Another embarrassing offensive effort for Florida against Florida State
Florida will go to the SEC Championship Game next week in Atlanta to take on Alabama, the No. 1 team in America.
Needless to say, the Gators won’t have much momentum before making their way to the Georgia Dome after a 31-13 loss to rival Florida State in Tallahassee. If this is the best the East can do, then the Crimson Tide are far from worried.
UF put together an embarrassing effort offensively — for the second year in a row in this matchup, actually — against a Seminoles defense that doesn’t hold a candle to the Tide’s. If this team can’t keep FSU’s front seven out of the backfield, imagine what it’ll be like next Saturday when ‘Bama unleashes its special blend of hell.
Austin Appleby, starting in place of the injured and ineffective Luke Del Rio, was 19-of-35 for 149 yards without a TD or an INT.
Most alarming, Florida didn’t convert a single third down all night long, as the ‘Noles rushed Appleby mercilessly and blanketed receivers downfield. While Jordan Scarlett ran the ball well early, he disappeared late.
Despite the final score, Florida State wasn’t especially sharp in this game — at least on offense. Deondre Francois threw a bad interception and also lost a fumble. The Seminoles even coughed up a punt that was returned by the Gators for their lone touchdown. They only completed one pass that went for a gain longer than 13 yards.
It’s a tribute to the defense that UF was actually in this one after intermission, even with so many players missing due to injury.
But as we saw earlier in the campaign in losses to Tennessee and Arkansas, Florida’s D eventually wore down and never got any help. All those three-and-outs and field-position disadvantages mount up over the course of a game.
Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports
Continuing his strong play against the Gators — he originally committed to them as a recruit prior to flipping to the Seminoles — Dalvin Cook (above) ran for 153 yards and a score on 26 carries. In three career games against UF, he has been credited with 76 attempts for 479 yards and 3 touchdowns, not to mention three Ws.
Luckily for Florida, the junior is expected to declare for the NFL Draft a year early and perhaps be a Top 10 pick.
The Gators did defend the pass admirably, though. Standout cornerbacks Teez Tabor and Quincy Wilson held FSU’s receiving corps in check, although a 46-yard scoring strike from Francois to Travis Rudolph on 3rd-and-10 was a killer.
Still, this loss can’t be hung on UF’s defense. This is Year 2 for coach Jim McElwain, and — aside from an abbreviated career in Gainesville for Will Grier last season — he’s still yet to find any consistency at the game’s most important position. If this were the NFL, both Appleby and Del Rio would be classified as journeymen.
He’s had plenty of excuses to pull a redshirt off the back of either freshman, Feleipe Franks or Kyle Trask, but McElwain has refused to do so.
Unfortunately for the best conference in America, this sets up a title game rematch with precious little sizzle and almost no steak. Florida lost to Alabama 29-15 a year ago, and it wasn’t really that close.
If anything, the Crimson Tide are better than the 2015 version that won coach Nick Saban’s fourth national championship — and fifth overall — in Tuscaloosa. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has been a revelation as a freshman. The defense reloads annually with future draft picks. If a flaw exists, ‘Bama is yet to have it exposed.
Conversely, if anything, the Gators are worse than this past season. Champion of the East is on par with being valedictorian of summer school.
On the one hand, McElwain (below) and Co. should be commended for winning the division twice in a row. The offense has shown up in spots. The defense continues to play Atlas. Special teams have been rather sound, too.
Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports
But let’s not kid ourselves: The East is a disaster. Tennessee — everyone’s preseason favorite at Media Days — just lost to Vanderbilt on the road to fall to 8-4. Georgia just lost to Georgia Tech at home(!) to fall to 7-5. The talk of the division these days is Vandy and South Carolina getting to bowl eligibility at 6-6.
Last year, Florida started out 10-1. The Gators finished with blowout defeats at the hands of FSU, ‘Bama and Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
A similar tale could be written about UF by the time this season is in the rearview mirror. Now 8-3 after this drubbing at Doak Campbell Stadium, the Tide are expected to roll quite easily in seven days at the Georgia Dome.
As far as a bowl game is concerned, Florida could amazingly still end up a part of the New Year’s Six in the Sugar Bowl. A dirty little secret about the SEC is that — aside from Alabama, of course — the entire league is down, not just the East. Assuming the Crimson Tide tame the Gators, 13 of the 14 teams will have at least four losses.
Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M and Tennessee all showed genuine promise at some point. Each now possesses a “4” in the loss column.
SEC fans love to make fun of the ACC for being a basketball-first conference, and most of the time they’re right. Nevertheless, in the four meetings between the two leagues Saturday, only Kentucky managed to take care of Louisville.
Florida State finishes the regular season with bookend victories over two SEC squads — Ole Miss in Week 1 and Florida in Week 13. The same goes for Clemson, which opened the schedule with a win against Auburn and closed it with another over South Carolina. The Seminoles and Tigers can both hold their own with the SEC.
But nobody can hang with Alabama, least of all the toothless Gators that took to the field in the Capital City.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
