COLUMBIA, Mo. – They started their day in the morning darkness.
With an 11 a.m. local kickoff here against Missouri, the Gators stepped outside their hotel before daylight Saturday for a morning walkthrough. Nothing unusual there.
The team routinely gathers on game days for a morning jolt, an opportunity to get the blood flowing and turn its attention to the task ahead. But with such an early start time, the UF marching band joined the Gators, leading the way around the dimmed parking lot while blasting fight songs to wake up the players and energize the cool air.
On this day, the darkness never lifted for the Gators.
"Came out here and let them take over us,'' defensive tackle
Khairi Clark said. "We weren't playing as Gators."
In a season that has gone awry, Florida's 45-16 loss to Missouri dropped the Gators deeper into the abyss.
The Tigers (4-5, 1-4) entered winless in the Southeastern Conference, losing by an average of 21.5 points in four conference games. They led 28-6 at halftime as the Gators (3-5, 3-4) lost their fourth consecutive game.
Florida is off to its worst start after eight games since the winless 0-10-1 season of 1979 and has been outscored 87-23 the past two games. You want context to illustrate the Gators' recent struggles? Coupled with their 42-7 loss to Georgia a week ago, Saturday marked the first time since the 1917 season – that's right, 100 years ago during that dreadful 2-4 season under Al Buser – that the Gators have allowed 42 or more points in back-to-back games.
Interim head coach
Randy Shannon, charged with the difficult challenge of taking over a team in midseason following the exit of Jim McElwain, tried to reverse the Gators' slide by giving graduate transfer quarterback
Malik Zaire his first start.
Zaire led the Gators on three scoring drives while completing 13 of 19 passes for 158 yards and an interception, but each drive ended in an
Eddy Pineiro field goal rather than a touchdown. The formula had no chance against Missouri, which rolled up 455 yards of offense and scored six touchdowns behind junior quarterback Drew Lock (15 of 20, 228 yards, three touchdowns, one interception).
"We couldn't get any defensive stops,'' Shannon said. "They attacked our young guys in the secondary. They got some momentum that way."
The loss extended Florida's October misery into November. The Gators lost home games to LSU and Texas A&M (by a combined three points) prior to their blowout defeat to Georgia, finishing 0-3 in October. Missouri, at least on paper, offered an opportunity for November redemption. The Tigers' most impressive win coming in was over Connecticut.
Instead, more misery for the Gators during one of the most eventful weeks in the program's storied history.
On Sunday, the day after the Gators suffered their worst loss to Georgia in 35 years, UF Athletic Director
Scott Stricklin announced the University Athletic Association had reached a separation agreement with McElwain. Shannon took over, named Zaire the starting quarterback in place of
Feleipe Franks, and tried to recharge a team that took the field Saturday without more than 25 scholarship players available due to injuries and suspensions.
Still, Shannon was in no mood for sympathy afterward.
"Don't make excuses,'' he said. "If you're a Florida Gator, you line up and you play the game the way it's supposed to be played. We've got to continue to get better. That's my job and that's everybody's job on this coaching staff to get there."
That's the challenge Monday when the Gators return to practice to open preparation for their game at South Carolina next weekend. The Gators have three regular-season games remaining. Following South Carolina, the Gators host UAB and Florida State.
They need to win all three to get bowl eligible and salvage something, salvage anything of a season that has gone on the rails.
"They're very big [games],'' sophomore linebacker
David Reese said. "Obviously, we need to go to a bowl game. Florida always goes to bowl games. Just holding up tradition. We need to play our hardest, play out, do what we can do to get this good motivation for the next year."
The Gators looked at times on Saturday as a team going through the motions. They finally scored a touchdown when Franks, who replaced Zaire in the fourth quarter, hit
Lamical Perine for a 16-yard score with 5:34 left.
Much too little and much too late.
The Gators continue to lose key players to injury, with starting left guard
Brett Heggie the latest to fall. Heggie suffered a left knee injury in the first half and had to be carted off the field.
A week ago, it was running back
Malik Davis. Three weeks ago, it was senior defensive end
Jordan Sherit. It was
Luke Del Rio earlier in the season and
Marcell Harris prior to the season.
Little has gone right for the 2017 Gators.
Zaire's season mirrors the way Florida's season has gone. A highly-sought transfer from Notre Dame, Zaire's arrival in late summer cranked up the hype machine into overdrive. Many pegged him as Florida's starting quarterback and the piece of the puzzle this team needed.
The reality: he made his first start of the season Saturday and it didn't matter. The Gators lost by 29 points and are on the brink of their second losing season in five years.
Zaire is determined to fight on. He'll need help if the Gators are going to escape the darkness they are currently lost in.
"We are not excited at all,'' he said. "We are not happy at all about the result. Obviously, the season hasn't been going like I planned."
He is not alone.
