Gators Seek to Stay Sharp from Start to Finish at South Carolina
Saturday, November 14, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Florida's start against Vanderbilt was not the problem. The finish was satisfactory, too.
First, an unlikely 43-yard field goal by Austin Hardin gave Florida the lead, next a final defensive stand to preserve a 9-7 win that clinched the Gators' first SEC East title in six years.
The issue was what happened in between.
"We came out and took it right down,'' Gators coach Jim McElwain said. "Guys were juiced up. And then they just thought it was going to happen. That's not the case. You've got to strain, man. You've got to go. You've got to go prepare yourself mentally to win each and every down."
As the No. 11-ranked Gators (8-1, 6-1) prepared this week for Saturday's SEC regular-season finale here against South Carolina (3-6, 1-6), McElwain drilled that message home to his team.
The situation this week is similar to last week.
The game starts at noon. The Gators are favored. The opponent is another bottom-feeder in the SEC East.
While Florida is assured of a berth in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 5, victories in their final three regular-season games are anything but. After facing the Gamecocks on Saturday, the Gators host Florida Atlantic and Florida State to close out the regular season.
Florida must win all three and then defeat the SEC West representative at the Georgia Dome to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
"This past week was a wakeup call that we really need to be ready to bring it,'' tight end Jake McGee said.
"If you really want to be great you don't just settle winning the East,'' defensive end Bryan Cox Jr. said. "You want to win the whole SEC."
Since the day McElwain stepped off a private jet from Colorado on Dec. 5, 2014, he has talked about winning the day, winning the down, winning the moment.
Those are lessons he learned moving up the coaching ladder and permanently instilled following his four-year stint as Alabama's offensive coordinator. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban is a master of the details and McElwain took good notes as Alabama won two national championships in his four seasons in Tuscaloosa.
He has implemented all those lessons in his first season at Florida and turned around the Gators much quicker than expected.
The Gators still have a chance at an 11-win regular season, which would match Florida's win total the past two seasons.
"We talked at the beginning of the week that now they're truly in uncharted waters,'' McElwain said following Wednesday's practice. "The good thing is some of us have been in these waters, which helps. You can't be afraid. Once you're afraid, if you have a fear of failure, you're going to go into a cocoon and never come out."
Florida's offense went into a cocoon against Vanderbilt after taking an early 6-0 lead on Kelvin Taylor's 3-yard touchdown run. The Gators didn't score again until Hardin's game-winning field goal with 2:22 left.
McElwain sensed the team began to press when the offense sputtered. He also said they might have thought it was going to be easy to accomplish the end result they were after -- a trip to Atlanta.
Vanderbilt made sure it wasn't easy, limiting the Gators to 258 yards of total offense and forcing four turnovers. Fortunately for Florida, the defense played spectacular, limiting Vanderbilt to 175 total yards -- 74 coming on Ralph Webb's touchdown run right before halftime.
Senior linebacker Antonio Morrison was not pleased the Gators had to rely on a field goal to win. But he can relate to McElwain's message in the wake of the close call.
"You've got to go day by day,'' Morrison said. "You can't just jump. Those games are going to come. I've never been in this situation. Everybody is still learning."
The Gators have lost two consecutive games to South Carolina and haven't won at Brice-Williams Stadium since 2009.
McElwain tossed that into his bag of motivational tools as well.
"They're playing to go to a bowl game,'' he said. "They've got a chance to play the SEC East champs. There's a heck of a lot of motivation there."
The Gators say are motivated, too. How can they not be after Vanderbilt nearly derailed their magical season?
"We'll get hungrier and hungrier,'' Taylor said. "This season is not over."
