On Saturday the Florida Gators have a chance to do something that every team in the country sets as its first goal going into a new season: play in the conference championship game. For the Gators, the road to Atlanta goes through Baton Rouge against one of the hottest teams in the country, LSU.
Not only is a trip to the SEC Title game hanging in the balance Saturday, but there is a lot on the line for Jim McElwain’s football program as well. The Gators have not won against a SEC West opponent on the road dating all the way back to 2012. Getting a win on Saturday would not only punch a ticket to Atlanta, but also would be a notch in the Jim McElwain coaching belt since he did it with a make-shift offensive line, and a backup quarterback.
The injury bug has made its way through the Gator locker room starting two weeks ago at Arkansas and it continued into the matchup last week against South Carolina. Tyler Jordan, who was filling in for already injured starting center Cam Dillard, went down with an ankle injury and the coaching staff then had to turn to T.J. McCoy. McCoy has not played many meaningful snaps and in he steps in a must win situation. For McCoy, the nerves were there but his preparation took away the butterflies.
“I was kind of nervous a little bit but I cam in there, I prepared well, I worked really hard with coach Summers, coach Mac, and coach Nuss,” he said on Tuesday. “Everybody got me prepared so the moment wasn’t too big.
Not long after Jordan went down in Saturday’s game, so did starting left tackle, David Sharpe. The Sharpe injury forced Martez Ivey to play his high school position at left tackle. What seemed to be a disaster actually proved to be rather unnoticeable as the shuffled line held their own against the Gamecocks.
Jim McElwain said on Wednesday that he expects Tyler Jordan to be ready to play on Saturday, adding some much-needed depth to a depleting offensive line against one of the top pass rushing, and run stopping defenses in the country who has all the confidence in the world. With Arden Key coming off the edge and Greg Gilmore filling the middle, there is not much room for error in offensive line play. The Tigers are fast and aggressive and will have a home crowd behind them, but that doesn’t worry sophomore offensive lineman Fred Johnson, who is seeing a bigger role with the injuries.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to come out and show what we’ve got and show that we’re not what everybody else thinks we are,” he said.
Opportunistic thinking and a positive mindset will help the lineman this week as they face their toughest challenge since the Tennessee game back in September; a game they dominated early but failed to finish with a disappointing second half effort.
The Tigers have the 17th best rushing defense in the country and the 13th in the country in total defense. Sophomore stud Arden Key is third in the conference in sacks and is three away from tying the LSU single-season record. With another chance to play in Atlanta just four quarters away, the offensive line will have to play their best game on Saturday in one of the hardest places to play in the country, but with that difficult task there is an opportunity to proves themselves and not be talked about as one of the weakest links on this Gator team.