Two years ago, a loss to South Carolina was the line in the sand for the Florida football program. The Gators piled into Columbia needing just a win to stay alive in the race for the SEC East Division championship and they were facing a South Carolina team that was struggling mightily. Because of what was at stake, you would have expected a focused, on-edge performance by the Gators. Because the coach on the other sideline was the only coach that had ever won a Southeastern Conference or national championship, there was no reason for the Gators to lay an egg.
But lay an egg they did. Spurrier’s Gamecocks looked like a polished, well coached machine that day and the Gators looked like a team that just couldn’t get it all together. Florida lost a game and a championship that was theirs for the taking that day. Had the Gators won, they would have gone to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game because later that evening, Auburn rallied to beat Georgia in Athens.
By the time the charter jet carrying the Gators landed in Gainesville that evening, a “come to Jesus” team meeting was in the works. It was almost two hours before the Gators got off the plane that night.
I’ve heard several versions of those two hours and rather than go into all the sordid details, let’s just say that by the time the team walked onto the tarmac at Gainesville Regional Airport a lot of fingers had been pointed and there was a clear division between the players that were officially invested in first year coach Urban Meyer’s way of doing things and those that probably needed to find a new college football home.
Vernell Brown, Jeremy Mincey and Jarvis Moore asserted themselves as the team’s true leaders with some help from sophomore linebacker Brandon Siler. Those four pretty much let it be known that it was Urban’s way or the highway. Their edict to the team that night: get on the bus or get run over. There was very little room for a fence straddler; none whatsoever for someone unwilling to give 100 percent to the Florida Gators.
The reasons why this get on or get run over meeting was so important goes far beyond the modest two-game winning streak that the Gators put together to finish up their season with a more than respectable 9-3 record. The seeds of a championship were sown that day. The Gators didn’t win a championship in 2005 but they couldn’t have won one in 2006 if not for that team meeting after the loss to South Carolina. The players that stuck around for 2006 were in it up to their necks in the Urban Meyer way of doing things. Those that weren’t in it up to their necks were someplace else.
The circumstances for tonight’s game in Columbia against South Carolina (7:45, Williams-Brice Stadium, ESPN TV) are somewhat similar in that the Gators (6-3, 4-3 SEC East) come into the game needing a win to stay alive in the SEC East Division race. There is no way the Gators can clinch the SEC East tonight, but they can do all that’s within their power.
Florida needs to win its last SEC game and hope that one of the following scenarios takes place: (1) Georgia and Tennessee each lose one of their remaining SEC games; (2) Georgia and Tennessee lose both of their remaining SEC games; or (3) Georgia loses twice and Tennessee loses once in their remaining SEC games. So all the Gators can do tonight is put themselves in the best possible position. The rest will take a little bit of help.
Once again, the Gators are in need of a win for a shot at a championship and Steve Spurrier stands in the way. Last year, Spurrier and the Gamecocks could have affected Florida’s national championship status although the Gators had already clinched the SEC East by the time South Carolina rolled into Gainesville.
And, like they were two years ago, South Carolina is struggling mightily. The Gamecocks have lost three in a row since they were 6-1 and ranked sixth in the nation. It’s been 20 years since a Spurrier-coached team lost four in a row and that was his first year at Duke. There should be an even greater sense of urgency for the Gamecocks. The last thing in the world they want to do is face arch-rival Clemson in the season finale trying to right a listing four-loss-in-a-row ship.
Florida comes into this game revitalized and energized by a 49-22 win over a Vanderbilt team that started the Gamecocks on their nosedive. Whereas Florida had answers for Vanderbilt’s high pressure, highly ranked defense, South Carolina wilted under the intense pressure. Last week, the Gamecocks didn’t wilt. They got trampled by Arkansas and Run DMc. Darren McFadden rushed for 321 yards but he wasn’t the only one stomping all over the Gamecocks. Felix Jones, #1A to McFadden’s #1 in terms of the best running back in the SEC, added 163 yards and three touchdowns as part of a 541-yard rushing performance by the Razorbacks.
Florida doesn’t have McFadden and Jones but the Gators do have Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin, not to mention a few other loaded weapons they can spring on South Carolina’s battered, bruised and reeling South Carolina defense. Two years ago, the Gamecocks teed off on Chris Leak, who was a sitting duck in the pocket with a porous offensive line trying to protect him. This year, the Gamecocks will try to corral a totally different type of quarterback in Tebow. Even though it’s doubtful we’ll see Tebow running the ball 18-20 times this game due to the effects of a shoulder that was badly bruised three weeks ago, he does have the kind of mobility in the pocket and ability to escape the rush that drives defenses crazy. He’s already scored an SEC record for quarterbacks 14 touchdowns on the ground and as impressive as that number is, 21 touchdown passes and 66 percent completions are the kind of numbers that create nightmares for defensive coordinators. Particularly defensive coordinators that just gave up 48 points and 650 total yards just a week ago.
Tebow doesn’t do it alone, however. He doesn’t have to. He’s got Harvin, who has caught passes for more than 700 yards and has rushed for 210 yards on 21 carries in the last two games. He’s got Bubba Caldwell, who caught nine passes for 103 yards and a couple of touchdowns last week. He’s got Louis Murphy, who has caught a pass for at least 40 yards in each of the last three games. He’s got Jarred Fayson, who is emerging as a new and very dangerous weapon in the passing game.
And if that’s not bad enough, there is Brandon James, perhaps the nation’s best kick returner, averaging more than 20 yards per punt return and 29 yards per kickoff return.
Everybody expects the Gators to put up some big offensive numbers this week. What has everybody sitting on the edge of their seats is the young Florida defense. They held Vanderbilt to 255 total yards, one of their best efforts of the year, but Vandy is Vandy and the Commodores don’t have Steve Spurrier calling their plays.
The question of the day for the Gators will be can the defense duplicate last week’s effort? It might be difficult against a South Carolina offense that got 364 passing yards on Arkansas last week and Gamecock quarterback Blake Mitchell has saved his best games the last two years for Florida. But, if Florida looks anything like it did last week, then the Gators will have a very good chance to finish off the SEC schedule with a win that leaves them waiting for Tennessee and Georgia to stumble.
While getting to the SEC Championship Game would be a tremendous accomplishment for this young Florida football team, that’s just an added bonus. The greater accomplishment will be to go into Columbia where the atmosphere will be hostile and win a game the Gators have to win.
To win this one is a sign of a team that is growing up and maturing. When the season began, everybody knew this was a get the Gators while you can kind of year. Three teams have gotten the Gators and there will be hell to pay next year when Florida is all grown up and almost too talented at every position on the field. But that’s next year. This is now and now the Gators need to show everybody just how much they’ve matured this season. What they will be doing tonight on the field is akin to what the Gators were doing on that plane sitting on the tarmac in Gainesville two years ago — sowing championship seeds.
From the ashes of defeat in Columbia in 2005, the Gators rose to become a national championship team in 2006. No ashes are necessary this time, but the Gators can lay the groundwork for a championship run in 2008 with a win tonight.
FEARLESS FORECAST: While so much of the focus is going to be on Tebow and Harvin, I believe three other players will have impact roles. I like Brandon James to come up big in the return game. I like Louis Murphy to do his deep threat act and drive a stiletto deep into the South Carolina heart. I like Derrick Harvey to spend so much time in the South Carolina backfield that Blake Mitchell almost hands the ball off to him at least once. I’ve got a Florida kind of feeling for this one.
I like it Florida 35, South Carolina 20.