Carter: Gators Simply "Got beat by a better team"
Sunday, October 2, 2011 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – You knew it was coming. You knew at some point in Will Muschamp's first season that the Gators were going to lose a game.
The inexperienced roster said it had to happen. The schedule shouted it.
The undefeated Gators had Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida State in six of the regular season's final eight games. The 1985 Bears might have a tough time running the table against those opponents.
Still, the atmosphere inside an electric Swamp on Saturday night made it feel like anything was possible. Big bad Alabama and running back Trent Richardson could be stopped. Gators quarterback John Brantley could throw for 300 yards. Jeff Demps could rush for 100 yards. Chris Rainey could run, throw and pass for a touchdown.
And then boom! Brantley hit Andre Debose for a 65-yard touchdown pass on Florida's second play from scrimmage. The second-largest crowd in the history of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium could be heard in Micanopy.
That was the way it went for a while Saturday night. But it didn't last. Too much Richardson, too much Courtney Upshaw, too many missed tackles and an injury to Brantley that seemed to suck the life out of The Swamp for a while on a cool Saturday night.
They all spelled a 38-10 loss to the third-ranked Crimson Tide for the No. 12-ranked Gators. It was a matchup full of subplots, the most talked-about one being Muschamp's first head-to-head battle with Alabama coach Nick Saban, whom Muschamp considers a mentor, as a head coach.
They called it teacher vs. pupil, or mentor vs. prot?g?, or Master vs. Padawan.
In the end it was never about the coaches. It was about two 4-0 teams trying make a statement.
Muschamp entered his postgame press conference after the loss and quickly spilled the way he saw it into the microphone.
“We got beat by a better team,'' he said.
The first loss of Muschamp's head-coaching career will be remembered for many things, including a lower leg injury to Brantley right before halftime that the Gators never rebounded from.
More than anything, though, it will likely be remembered as the game that showed how far the Gators must go to become the kind of physical, bruise-producing team Muschamp wants as his trademark squad.
All those tough runs between the tackles by Richardson and his backfield mate Eddie Lacy are the kind of runs Muschamp envisions the Gators making one day in the biggest game of the season. The dominant defensive line that limited the Gators to 15 yards rushing and recorded three sacks is the type of unit Muschamp is working to build. The game-changing interception return for a touchdown by Upshaw is reminiscent of Muschamp's defenses at LSU, Auburn and Texas.
The Gators have some of the pieces of the puzzle already. They'll need to add more. The most obvious difference between the two teams Saturday prior to Brantley's departure was the running games. The Gators rely on speed in Demps and Rainey and Alabama's defense squeezed them tight all night.
“They are a physical group,'' Muschamp said. “They did a nice job.''
The Gators will drop in the polls Sunday, but they won't drop out. A win at LSU next week would quickly move them back up.
Muschamp was short and edgy in his postgame interview, obviously ready to put Alabama far in the rearview mirror as soon as possible.
The game really turned against the Gators late in the second quarter when Brantley got hurt and with Alabama up 24-10. That is when back-to-back sacks turned an easy field goal for Caleb Sturgis into a 52-yarder right before the half.
Sturgis had the distance but the kick sailed right, and the Gators entered halftime without their starting quarterback and with a blown scoring chance tucked fresh in their memory.
“It was disappointing from the standpoint that we're going in at halftime, it's a 24-10 game and we're in field-goal range,'' Muschamp said. “I thought we'd get at least three there and we're down 11 with a turnover returned for a touchdown. So you feel good about where we are.''
Even since the schedule came out, when people looked at Florida's October stretch against Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia, they said a split would be a win. Maybe that's true, maybe not.
From listening to the Gators talk after their first loss, they don't plan to make losing a regular habit.
“Looking back at the '08 team, we took a devastating loss to Ole Miss and that team responded well,'' senior defensive tackle Jaye Howard said. “I feel like we have enough playmakers on leadership on this team to respond well next week at LSU.''
Rainey is one of those playmakers who had all sorts of trouble finding plays to be made on Saturday.
Rainey managed only four yards on 11 carries and caught three passes for 32 yards.
Still, he didn't leave hopeless following the crushing loss to the Crimson Tide, Florida's third consecutive defeat to Alabama. The Crimson Tide scored 35 unanswered points after the Gators grabbed an early 10-3 lead.
“All we have to do is play the cards right and we'll see them again,'' Rainey said. “The season ain't over yet.''
Rainey has a point. The season is far from over. The Gators still have a lot to play for in their final seven games. They can still accomplish many things to make Muschamp's first season in Gainesville one worth remembering years from now. And if you look at the way the SEC East is unfolding, it's not too difficult to imagine the Gators perhaps facing Alabama again in the SEC championship game if those cards fall right like Rainey said.
Remember last year? As bad a turn as the Gators took after a 4-0 start and then a loss in Tuscaloosa, they were still playing for a berth in the SEC championship game in November.
So what did Saturday's loss mean? And what does it mean moving forward?
Mostly it means that the Gators are not quite back to where they want to be. They are not back among the nation's elite. But they know what the elite looks like. All they had to do on Saturday was look across the field and see what they might look like one day when they get back there.
“We've got to get better,'' Muschamp said. “I don't think there is any question that you're frustrated. If you're a competitor, you should be.''
