A coach like Florida’s Jim McElwain would never publicly endorse one of sports’ most dreaded cliches, but the Gators gained a moral victory while losing to LSU on Saturday night.
The final score (35-28) and betting line (LSU minus-7) may say otherwise, but even in a loss, UF’s season outlook is about as positive as it would be with an outright win.
It would be easy for someone who did not watch the game to be confused why McElwain seemed cheerful in his first postgame press conference as the losing coach at Florida. McElwain’s initial reaction to the fake field goal that ultimately decided the game was to call it “pretty awesome” before elaborating.
“It was a heck of a call, a gutsy call,” McElwain told the media. “It’s kind of a badge of honor. They’ve got to fake one to beat us.”
One reason for McElwain to be upbeat and congratulatory is his team’s response to trailing 28-14 at halftime.
With 15 seconds left in the first half, LSU QB Brandon Harris escaped a sack and launched a 50-yard bomb to WR Malachi Dupre for a touchdown. It extended LSU’s lead to 28-14 and took the momentum away from the Gators, who had just worked to trim the lead to 21-14.
It would have been easy for the Gators to throw in the towel at halftime and concede that if Brandon Harris is hitting 50-yard Hail Mary touchdowns, it’s just not their day. Instead, Florida put forth a spirited effort on both sides of the ball, rallying to make it a 28-28 contest entering the fourth quarter.
When a team has made headlines for the wrong reasons, in Florida’s case a high-profile suspension and a violent arrest, a second-half effort like the one Saturday night is something in which the team can take pride. The Gators went into Death Valley at night, against the No. 6 ranked team, led by backup QB Treon Harris on one week of preparation and fought until the final seconds ticked off the clock.
With Auburn’s 30-27 win over Kentucky, the Gators are in essentially the same position in the SEC East they were one week ago: the leader in the division without needing to worry about tiebreakers – yet. Florida controls its own destiny to get to Atlanta and beyond.
If that destiny includes winning out in the final five regular-season games and the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, there would be public outcry – at least below the Mason-Dixon line – if the playoff selection committee omitted Florida from the final four. The Gators proved they can hang with the best of the best in 2015, and because of that, Saturday night was a moral victory.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
