The 33-17 score almost made the game look close.

Credit the Florida Gators’ defense for that. Between their two touchdowns and bend-but-don’t-break mentality, they kept Saturday’s game from getting ugly.

But anyone who saw Florida struggle to get anything done offensively against a talented, but inexperienced Michigan Wolverines defense has to be wondering when it will get better.

The numbers were not pretty. Three points (on the first drive of the game), 11 yards rushing, 181 yards passing on 14-of-26 passes, three lost fumbles.

Florida’s defense and special teams have scored four touchdowns in the past four games. The offense has scored … three touchdowns in the past four games.

The Gators couldn’t run the ball Saturday. They barely tried. Freshman Malik Davis looked nice on his first carry when he showed a nice burst and gained 8 yards. But for some reason he didn’t get another carry. Why?

Starting quarterback Feleipe Franks hit Tyrie Cleveland for a 31-yard gain on his first pass but really never got a chance to get comfortable. The play calling was conservative at times, scared at others. As my friend wisely opined, Florida offensive coaches appeared to be calling the game in fear of Franks making a mistake.

That was a mistake. Their lack of confidence in Franks eventually began to filter down to the redshirt freshman. He looked timid.

Franks eventually did make a mistake — he fumbled on a scramble in the third quarter and was subsequently benched for Malik Zaire. Zaire, a Notre Dame transfer who hasn’t played much in the past two years, looked lost out there. He had no pocket awareness and took a ton of bad hits, the worst being a sack in the end zone that resulted in a fumble a Michigan defensive touchdown that ended the game.

It was a fitting ending to poor performance.

“They beat us every which way they could up front, and we never had an answer,” Gators coach Jim McElwain said. “Plain and simple, take your whuppin’.”

The Gators fell to 2-8 against Top 25 teams under McElwain. Gator Nation is tired of seeing their team take “whuppins” after handing them out for most of the previous decade.

If there was an indicator of how far apart McElwain, considered to be an offensive-minded coach, and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, a legitimate offensive-minded coach, are, it showed in the way their handled their quarterbacks.

Michigan starter Wilson Speights was benched after throwing two pick-sixes that gave Florida a 17-10 lead. But he returned before the end of the half and led Michigan to a field goal. With his confidence restored, Speights righted the ship in the second half and led the Wolverines to a touchdown to take the lead.

The Gators’ defense is still good. They put up a hero’s effort to hold Michigan to field goals for most of the second half and keep the game respectable, hoping the offense eventually could do something. But they were gassed and gave up 215 rushing yards.

And they can’t be expected to bail out Florida’s offense week after week this year if the Gators want to three-peat in the SEC East. The majority of the division has gotten better on offense and shored up once uncertain issues at quarterback.

The defensive line is still very good, but they can’t spend all day on the field. They spent 34:17 on the field Saturday. The starting linebackers are good, but there’s little depth behind them. The secondary is going to rely on freshmen as well, especially if Chauncey Gardner’s injury is serious.

This isn’t the Gators’ defense of 2015 or 2016. It’s still good but not good enough to win this division without a competent offense. And they have given McElwain three years to put one together. The defense has run out of patience. The fan base is getting there, too. SEC East Division titles mean nothing to a program that yearns to be nationally prominent.

McElwain has 11 games to figure this out because the defense isn’t going to save him this year.

If he doesn’t, they will find someone else. I hear Chip Kelly is available.