East Champ Gators No Longer Waiting to Exhale
Monday, November 9, 2015 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Jim McElwain stepped to the podium Monday as head coach of the Southeastern Conference East Division champions. Just how the Florida Gators locked it up two days earlier, though, was not something McElwain or his players were particularly anxious to relive.
“I think there were a whole lot of people -- and probably me included -- that just wanted that last game to end, just so we got that piece done with,” McElwain said of Saturday's 9-7 dentist visit-like victory over Vanderbilt at The Swamp. “ 'OK, good, here it is, that's over.' So I'm not sure the approach was totally right, yet the result was awesome. It was a win for the Gators.”
Junior placekicker Austin Hardin, just 14 of 29 on field goals (48.2 percent) for his career and benched for two walk-ons in midseason, drilled an improbable 43-yard field goal with just 2:22 remaining and rescued a moribund offense that committed four turnovers after having just three in the first six conference games combined.
Florida Field exhaled collectively.
League standings, though, aren't determined by what games look like, just what the scoreboard looks like at the end. UF's second straight victory -- and the first win when scoring in single-digits since 1968 -- locked up the East and sent the No. 11 Gators (8-1, 6-1) into their SEC finale Saturday at South Carolina (3-6, 1-6) with plenty to play for.
Plenty to work on, too.
“Oh man, we felt we embarrassed ourselves because we know we're way better than that,” junior tailback Kelvin Taylor said of an offense that produced just 258 total yards, with only 93 on the ground despite 34 attempts (or just 2.7 yards per carry). “A bunch of the little things we were doing wrong; just not properly communicating with each other and just going through our different schemes that we usually go through. It just wasn't clicking for us. So we hope to get back in the film room today and clean the majority of that stuff up.”
Nothing the Gators do or don't do this weekend will keep them from a date against the SEC West Division champion Dec. 5 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta -- with Alabama in control of its destiny on that side -- but UF isn't about to be satisfied with merely winning the East. As McElwain has told his players from the outset of his tenure, that's what they're expected to do.
But what if anything looms beyond the first division crown since 2009 -- double-digit wins; a sexy bowl game; yes, even a place in the College Football Playoff -- starts with their preparation for the Gamecocks. That's the approach McElwain has sold to his players all season. And they've bought it.
Why change?
“I'm kind of excited about this new challenge and the uncharted waters we're in. It's really about discovery for a program that should be here in this position every year,” McElwain said. “But that's what the fun part is. That's the coaching, the teaching. For us, as coaches, as a program, it's the educational piece not only for the players now, but for all the people who are only talking about something that's going to happen Dec. 5. It could be our whole organization. It's the understanding that'll happen. That will come. It'll show up. Let's do what we do and [that's] how we got here. I think that's an important message.”
And there's no shortage of work to do, especially on offense.
UF's offense is ranked 12th in league play (332.3 yards per game) and next-to-last in rushing (121.1 ypg), but will face a Gamecocks defense that has struggled all season in stopping opponents by land or air. USC rates dead-last in total defense (454.6 ypg), 13th against the run (234.4 ypg), 10th against the pass (199.7 ypg) and 13th in scoring (31.3 points per game).
Some success against the Gamecocks certainly would help the Gators' collective confidence on offense, where quarterback Treon Harris has completed just 20 of 43 passes -- just 46 percent -- over the previous two games, with one touchdown, one interception and a fumble.
“He's done some really good things and he's done some things that he'll continue to need to work on,” McElwain said. “The one thing I will say about Treon is he's doing some things to help us win ballgames as well. This was the first game all year, really, where we were on the downside of the turnover part. And yet, to win a game with four turnovers, that stuff doesn't happen. You've got to have a little resolve. I think our guys did that. It's a work in progress.”
Harris' USC counterpart, Perry Orth (54 percent, 1,156 yards, 7 TDs, 6 INTs), is capable of making things happen, especially with wideout Pharoh Cooper (48 catches, 658 yards, 5 TDs) a big-play threat from anywhere on the field.
On the road Saturday against Tennessee, the Gamecocks were driving for the go-ahead touchdown when Orth's completion for 25 yards was fumbled away inside the UT 20 with less than a minute to play.
Now they get the Gators at home. UF's defense is playing as well as any in the country now -- 13.4 points allowed per game is tops in league play and the 295.1 surrendered is second only to Alabama -- but nothing can be taken for granted on the road; especially after the offense turned it over four times at home.
“They're playing the SEC East champions,” McElwain said. “That's a heckuva motivation.”
The visitors have this for motivation: South Carolina has defeated Florida each of the last two seasons and four of the previous five.
“They always play us tough,” cornerback Brian Poole said.
UF will be without defensive tackle Joey Ivie (knee) and possibly minus safety Keanu Neal (foot) and defensive lineman Jon Bullard (arm), who is having an All-America type season. Both Neal and Bullard are doubtful for the game. On offense, right tackle David Sharpe (ankle) played hurt and only in the second half against Vandy. He'll be day-to-day this week.
Regardless of whether those guys can go, though, the McElwain mantra will apply. Whoever is on the field will be expected to play well.
Just like the expectation for this team was to win the East.
“That's not really our ultimate goal,” Poole said. “Our ultimate goal is a national championship. It's kind of good to get that out of the way, but now it's back to focusing on the bigger picture. We're the Gators. We want to win national championships, not just the SEC East championship.”
But the East is always going to be the first step. Go ahead and check that box.
Feel free to breath a sigh of relief.
