“In the eyes of a senior”: Week 1 edition UF vs. UMass

Gator Country writer Austin Reier is a senior at the University of Florida and throughout this season he will bring you a recap of how his game day went. On home games he will be in the stadium bringing you a perspective from the student section.

Here’s his first installment of “in the eyes of a senior,” for the UMass game.

The Morning

I don’t really know how to describe the feeling of waking on up game day — especially week one. It’s almost like when your mom comes to your door, while it’s still dark out, and says, “Hey, wake up, it’s Christmas morning!” You rush downstairs to your lit tree and stuffed stocking in anticipation for gifts that you’ve asked for since mid summer. But instead of presents, you are looking at players; players that you’ve spent all summer studying and wondering who will turn out to be reliable and who won’t. The feeling of the first game day of the year is pure euphoria. The butterflies in your stomach, your roommate cracking open a beer before 10 in the morning — it all feels so right.

For me, this was the last opening week game day as a college student. I grab the remote and flip on College GameDay early in the morning. If this were a Tuesday and it was 8 in the morning, I’d turn back over and go right back to sleep. Not today! Today, I rev up feelings that will define me the rest of the day, and ultimately the weekend. It’s disgusting and embarrassing but I love it. College football is a lifestyle and I am completely enthralled by it. I’m struck by the fact that Reese Davis is now the host of college game day. I’ve spent my whole 21 years on Earth listening to Chris Fowler introduce the city that GameDay is at that week. Now, it’s Reese Davis. I’m not mad about it, but it’s going to take getting used to. While watching GameDay, I iron my shorts, and cry when Tom Rinaldi is on my television screen. Seriously, that dude is so good at his job. Anyway, Game Day is a feeling only a true fan can conjure. I don’t have any geographical evidence of this, but in the south, it feels like everyone is semi happy on game day. Even if you know your team is more than likely going to lose, you still are excited (Hi, Auburn fans!). It’s almost noon now and it’s time to ride over to the tailgate spot for the week. I get to see friends and family that will bring all too much food while watching my favorite thing in the world: College Football. What could be better?

The Tailgate

This week at the tailgate, there will undoubtedly too many corn hole games and music played way too loud. Nevertheless, nothing can distract me from my fatal attraction to college football. I take in the noon games while everyone else chats over beer and chicken wings. Don’t get me wrong, I partake in those tailgate necessities, but my eyes are immersed in the game that is on. This week in particular, I was drawn in by Houston and Oklahoma, followed by LSU and Wisconsin… whoa hang on a second, LSU really lost? Did someone forget to tell them that this was an actual regular season game and not a disappointing bowl game against a Big Ten opponent that clearly wants to be there more than them? Yikes. I watch as much as I can stand of the LSU debacle before walking outside for the first time in few hours. The number of people have multiplied. I see faces I know and faces I don’t, but we all have one thing in common, we can’t wait for the Gators to run out of that tunnel. After all, that’s the reason we wake up so early on a Saturday; to see the pregame hype video and see this year’s product take the field. Finally, after sitting in shock over the afternoon games, it’s time to go to The Swamp.

The Game

After Florida rushes on to the field and Thunderstruck starts playing over the speakers, it’s officially game time. The 2016 Florida football season is underway. I went into this game looking for two things specifically, does the offensive struggles from last year carry over to this year, and how have special teams improved. Granted there were a lot of questions marks leading into head coach Jim McElwain’s second season opener, but those were the two that I was most interested in.

Glaring down onto the field from row 8, section 32, I watched an offense that looked sloppy for the most part. Penalties and opportunistic drops seemed to halt any type of momentum that the new Florida offense could gather. To my eye, starting QB Luke Del Rio looked adequate. Unlike last year, didn’t take sacks, didn’t turn the ball over but also, didn’t take many chances. In the coming weeks I’d like to see him throw the ball more down the field and take chances with some of the playmakers around him.

New Gators kicker Eddy Piñeiro was a bright spot on this sloppy, rainy night in The Swamp. He booted every field goal through the uprights with ease, drove kickoffs all the way through the end zone, and showed the ability to directionally kick. What a relief, finally, a kicker that can do his job!

The Aftermath

Florida wins the home opener 24-7, and though the score was not nearly what Gator fans probably hoped for, there was some promise shown on the field. However, along with promise, there were some glaring issues. The offensive line looked confused at times. They need to come together as a unit as conference play starts next week. This entire season hinges on offensive line performance and their ability to give Del Rio time to make plays. The defense looked impressive but made too many mental mistakes. Penalties that I’m sure they will pay for this week and practice to remedy before next week’s match up with the Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats are coming off of an opening week loss to Southern Mississippi and will travel to The Swamp to try and break their 29 game losing streak against the Gators.