Gators Have Learned a Winning Formula Under McElwain
Saturday, November 14, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- There are countless examples one could use to differentiate Florida's football program today from this time a year ago.
There is a different coach, different assistants, a new indoor practice facility, a revamped practice structure, an SEC East title, Antonio Callaway at receiver, and on and on and on.
The one that surfaced here Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium deserves a place on the list. In fact, if you recall what unfolded on Nov. 15, 2014, No. 11-ranked Florida's 24-14 win should rank near the top.
The contrast between the Gators' locker room then -- a 23-20 overtime loss riddled with inexplicable late blunders and the final straw for Will Muschamp -- and on Saturday could not have been more night and day.
"That's a happy locker room that's figured out how to win,'' McElwain said. "Something special about that because wins are hard to come by."
Wins have been harder to come by for the Gators in recent years than at any point since the early 1980s. But in less than a year on the job, McElwain has turned the Gators into winners before the doorman expected them to show up.
Big winners.
Florida clinched its first berth in the SEC Championship Game a week ago with a tense home win against Vanderbilt, and on Saturday, the Gators won at South Carolina for the first time in six years by dominating the Gamecocks until their fourth-quarter rally.
If you say you saw this coming, well, you are probably stretching the truth as far as it can stretch.
Florida improved to 9-1 in McElwain's first season, and 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference. How significant is that?
McElwain surpassed former Gators head coaches Steve Spurrier and Ron Zook for the most SEC wins in their inaugural season. Spurrier won six in 1990 and Zook's 2002 Gators won six.
More important to McElwain was how the Gators did it.
A week after managing just 258 yards of total offense, Florida rolled up 404 against the Gamecocks (3-7, 1-7) in its last regular-season SEC game of the season. Quarterback Treon Harris finished 19 of 33 for 256 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, and running back Kelvin Taylor rushed for 105 yards and a late touchdown that sealed the victory.
Florida led 17-0 entering the fourth quarter and had limited South Carolina to 44 yards of total offense. The Gamecocks rallied to trim the lead to 17-14 before Taylor broke off a 53-yard run on a third-and-8 handoff. He scored on a 1-yard run the next play with 2:01 left.
Still buzzing following the victory, McElwain turned his postgame press conference into a discussion on winning.
"The art of winning is hard, guys,'' he said. "It is hard. I don't care who you are. You understand how hard winning is and figuring out how to win. And that's really what I like about our guys. There is never any panic. They play in the moment. They play in the now, and they figured out a way to sweep the East. Let's get excited about it a little bit."
The Gators certainly were. As McElwain headed to his press conference, the players celebrated inside. A stream of excited assistant coaches exited soon after McElwain, sharing high-fives on the way to the visiting coaches' locker room.
"It's a great feeling,'' defensive lineman Caleb Brantley said. "To come here and steal their joy at home like they did to us last year, it's just a great feeling."
The Gators return home to face Florida Atlantic next week before hosting Florida State at home on Nov. 28. They have an opportunity to finish the regular season 11-1.
They did the same in 2012, but over the next two seasons the Gators went 11-13, which prompted the coaching change that landed the Gators McElwain from Colorado State.
Nothing has been the same since, especially on Saturdays.
"He just presses details,'' sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor said. "He knew he had a good team. He knew he had good players. He just wanted us to get focused on the little details for us to go out and win ballgames. We didn't know how to win."
McElwain was hired for his success in turning around Colorado State's program in his three years there, and for helping Alabama win a pair of national championships in his four seasons as the Crimson Tide's offensive coordinator.
The football part was a known commodity. The Gators have learned the human side of McElwain is a game-changer, too.
"He understands people,'' tight end Jake McGee said. "He doesn't treat everybody the same. He's got 105 different relationships with the guys on the team and sort of knows how each guy operates."
The jovial McElwain credited the players with refusing to wilt Saturday when the pressure turned up late. Instead, they responded with poise and a big play, a play he said all 11 players did their job.
That might be boring to some, but not to him.
This is exactly what he signed up for when he took the job.
"I'm just really proud for them and I'm proud for all the Gators out there who, you know, didn't think much of this season probably,'' he said. "For them to have something to get excited about, we've got a very good football team.
"Every time we go out there's a winner and there's a loser. I know this: I'm going to do what I can to make sure we're winners. That's the way this football team is."
In two words: It's different.
