This week’s story starts a little bit before Saturday. Let’s throw it back to last Monday when one of my favorite things of the entire year happened. It took place sometime between throwing a steak on the grill outside Monday evening and the Ole Miss meltdown in the second half of their game against the School Out West. It finally happened; the fall air finally made it to Gainesville. It’s that cool breeze that isn’t followed by a sticky summer heat. It was followed by a feeling of crispness in the air that was only present for just a few seconds, but it was a sign – fall is really here.
Let’s fast forward to Saturday, or as everyone around here calls it, game day. I woke up on this particular Saturday with a question I couldn’t shake. What would it look like for Kentucky to beat Florida in football? I have sat through some really close UF-Kentucky matchups. It occurred to me that having a 29-year winning streak on the line is pretty much the only interesting storyline that I could think of prior to this game. Don’t get me wrong I naturally had questions about the offense that I wanted to see answered but matchup wise, the winning streak was most important.
The Tailgate
This week’s tailgate was a comfortable one. We all were excited for the game and chatted about how bad the weekend’s lineup was for other games. Seriously, this slate was one of the worst weeks in recent memory. I guess I was excited about Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech, but I for some reason had planted in my mind that Tennessee was going to bounce back from their opening week close call and have an easy win at Bristol Motor Speedway, which is pretty much what happened.
This week’s tailgate didn’t reek of the intensity that last week’s did. All in all it was a good time with of course lots of good food. However, I can’t lie, I was nervous. After last week’s performance by the 2016 edition of the Florida Gators, I thought the game against Kentucky was inevitably going to be close. Boy, were those feelings unwarranted.
The Game
I don’t know if it was because of the start of SEC play, or the back to back national championship basketball teams being honored, but the electricity in the Swamp at 3:30 on Saturday was much better than I expected. I was thinking that the crowd would go into a lull after the hair raising pregame hype video, but the fans stayed focused and stayed loud. Even though the stadium didn’t fill up as much as I’d hope it would, the noise was obnoxious and it was a strong showing from Gator fans.
As for the game itself, I saw something that I didn’t think I would see when I walked out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last week, I saw, dare I say, an offense (I just ducked as I said that). After a somewhat anticlimactic offensive showing last week, the Gators were hitting on all cylinders against Kentucky. Del Rio looked comfortable and poised. Not to say he didn’t last week, but this week he was hitting the big throws. The 78-yard bomb to Antonio Callaway was perfectly thrown and well timed. It looked to be the same throw that Del Rio overthrew just a week ago on the first play of the game. Of course, you can’t really mention the Callaway bomb without mentioning the incredible one-handed interception by Quincy Wilson that set the offense up. I’m just going to say this on Tabor and Wilson to Gator fans, enjoy them. These guys are serious and they are truly one of a kind in each of their own ways. Wilson with his physicality and Tabor with his personality and ability to completely take one side of the field away–these guys are special.
Before the game, I predicted that Florida would win by a max of 10 points but boy was I wrong. The Gators completely dominated the game from start to finish. So instead of chewing off all ten of my fingernails, I got to sit 51 rows up and calmly enjoy the Gators cruise to a 45-7 victory.
The Aftermath
It’s amazing how good a mood the folks in orange were after the seemingly easy SEC victory. Everybody was talkative and in high spirits and I was right there with them. As the fans began to go their different ways, I was ready to head back to my apartment to shower after sweating in the thick Gainesville heat (so much for that fall breeze from Monday) and enjoy the feelings brought about by today’s performance. I sat down after a long day in the Florida sun and blasted A/C all night while watching TCU and Arkansas put on a great performance. No doubt a perfect ending to an impeccable game day Saturday in the Swamp. It’s Great to be a Florida Gator!