ORLANDO -- His words raised eyebrows and caused some to question whether they heard what they thought they heard. Caused a few laughs, too, when an out-of-town columnist asked a follow up to make sure he understood exactly what
Jim McElwain meant.
It was in August at the Florida football team's media day. The new Gators head coach was discussing the details, how he expects his team to show up every game, every practice, every meeting with a purpose.
"We've got 15 opportunities,'' McElwain said.
You could see the non-math majors in the room starting to add in their heads. The Gators had 12 regular-season games on the schedule. If they were lucky enough in McElwain's first season, they might make a lower-tier bowl for 13 games total.
Was McElwain talking about practice? Nope.
In his master plan, Florida will start every season expecting to play 15 games: 12 in the regular season, the SEC title game, a national semifinal, and you guessed it, the national championship.
Five months after McElwain made that pronouncement, the Gators are preparing for their 14th and final game in his first season. They fell an opportunity short of McElwain's ultimate vision.
Still, when the Gators run onto the field to face Michigan here in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on Friday, they will already have crossed the finish line most drew for them in Year 1 under McElwain.
At his final pre-bowl press conference on Thursday, McElwain once more repeated a mantra he has used often in his first 12 months on the job.
"It doesn't matter what you do, you go and expect to win,'' he said. "Win or lose, we'll learn from it. Everyday it's about discovery. That's how we go about our daily life and our program."
The Gators regrouped in Orlando this week focused on improvement following disappointing performances in back-to-back losses to Florida State and Alabama. The loss to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game is one McElwain wants Florida's returning players to remember.
Playing for the SEC title for the first time in six years, Florida gained its fewest yards all season (180) and allowed the most (437) in a 29-15 loss at the Georgia Dome. A small senior class led by
Jonathan Bullard,
Antonio Morrison,
Trip Thurman,
Jake McGee and
Brian Poole capped their careers by finally making it to Atlanta.
"They were able to experience what that game is all about,'' McElwain said. "Moving forward, it gives a lot of guys the understanding of what that's all about. It's not about just being happy to get there."
For the program to get back the younger players must take the lessons learned this season and carry them into the future.
Four juniors have announced plans to enter the draft: running back
Kelvin Taylor, receiver
Demarcus Robinson, defensive lineman
Alex McCalister and All-American cornerback
Vernon Hargreaves III.
While all contributed to Florida's success, the Gators have enough talent remaining and more on the way to contend for the SEC East title again next year.
"I think we can be very good. The guys who are leaving this year, they set a great example for us,'' junior linebacker
Jarrad Davis said. "These past couple of weeks we have really been taking advantage of stepping up as new leaders. A lot of guys have really done some surprising things. The way everything looks right now we could be great next year."
The Gators (10-3) are the underdog the Wolverines (9-3) on Friday, which is extra motivation as the Gators seek to cap off their comeback season with a victory instead of a three-game losing streak.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Thursday he sees a dangerous Florida team on film that is cause for concern.
"The entire team is so capable of playing a very high level,'' Harbaugh said. "They have explosive players all over the field."
While Florida's situation at quarterback remains unsettled heading into the offseason with the recent struggles of
Treon Harris and the departure of
Will Grier, defensive coordinator
Geoff Collins is confident the Gators are just getting started under McElwain.
McElwain's first hire at Florida, Collins left Mississippi State to work for McElwain and is glad he did for what he has learned from the 2015 SEC Coach of the Year.
"The way he handles the players, the way he handles situations, ups, downs, highs and lows, you know, whatever it is,'' Collins said. "But my favorite thing about him is he's a real guy. He's a great head football coach. He knows what he's doing offensively, defensively, special teams. But the way he manages people, the way he interacts with our players, the staff, the grounds crew, whoever it is, he's him."
That was never more evident than his final Citrus Bowl press conference Thursday morning. McElwain was relaxed and quick with a quip, dropping lines from everything about how fancy the Gators' team hotel is to selling shoes at J.C. Penney's when he was younger.
But asked about his plans to ring in the New Year, McElwain reeled off some items on the team's schedule and said he would probably be in bed by the time the clock hit midnight.
The Gators have another opportunity ahead of them Friday.
"'The little things are what create success,'' McElwain said. "It's not rocket science. Our standards are becoming very clear and our guys are doing a great job with it."
