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If there’s one word that describes the Gators’ first year under coach Jim McElwain, it’s “unexpected.”
So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Florida, with all its troubles finding a field goal kicker, booked its trip to Atlanta behind the leg of a player from Atlanta whom the team had given up on.
Austin Hardin trotted onto the field having only made 3 of 7 field goals this season and 14 of 29 in his career. Plus, the redshirt junior had missed three games with a leg injury earlier this season.
Then on Saturday, he watched from the sideline. A walk-on kicker that the team plucked from its open tryout, pre-dental student Neil MacInnes, took (and horribly missed) the team’s extra point in the first quarter.
Hardin knew all too well that he was on the field by default to kick a 43-yard field goal that could clinch the SEC East. Vanderbilt didn’t need to ice him. His confidence had plenty of reason to be frozen solid.
Nonetheless, Hardin had ice water in his veins when he drilled it.
Yes, the program that entered Week 10 with the lowest field goal percentage of any SEC team (50 percent) put it right through the uprights to prevent a third straight Homecoming loss for Florida. That outcome would’ve ended the team’s hopes of making the College Football Playoff and potentially prevented the Gators from making their first SEC Championship Game since 2009.
The hero was the same player that missed two extra points, and the same player that hadn’t made a field goal longer than 37 yards this season.
That player tuned all of that out for a few precious seconds to make one with everything riding on it.
McElwain said the staff expected Hardin to make it, but one can’t help but throw the challenge flag on that.
Moving forward, the Gators have to hope that this was one of those eggs that even the great teams sometimes lay on the way to great seasons. Turning the ball over four times and not scoring in double digits is no way to show up to a Homecoming game with so much at stake.
After the game, McElwain told Commodores coach Derek Mason that the team may not have deserved to win and admitted to the media that he stole the game, even joking that he hoped the personal security trooper didn’t arrest him after the presser.
“We have a long way to go with our offense,” McElwain said after the game. “When you’re on a championship run, sometimes there is games like this.”
“That was one of those tough wins to sit through. I apologize for that.”
That tough win was nearly an inexplicable loss. Florida was on the ropes despite an opposing quarterback, Johnny McCrary, finishing the game 3-for-14 for 30 yards. That would’ve brought back memories of Florida’s loss to Georgia Southern, which didn’t attempt a single pass in its 26-20 win over the Gators in 2013.
No need to rehash all of that, thanks to a player that’s taken his fair share of lumps in recent seasons only to unexpectedly redeem himself in a moment’s notice.
When you think about it, perhaps Hardin embodies the state of Florida’s program better than anything.
#Gators K Austin Hardin last week vs. Georgia…sometimes a hair cut works out well for a guy. pic.twitter.com/8IdGWMA6DF
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) November 8, 2015
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
