After Epic Win, Gators Greeted By October Gauntlet
Monday, September 28, 2015 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- If the date with Tennessee started a run of games against “glass-eaters and fire-breathers,” as Coach Jim McElwain declared last week, then what sort of monstrous adjectives can he come up with to describe the wrecking-ball crew at Ole Miss?
Welcome to Octoberfest, Florida Gators style.
* Saturday: Home against the Rebels (4-0, 2-0), the nation's No. 3-ranked team and recent dismantler of Southeastern Conference king Alabama (on the road, no less).
* Oct. 10: At Missouri, two-time defending SEC East Division champ.
* Oct. 17: At LSU, currently ranked ninth and armed with a tailback, Leonard Fournette, now being likened to a cross between Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson.
* Oct. 24: Bye (much needed).
* Oct. 31: No. 8 Georgia at Jacksonville, a date that needs no build-up (although check back in a month, 'cause we'll do our best).
Throw in that season-ender against No. 11 Florida State and the Gators have four games remaining against teams (the aforementioned quartet) currently ranked in the ESPN Coaches Top 10. The six other teams in the SEC East have four such games combined.
But here's something else McElwain said last week in the aftermath of surviving a difficult road game at Kentucky: When you win games like that, you put yourself in position for even bigger games.
Such is the case, which brings us back to Ole Miss and Saturday night's prime-time clash between a pair of ranked teams at The Swamp. Amid the fallout of that pulsating 28-27 comeback defeat of Tennessee -- a game in which the Gators did plenty to lose, yet somehow made enough plays late to win -- McElwain said Monday the lessons from that one should serve his team well for the upcoming one.
“It's over, and now we've got to move forward. That's what this is all about,” McElwain said. “Learn from it and let's go to work, get a little bit better and go play a team that I'm sure is going to come in here and figure they should beat the heck out of us. A highly ranked opponent that has everything going for them.”
Florida, meanwhile, is lowly ranked at No. 25, but ranked nonetheless, having snuck into the AP poll for the first time since Week 7 of the 2013 season -- the same season UF finished 4-8 and lost its last seven games.
Being back in the Top 25 limelight is not what this team is after, however.
And it doesn't impress anyone in the locker room.
“We're the Florida Gators,” slotback Brandon Powell said. “That's where we're supposed to be.”
Now, here come the Rebels, two weeks removed from ransacking Alabama 43-37 on the road. Ole Miss leads the SEC in scoring (54.8 points per game) and total offense (543.5 yards per game), plus boasts the league's best passing attack (344.5 ypg).
Quarterback Chad Kelly (61.7 percent, 1,219 yards, 10 touchdowns, 3 interceptions) tops the SEC in passing, which is little wonder considering he has the NFL's top-rated prospects at wide receiver in Laquon Treadwell (22 catches, 332 yards, 1 TD) and tight end in Evan Engram, plus another wideout, Quincy Adeboyejo (10 catches, 224 yards, 5 TDs), who averages 22 yards per catch. The ground game led by tailback Jaylen Walton (269 rushing yards, 6.4 yards per carry, 3 TDs) gives the offense balance.
It's an attack that figures to challenge a Florida defense that was strutting pretty high a week ago, ranked first in the league and second in the nation, only to have Tennessee roll into town and crank out 419 yards, including 254 on the ground, thanks to as many as 25 missed tackles.
The Gators were on point in wrapping up ballcarriers the first three games of the season, but McElwain said his staff reviewed clips of last week's practice and, sure enough, saw a lot of what played out in the game.
“Usually what happens Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday shows up on Saturday,” he said. “If they choose to not want to tackle, it'll show up again. They understand how. These are prideful guys. I want you to keep writing about it. That helps.”
[Note to Gators: Hey, what about those 25 missed tackles?]
“He's always challenging us,” sophomore cornerback Quincy Wilson said. “Our defense is real competitive, but we're all about putting the ball down and go play.”
The Rebels show middling numbers on defense -- eighth overall (357.8 ypg), ninth vs. the run (155.5 ypg), 10th vs. the pass (202.2 ypg) -- but lead the league with seven interceptions. They also boast arguably the best defensive player in college football in 6-foot-4, 296-pound defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, who already is being talked about as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft.
How athletic is Nkemdiche? He also has touchdowns rushing and receiving on offense.
"You can obviously see what they're doing in recruiting is paying huge dividends because of the players they have on both sides of the ball," McElwain said of the Rebels. "These guys are top draft picks and top players -- and were top players coming out of high school."
The Gators will have sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor and sophomore quarterback Treon Harris back after missing last week's game. McElwain did not pinpoint where those two fit into the plans against Ole Miss, though Tabor showed up No. 2 on the depth chart Monday behind Wilson.
Though McElwain did not say so, it's safe to assume the return of Harris will not impact the pecking order at quarterback, where redshirt freshman Will Grier came alive in the fourth quarter in leading the Gators, down 13 points, on a pair of touchdown drives to complete UF's largest home comeback in 29 years.
"We didn't panic," McElwain said.
Grier finished 23-of-42 for 283 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, with his 63-yard scoring strike to true freshman Antonio Callaway coming with 1:26 to play and handing the Gators their first lead since the opening quarter. The drive before was a 17-play, 86-yard thing of beauty, also.
McElwain was only so impressed.
“Those drives in the fourth, that's what he's supposed to do,” he said. “He played OK [and] did some good things he needs to get better at. But the biggest thing is he had the opportunity to learn what it's like to play in an SEC ballgame in a great environment. Those are all really good, positive things.”
Without question, Grier was far from perfect in the game -- he sailed some passes and was badly off target on others -- but he was dead-solid perfect on fourth down, going 5-for-5 for 123 yards and a score. He was 2-for-2 on fourth down during the first scoring drive of the fourth quarter, then hit Callaway for the catch-and-run TD on a desperation 4th-and-13 play.
The UF coaches will use these feel-good moments as reference points; no different than if the roles had been reversed and a Tennessee wide receiver had been the one to make the game-winning play.
“This will be interesting,” McElwain said. “It's always a learning experience. Part of it is going back and explaining the 'why' and maybe 'how' you've had success; and maybe not putting Saturday before what we need to do now. What we try to do in everything that we go through is explain the why.”
Enter the first top-five opponent in The Swamp since 2012.
Why not the Gators?
“It's tough to say without a crystal ball,” McElwain responded when asked if his program was ready to take a step to the next level. “I just know the approach and what it takes to be consistent. Yet, you're going to slip up. It happens. It's really how you learn from it. I'm really looking forward to seeing them [Monday] and getting to work on this opponent who probably doesn't have a lot of regard for us.”
