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Here’s the deal: sometimes what looks like a good story has parts of it that suck.
Take The Gingerbread Man. Here’s this unique fable about a living cookie talking wise to everyone he comes across … a far cry from the usual schtick of plugging some sort of animal into a story, giving them a voice, and yada, yada, yada, some lesson comes from it.
The cookie is like the Gary Payton (or Bret Bielema, I suppose) of fairy tale characters, and eventually, he gets devoured by a sly fox. I suppose in this case, the sly fox is Alabama.
Which brings us to Florida. Probably one of the more feel-good stories of college football has been the immediate resurgence of the Gators under Jim McElwain.
It was predictable after watching him undress a player on the sideline for a boneheaded throat-slash move after he stuck to his actions in the face of criticism, but none the less, McElwain, which was nothing close to a splashy hire when it happened, has immediately changed the culture there.
The on-field face of it though has been Will Grier as much as anyone. Two months ago, Florida had a quarterback conundrum. McElwain did what people say you shouldn’t do and platooned Grier and Treon Harris to find out who would grab the job by the throat. Grier did, and Florida is unbeaten, undressing then-top 5 Ole Miss in grand fashion on the, “Yo, we’re back” tour.
Monday, though, Florida is mired in a whole ‘nother kind of controversy, as Grier was suspended for the season in a tearful admission of PED use that was teased by a message board post of all things (who says nothing good happens on message boards?), which only makes the story more odd.
This could decimate the good will (and good winning) the Gators have done.
You know what? It won’t, and here’s why.
1. The defense is still damn good enough to be the pivot point for a title run. The most obvious view of the Gators’ change has been the offense, mostly because under Will Muschamp, the offense loosely resembled how your innards feel about 30 minutes after you ingest $10 worth of Taco Bell.
McElwain has an offensive background, but that defense is still damn good. They’re 11th in scoring defense and top 10 in both sacks and turnover margin. That’s how you win games on the fly. Even if the offense struggles a bit, the defense is capable of still winning games on its own, and the Gators aren’t likely to be blown out of any game with that D.
2. Treon Harris might actually be pretty decent. It’s important to remember that before Grier took a strangling of the starter’s job, he was mired in a battle with Harris because the coaching staff saw them as mostly even. It could be that Harris buckled a bit looking over his shoulder at Grier and that created some additional separation. Who knows?
Each player responds to that sort of situation in different ways. It galvanizes some. It melts others. Harris won’t be looking over his shoulder now, and though he doesn’t possess the passing skill of Grier (hence, losing the battle), he adds more of a dual threat element.
Though that’s not McElwain’s desired wheelhouse, the most endearing part of this coaching staff is how they’ve been able to take parts not fit for their vehicle and still get the car running.
That isn’t to say there won’t be bumps in the road, but the Gators are in a good place with a comfortable gap in the SEC East as much as you can have at this point in the season. Georgia looks dead to rights. Missouri and Tennessee have both been Gator bait already. Kentucky isn’t ready yet, and they have been bait too, anyway. I’m not sure I need to mention South Carolina and Vanderbilt but since they have a pulse and play a football schedule, here they are, mentioned.
LSU is the next step on the tour, and it’s without question the toughest crowd they’d have played yet this season. This is the SEC though, and you’re easily afforded a loss, maybe two, and still be alive.
In this story, the junk talking cookie might not get eaten after all. Unless, of course, it runs into a Gator. Gators aren’t sly as foxes. They just go eatin’.
