Florida fans watching the College Football Playoff games Saturday couldn’t escape the past. Tim Tebow was in Atlanta with the SEC Network covering Alabama-Washington. Later that day, Urban Meyer was on the sidelines with Ohio State. It was an enjoyable night from an orange and blue perspective, catching up with Tebow, an old friend, and seeing Meyer, the coach who gave up on a good thing too early, get shut out for the first time in his career.

When Gators fans see Tebow and Meyer on TV the same day, it’s hard not to think about what’s gone wrong the past six seasons. Ever since Tebow left Gainesville, the Gators have had a revolving door at quarterback. In the post-Tebow era, only his former backup John Brantley played exclusively at quarterback while starting and ending his career at UF.

Brantley split time at quarterback in 2010 with Trey Burton and Jordan Reed, and both ended up finishing their careers at other positions. In the last five seasons, the Gators have started eight quarterbacks, and a maximum of two will end their careers at Florida. Graduate transfer Austin Appleby’s final game will be Monday’s Outback Bowl, and redshirt sophomore Luke Del Rio, who graduated this semester, has two more seasons of eligibility.

Before Del Rio and Appleby, there was a long stretch of quarterbacks who signed with Florida (Jeff Driskel, Jacoby Brissett, Tyler Murphy, Skyler Mornhinweg, Treon Harris and Will Grier) but left before their careers were over for various reasons. It’s easy to miss Tebow and the stability of a four-year contributor and three-year starter, but what the program really misses is Meyer.

It was Meyer, after all, who recruited Driskel. The dual-threat quarterback from Oviedo, Fla., wanted to play in the spread option, but stayed loyal to his commitment. Driskel’s career at UF did not go as planned, particularly after 2012, but one has to wonder how things might have gone had he not played for three offensive coordinators (Charlie Weis, Brent Pease and Kurt Roper).

Even in light of Ohio State’s blowout loss to Clemson Saturday night, there’s no doubting Meyer’s recruiting chops are as strong as ever. He might have been out of gas his last season at Florida, but at OSU, he’s consistently brought in highly ranked recruiting classes, often plucking speedy playmakers out of the Sunshine State.

Under Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain, the Gators have switched from a pro-style offense (Weis) to a hybrid system (Pease) to the spread (Roper) and back to pro-style (Doug Nussmeier). No one knows what might have happened if Meyer had stayed past the 2011 season, but Florida would have been in prime position to sign in-state prospects like Quinton Flowers (2014) and Lamar Jackson (2015), who signed with South Florida and Louisville, respectively.

Under Meyer, the 8-5 season in 2010 was an anomaly. With Muschamp and McElwain, it’s started to feel more like the norm. If the Gators fall in the Outback Bowl, it will be the record of McElwain’s second season, a short period in which he’s used four quarterbacks due to instability with the offensive philosophy and offensive recruiting.

There’s hope in Gainesville that the Gators have finally found the Tebow successor they’ve been searching for all decade. McElwain signed two quarterbacks, including No. 6 pro-style prospect Feleipe Franks, in 2016 and has No. 30 pro-style prospect Jake Allen signing this February. It’s a step in the right direction, but there has been hope before (Driskel, Grier) with frustrating results for the Florida faithful.

Until Franks, surprise 2016 recruit Kyle Trask or Allen proves himself under McElwain, Gators fans won’t be able to help looking back on the glory days of Tebow and Meyer.