View from the Rowdies

Call this a piece on perspective. You’d be hard pressed to find a victory that Gator fans were more frustrated with under the Urban Meyer regime if you just looked at the scoreboard. What that scoreboard doesn’t show the intangibles of this game which actually make it a good win.

This “View from the Rowdies” has somewhat of a different angle to it. The past three games I’ve had a great perspective from near the middle of the student section. Saturday however, I was merely ten feet away from all the action on my living room television.

I’ve got road trips already drawn up to LSU, South Carolina and hopefully an SEC championship game, while the Kentucky game is also a possibility. With those in mind, it was honestly a little tough to justify a trip to Oxford for a game that everyone expected to be a blow out. My last Gator game outside of the Swamp was the BCS National Championship game in Arizona, and it would be somewhat unfair to compare that with a trip to Oxford next.

And then I started regretting that halfway through the first quarter. The Ole Miss team I saw take the field was not the group I expected. This wasn’t the team that could be routinely challenged by local high schools, but rather a group that Coach Orgeron seemed to have motivated well.

The Joey Ijjas missed field goal was a little scary, and it was comforting to know that he was nursing an injury, instead of that being just a badly missed kick.

As the game continued and the score stayed close, I had that area of doubt in the back of my mind. 0-3 in the state of Mississippi isn’t a coincidence. Inferior teams don’t just “get lucky” three times in a row. Meyer hit on it all week about the atmosphere at any stadium in the SEC and today was no different. I kind of laughed when he mentioned it before, but the noise I heard on the television was actually loud enough to make an impact on the game. That’s not usually something you see from Ole Miss.

That was when it sank in with me. This team has a bull’s eye on its back and it will all season long. Get used to it. That is what makes road games in the SEC always losable. The game at Kentucky got a little bit scarier to me today.

When you are the defending national champion that is expected. In a conference with plenty of high caliber athletes, every game becomes losable.

When Ole Miss made today a three point game, you got an eerie feeling that this game could be a loss. When Joe Haden got beat by Mike Wallace for the 77-yard touchdown pass, you could feel the heart of Gator Nation drop. And then you saw a bunch of Gators grow up before your eyes.

On the road with all the momentum on the other side of the field, they grew up. Honestly, they didn’t have much of a choice. Last year’s team grew up at Tennessee while overcoming a 17-7 deficit. Don’t be surprised if this is the game we point back to and talk of where they matured.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. With a game against less than impressive Auburn Saturday, the young group heads back on the road to face #2 LSU. If you watched LSU-South Carolina Saturday, you saw an energized atmosphere for a 3:30 game. How crazy will that be when the Gators and Tigers take the field on October 6?

That’s why I loved what happened today. It was a great experience for a predominantly young team to come as close to a loss as possible and still pull it out. Ole Miss had the ball down six points with the chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Sure they weren’t facing Matt Flynn or Early Doucet, but this is preparation for when they do. This defense grew up today.

Give Tim Tebow a lead on the road and tell him to go win the game. That’s what you saw Saturday, and Tebow delivered. Ideally you don’t want your quarterback getting 27 carries, but you do what you have to when it comes to winning an SEC game. Tim Tebow grew up today.

However improvement is still needed. The interior defensive line needs help. After stopping the run as well as they did against Tennessee, they only gave up 80 yards again. Stud running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis was held to 37 yards. That’s not what I’m worried about.

The frustration lies in the pass rush. Seth Adams was not pressured whatsoever, outside of a sack from both defensive ends, Derrick Harvey and Jermaine Cunningham. I understand Clint McMillian and Javier Estopinan aren’t pass rushing animals, but they got worked by the interior offensive linemen today. Why was Torrey Davis missing in action? He has the quickness and athleticism to be a Glenn Dorsey-type threat before his time at Florida is over. He needs on the field, and I’m not sure where he has been.

The underperformance of Kyle Jackson continues to frustrate plenty of people. I started to hold out hope when he cleaned out Mike Wallace on Seth Adams’ fade in the first quarter, but he still wasn’t the Kyle Jackson he needs to be to stay in the lineup. Major Wright also was a little late in coverage on the 77-yard touchdown catch, and that needs to be worked on. Overall, the free safety position needs work. The bigger upside is obviously Wright, who caused a fumble on a hard hit Saturday, and I think Wright will be the starter before much longer.

At the end of the day, Florida is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC. The Gator quarterback is being mentioned among Heisman candidates, the playmakers are as good as advertised and the defense is getting there. We knew they would be a work in progress all along, and heading into what looks to be an easy win versus Auburn, I think they will be just fine.