about it: the SEC East isn’t great. The Gators have gone on the road and clipped high-riding Kentucky and have knocked off Tennessee. The obvious major hurdle is Georgia, but one thing at a time. Florida … yes, the Gators … reasonably could play for an SEC championship if they keep up this act of being the drunk guy in the barfight with so much beer muscle, you can break a chair over his back and he won’t fall down.
The Gators look appreciably better, and it’s because Jim McElwain has found a way to institute his culture among players who didn’t originally come there with that culture in place. McElwain had to reorient their habits and ways of thinking.
After the smoke had cleared, the CBS sideline reporter interviewing McElwain asked him what gave the team the confidence to keep going for it on fourth down (seriously, that was the question).
McElwain looked as baffled as anyone with a shred of common sense, because the answer was, “Well, we just sort of didn’t want to lose, I guess?”
Indeed, again, coach. And this new version of Florida has yet to do so.
