In the eyes of a senior week 3: Florida Gators

The Morning

To start off with I have a confession to make, I am one of those people that dream about games prior to them happening. I’m not sure if that’s sad or just a product of me always thinking about possible scenarios for upcoming games on the Florida Gators schedule.. So now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to the North Texas Mean Green or as basically everyone that I’ve talked to in the past week likes to say, “The game before Tennessee.” I jumped out of bed on Saturday morning coming off of one of those aforementioned pregame dreams. This dream was about Tennessee and while I don’t remember much, I remember being happy about the outcome of the rivalry. I was sitting up high in Knoxville at Neyland Stadium watching the Gators somehow, someway pull out another victory against the Tennessee Volunteers and then I woke up. It was North Texas week and I couldn’t feel anymore down about it. I just wasn’t excited for this game, I wanted to get through it healthy, and with a “W”—only one of these unfortunately came true. I watched ESPN’s College GameDay as I do every Saturday to officially start my day…. Time to go tailgate.

 

The Tailgate

If you’ve read the first two editions of this column, you know that I usually just watch football at our weekly tailgate, and that is a trend that I kept going this week. I was thrilled about the Louisville vs. Florida State matchup. Hand me the stick I’m ready to beat the dead horse on how that game shouldn’t have been played at Noon. The first top 10 matchup of this thrilling college football season is on at noon? Who’s in charge? Deep down and for selfish reasons I was happy that the game was at noon. With this being the best matchup of the week and the Gators not kicking off until later in the evening, I could essentially have my cake and eat it too. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was watching the FSU game. I fully believed that Louisville would get up early and the Noles would come storming back in the second half like they always do. Boy was I wrong. Louisville dominated the game from start to finish. Lamar Jackson appears to be the most dynamic player in the entire country and the Noles seem to have their fair share of problems on the offensive line. Being a Gator fan, I was elated at the outcome of that noon showdown. It certainly was an apropos way to start off this whacky day of college football.

After feeling a little stunned, eating about two or three pork sandwiches, and watching a few quarters of Alabama vs. Ole Miss, it was time to walk over to the stadium for the Gators last tune up before Tennessee.

 

The Game

The game started off rather bland with a lackluster crowd, pretty much what I expected. Florida kept it pretty vanilla on offense and tried to run the ball down North Texas’ throat (as they should have). During the Gators attempt to run the clock out and get to Knoxville as quickly as possible, I noticed a few things. First off and as usual, the defense looked impressive. The defensive line was in the backfield for the majority of the night and the DB’s held it down despite a few pass interference calls. I continue to be in aw of Florida’s cornerbacks, I’m telling you, we need to cherish these guys while we have them.

The game was moving on just fine and the Gators were nursing a 19-0 victory in the third quarter when “IT” happened. Just when you think that Florida’s offense may have finally made the leap from unwatchable to structured and competitive, starting quarterback Luke Del Rio gets hit low and it doesn’t look good. I was in shock. It was like a bad dream that I would have before a game–I just couldn’t believe it. My heart was broken for Del Rio because of how hard and how long he’s waited for this opportunity. Say what you will about Del Rio’s arm strength and his ability to make tough throws, but the dude had command of the offense, which is something that Florida has been lacking for years. The game turned into a boring defensive masterpiece to a panic-filled nightmare of whom the Gator’s will to turn to now. I’m not here to completely write off transfer quarterback Austin Appleby. I think that he will be fine and the drop off won’t be overly severe, but I have to question his knowledge and command of the offense. It was Del Rio’s team to start the season, now it’s another guys job to go to Knoxville in arguably the biggest game of the season and win? It’s going to be tough and I’m emotionally all over the place about it.

 

The Aftermath

 

After the game, I walked slowly back to my house, and to be honest, it felt like Florida had lost the game. I know that seems extreme, but that was my feeling. Why does it seem like every time something starts going well for Florida football it gets swept right out from under them? A curse? Maybe.

I decided to stop being upset about the Del Rio injury a few hours after the game. The Gators are 3-0 and still have the entire season ahead of them. Now it’s time to pack up my stuff and go to Knoxville to watch two banged-up blood-thirsty teams battle in one of the most anticipated games of the season.