Florida Gators have a long way to go

The No. 25 Florida Gators (1-0) must have felt inspired on Saturday night as Steve Spurrier was honored along with his 1996 Fun N’ Gun National Championship team. The Gators opened up with play action, Luke Del Rio launched a ball down field, overthrowing Antonio Callaway in what would have been quite the exclamation point to a night that turned into more of the same from a year ago.

“It was probably the farthest I’ve ever thrown a football,” Del Rio said. “I threw it and was like, ‘Oh, that’s way too far.’ I didn’t think I could overthrow him, but I did.”

The Gators did extend their home opener winning streak to 27, the longest active streak in the country, with a 24-7 win over UMass (0-1) on Saturday, but it was far from the offensive resurgence that was hoped for.

“It was fun to get back after it and really get that taste of the last ballgame we played a little bit out of our mouth,” head coach Jim McElwain said in his post game press conference. “Obviously, as you watched the game, we’ve got a long ways to go.”

The crowd of more than 81,000 sat through torrential rain through most of the first half, only to watch the Gators’ offense struggle. The Minutemen won the toss and deferred but Florida’s offense, led by first time starter Luke Del Rio, managed just a nine-play drive, picking up 33 yards and a punt. After a quick three-and-out from the defense Del Rio and company put together a meticulous drive.

The Gators ran 11 plays, featuring 52 passing yards from Del Rio, ending in a 12-yard touchdown to Antonio Callaway. Del Rio threw 44 times on the night, more than any Gator quarterback threw in a game in 2015, completing 29-of-44 for 256 and two scores, but Florida went into the locker room at halftime clinging to a 10-7 lead.

We have expectations every game and we obviously want to score more points, but we got the win,” Del Rio said after the game.

Del Rio was efficient; he’s a solid quarterback that knows the offense inside and out. He’s not the most physically gifted or talented quarterback but he’s not going to make the mistakes that cost you games. That’s what will be asked of him, it’s what was asked of him on Saturday night and he delivered that.

“I thought he played OK. He’ll play better,” said McElwain. “You can see the sense of calm out there the whole he was there. There wasn’t a lot of panic. That’s crediting a good quarterback. His team believes in him.”

Despite the uptick from the quarterback position, the offensive line continued to struggle to get a push against a 36-½ point underdog.

“I wanted to challenge our offensive line based on a year ago, giving up 45 sacks as a unit,” McElwain said of the offensive line. “[Del Rio] got flushed a couple times, but he got rid of the ball when he needed to.”

Del Rio was sent scrambling too many times and had to be helped off of the newly named Steve Spurrier-Florida Field turf too many times. This is a Minutemen team that gave up 62 points twice in 2015, including a drubbing by Bowling Green. Florida managed just 10 through the first 45 minutes of play on Saturday.

The offense had bright spots. Jordan Scarlett, who earned the start, ran hard and physical all night, leading the Gators with 13 carries for 70 yards. Brandon Powell scored a touchdown and, more notably, felt good on his surgically repaired foot, an injury that has plagued his first two seasons in Gainesville. Four true freshmen played on offense. Freddie Swain and Josh Hammond both hauled in their first receptions and Jawaan Taylor was one of the best offensive linemen.

It was a weird week for the SEC, with six teams losing on opening weekend, the first time since 1995. Florida didn’t join that list, but they didn’t offer much confidence moving forward. It’s early, too soon to make a conclusive decision on what this team will be, but McElwain nailed it when he said the Gators have a lot of work to do.