Florida Gators “physically whupped” by Michigan

Two years ago Jim McElwain sat at a press conference following a 41-7 drubbing at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines and vowed that the Florida Gators would be better. He vowed that they would be tougher, more physically capable to hang on the field with a team like those Wolverines.

All offseason McElwain told anybody that would listen that the offensive line was the best position group on the team. That the unit, which was returning four starters, would be one of the best in the SEC.

At a pep rally a week before the game he told students at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium that his team was looking forward to beating “the heck” out of Michigan.

Here’s how his post-game press conference started after playing 60 minutes with Michigan.

“First and foremost, they physically took it to us. Give them their due. They beat us every which way they could up front and we never had an answer,” McElwain said, between sips of water.

Humble pie baked, delivered and served courtesy of Jim Harbaugh,

Michigan’s 33-17 win wasn’t just a humbling defeat for the Gators, it should serve as a reality check. They’re not the team they said they were. The offensive line that some, including SEC Nation co-host Marcus Spears, said could be the best in the league was far from it.

The Gators rushed the ball 27 times for 11 yards and gave up six sacks. They were the turnstiles Gators fans have come to recognize and McElwain wasn’t going to make any excuses for them.

“Well, their guys were bigger and stronger,” he said. “They whooped us. Plain and simple.”

When he was informed of McElwain’s comments starting left tackle Martez Ivey, paused.

“He said that?” questioned Ivey before the reporter assured him that, yes, his head coach did say that the line was whooped. “Um. I don’t know. Next question.”

CeCe Jefferson, too, was surprised to head McElwain’s comments.

I don’t think we were dominated that physically,” protested Jefferson.

Despite the player’s protests it was evident which team was better on the field Saturday night. The Gators looked lke the same overmatched team that they look like whenever they play a quality opponent.

Jim McElwain’s Gators are 3-8 when they play a ranked opponent. They’ve been handled by Florida State, Michigan and Alabama twice in McElwain’s first three season. If the goal is to “knock down the door” and take the next step those are the teams you need to beat. Florida isn’t beating them. They’re not even competing.

Where do the Gators go from here?

At the end of the day this is a non-conference loss. It doesn’t mean much in terms of Florida’s goals for the season.

It did, however, expose them.

Florida isn’t a National Title contender. They’re not the “CFP dark horse” that some purported before the season.

They’re the same Florida Gators that McElwain has had in his first two seasons except now these are his players and the buck stops at the head coach’s desk.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

2 COMMENTS

  1. on point….this team needs a serious reality check, and has needed one for years. They need to stop talking about it and be about it…shut their mouths about how good they “think” they are and just go to work.

    there should have been alot more sacks, the offensive line has been exposed again as soft…yes, ivey…soft

    someone last season wrote a good article about the difference between the gators now and the gators of spurrier era. The difference is that these players aren’t scared to be pulled and ride the bench when they suck. Spurrier didn’t hesitate on benching people. It was a good article, and i believe until we get back to true competition, we are going to be sub-par.

    I’ve played competitive ball, and i pay money yearly to UF, this team lacks a killer instinct plain and simple that includes coachs who want to be more “friends” with their players, instead of being coaches, and players who are front runners.