Florida Gators need to remain focused on ultimate goal

The Florida Gators 31-10 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks left Jim McElwain searching for answers in his postgame press conference. The head coach didn’t expect to feel this way after the way his team prepared during the week. Florida was hardly competitive on Saturday afternoon. A day where they could have taken a step closer to securing the SEC East title turned into an embarrassing loss, compounded by injuries to key starters.

“I thought they were prepared,” McElwain said of his football team. “They, you know, I told you we had a slow start on Tuesday. I said that at our press conference. You know, I don’t think guys were still celebrating our last game and we know what was at stake. Didn’t come through.”

On the year the SEC West is 9-1 against the East. The gap between the two divisions has widened, something McElwain says is Florida’s job to correct. They didn’t come close on Saturday and had its outside hopes of sneaking into the College Football Playoff dashed but the season isn’t over yet.

Somehow, mostly due to the ineptitude of the entire eastern division, the Gators still control their fate. At 4-2 in the conference the Gators are still first in the SEC East, ahead of Kentucky (4-3). Florida would secure a trip to Atlanta with wins in its next two games.

“We’ve still got our heads up,” senior safety Marcus Maye said. “We’ve still got a bunch of games left. We’ve got a big one next week. I mean, we’re gonna work just like we always do. We can’t afford to go in the tank right now.”

Nobody believes in the Gators. The Associated Press voters dropped Florida 12 spots (from 10 to 22) following its loss. The Coaches Poll dropped the Gators seven spots to No. 16 overall.

The offense has been holding the team back, a story that is becoming played out and old. Florida didn’t have a drive last longer than five plays on offense against Arkansas until the final drive of the game with Arkansas playing off coverage on defense. The Gators didn’t have a drive cover three minutes until, again, that final offensive drive of the game. That forced the defense to play more than 70 snaps and close to 40 minutes. Human nature would suggest that a riff could form between the two units. Florida can’t allow this to happen.

“We’re all one. Coach Mac does a great job of keeping us together,” said Maye. “We’ve been through so much as a team and each individual person has took it upon himself to not go in the tank. So if we want to do what we have to do at the end of the season, we can’t afford to go separate ways as a team.”

Florida didn’t look the part on Saturday but they still control their own fate and can actually clinch the SEC East title on Saturday. If the Gators beat South Carolina and Kentucky beats Tennessee Florida clinches. It would be the Gators first back-to-back SEC East titles since 2008-09, Tim Tebow’s final years in Gainesville.

It may not feel like it in the wake of Saturday’s loss but the Gators are in position to accomplish its goal of winning the east, they just need to stay focused and stay together.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC