Gators Lose Ugly to FSU But Remain on Right Path

Saturday, November 28

Gainesville, FL

7:30 PM

Florida Gators

10-2 , 7-1

Florida State

10-2 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Florida State

Florida

Gators Lose Ugly to FSU But Remain on Right Path

Sunday, November 29, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter

Box Score

By: Scott Carter

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In early August when the Gators reported for preseason camp, if you walked up to the knowledgeable Florida fan and told him or her the Gators would finish 10-2 and play for the Southeastern Conference championship, once the laughter died, an inevitable question would follow.

“What are you drinking? I want some of that.”

Fast forward to late November and a Saturday night showdown against Florida State that turned abysmal for those in orange and blue. The Gators did not score a touchdown, Austin Hardin missed a field goal and had one blocked, and sophomore quarterback Treon Harris had trouble seeing open receivers, and when he spotted them, Harris sometimes failed to throw a catchable pass.

The tone on social media during No. 10 Florida's 27-2 loss to the 14th-ranked Seminoles was loud and not so proud of the home team, a far cry from earlier in the season when the wins piled up unexpectedly and the Gators played their way into contention for a possible College Football Playoff spot.

Harris and Hardin were the primary targets of upset fans Saturday tired of losing to FSU. Florida has lost three in a row to the Seminoles at home for the first time in school history.

Still, as the regular season came to a close in front of a record crowd of 90,916 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the Gators trudged toward the locker room with a 10-2 record and trip to Atlanta to face Alabama in the SEC Championship game awaiting them.

For a program with a combined 11-13 record the past two seasons, 10 wins in the first 11 games under first-year coach Jim McElwain altered perception of this year's Florida team far greater than imagined. Too far for some. When reality reared its ugly head Saturday, the frustration flowed like hot lava down a mountainside.

No one needed to tell the Gators they were not at their best.

“What we did tonight is not acceptable,'' senior tight end Jake McGee said. “This is a tough one. You can't dwell on it too long, as bad as it was.”

The shining light for the Gators on Saturday was their defense, which limited FSU to 158 yards in the first three quarters. Meanwhile, Seminoles sophomore sensation Dalvin Cook, who deserves a place in any discussion about the best players in college football in 2015, had only 33 yards through three quarters.

However, the Gators trailed 13-0 and could only muster points when freshman defensive lineman Cece Jefferson sacked FSU quarterback Sean Maguire to force a fumble. The ball bounced and tumbled all the way to the end zone where Maguire eventually fell on it for a Florida safety.

“Our defense gave us an opportunity and we didn't take advantage of it,'' McElwain said. “Our defense is as good as there is in the country. They played well enough today to win.”

But even great defenses get worn down when they don't get any help from the offense.

Cook rushed for 150 yards in the fourth quarter and two scores as the Seminoles pulled away. The 24-year-old McGee, a sixth-year senior who took on a key leadership role in McElwain's first season, was as distraught as anyone the offense was unable to carry its weight.

“It just makes you sick when you see how hard they are playing and the type of defense that they are and you can't give them any help,'' he said. “They are making plays left and right. We weren't able to give them anything.”

The Gators finished with 262 yards of total offense and averaged just 3.3 yards per play, running 21 more plays (79 to 58) than FSU. Junior running back Kelvin Taylor (24 carries, 136 yards) accounted for more than half those yards.

Three trips into the red zone resulted in zero points for the Gators. Florida's longest play of the game was Taylor's 22-yard run in the first quarter. The Gators were also without leading receiver Demarcus Robinson, who made another bad choice as McElwain likes to say.

What transpired Saturday has been on the verge of happening all season.

The Gators managed a season-low 245 yards with Will Grier directing the offense at Kentucky and escaped with a 14-9 win. They needed a fourth-quarter rally to pull off a victory over Tennessee. Even in their most impressive win of the season, a 38-10 victory over Ole Miss, the Gators had just 355 yards of total offense.

And raising concerns about Florida's offensive efficiency in recent weeks were close wins over Vanderbilt, South Carolina and last week's overtime escape against Florida Atlantic.

“It's not going to be like this forever,'' Taylor said. “It's going to get better.”

He is right. But the Gators are not there yet. McElwain inherited a bone-crushing defense that has played up to its potential and an offense of spare parts.

Grier was starting to show signs of improvement when he got suspended, but Harris has appeared to stall behind an offensive line that has been up and down of late.

And then Saturday happened.

“That was very disappointing,'' McElwain said. “They made some plays and we didn't.”

So, shout at the top of your lungs about Saturday's performance, and be mad at another loss to the Seminoles, but try to take a step back and think about what exactly 10-2 means for this program at this time.

What would have made you laugh in early August is reality in late November.

It's not always been easy to watch, but that's nothing new. A trip to Atlanta is though. The Gators won games this season they have lost in recent years.

Florida will be a heavy underdog at the Georgia Dome. But here's more reality: Florida's future under McElwain looks promising despite what you witnessed Saturday.

“I think it'll be interesting in the building of this program and this organization, how we handle disappointment like this and how we rebound,'' McElwain said. “It will tell a lot about a lot of our guys, it will tell a lot about the guys that will be coming back and what kind of roles they will play, and really about who each one of us are.

“That's what you learn in defeat.”