ATLANTA, GA — Strange sentiments on this nervous night in Atlanta. The season’s championship hopes weren’t supposed to end this way for Florida, and yet they have been dashed without a second thought. It was Alabama’s Greg McElroy who fittingly put this Saturday into perspective – the mindset of Gator fans everywhere.
“It was kind of surreal,” the quarterback and game MVP said in relating his feelings following Alabama’s 32-13 win over Florida in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.
There is no other way to describe this scene. The Florida fan base walked into Atlanta with an aura of confidence – while the contingent from Alabama seemed hopeful and determined.
That determination showed on the field, too. Alabama was hungrier. They played harder, executed better, and had the superior gameplan. In the end, there was little doubt that the best team in the country on this Saturday hails from Tuscaloosa.
“I think that when you play someone that you haven’t played before, you learn a lot about how to play them and what you need to do to have success,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said after the game. “We had a completely different philosophy in how we played defense in this game compared to the way we played it a year ago.”
A year ago, Florida just seemed to be a step ahead of Alabama – at no time more apparent than the decisive fourth quarter where the Gators simply were not going to be denied a championship.
Fast forward all of 364 days. It was Alabama this time who played all four quarters like it would not be denied of the title it lost on the same ground a year earlier.
At first glance – Florida didn’t have a terrible showing on offense. They gained 335 total yards on 49 plays. The average of 6.8 yards per play for the Gators was nearly identical to Alabama’s line on the night – the Crimson Tide averaged 6.9 yards per play for the game. The problem? Alabama ran 71 plays, and dominated the time of possession by a nearly two-to-one margin.
Take a second look, and the statistics become even more telling. The Florida Gators have always pushed to achieve offensive balance under Urban Meyer – looking for a nearly equal run-to-pass ratio. On this night, Florida ran the ball just 14 times, and the running backs carried it just four. It was almost as if Alabama winning the toss, electing to receive, and scoring a field goal on the first possession put the Gators “behind schedule” (to quote a term that Urban Meyer loves to use) from the outset of the contest. For the rest of the game, Florida was unable to grab the lead, and this is simply not an offense that thrives in a come-from-behind role. Instead of playing their game, Alabama made Florida play right into their hands – and it worked from beginning to end.
But make no mistake – it was the Florida defense that suddenly disappeared at exactly the wrong time. Florida simply could not stop the Alabama offensive attack. The Crimson Tide won the battle up front on the line of scrimmage, and it only got worse from there. Linebackers missed tackles and defensive backs were unable to prevent wide receivers from getting open. Mark Ingram may have won the Heisman Trophy with his three-touchdown performance that netted nearly 200 yards from scrimmage. Marquis Maze and Colin Peek had fine performances catching the football. Rolando McClain played like the All-American he is – even specialist P.J. Fitzgerald got in on the action with an open-field tackle of Brandon James on a second quarter punt. Had Fitzgerald not brought down James – the dynamic Florida returner would have had plenty of green turf in front of him in which to run free on.
Much like they did when they toppled a Miami dynasty (which had run to 29 straight wins) in the 1993 Sugar Bowl (by a score of 34-13) – Alabama simply dictated the terms of the game and stunned the college football world not by winning – but by the fashion in which they went about ending Florida’s 22-game winning streak.
In tracing Alabama’s run to the roses – it starts with how this team progressed throughout the season. Greg McElroy seemingly improved with each game – culminating in his masterful performance at the Georgia Dome. Mark Ingram was his usual brilliant self – but Trent Richardson emerged in the wings as an extremely effective compliment in the backfield. An offensive line with all sorts of question marks surrounding it heading into the season jelled into a unit that controlled the line of scrimmage against Florida. Sophomore Marcel Dareus had a breakout season on the defensive line; true freshman Nico Johnson emerged as a standout linebacker; and sophomore Mark Barron had an All-American caliber season in the secondary for the Crimson Tide. Alabama got better seemingly every week – and it all came together in grand fashion with all the cards on the line in Atlanta.
For Florida, it’s all going to be about the “what ifs.” A team that could have went down as one of the best ever just couldn’t seem to take their game up another level in 2009. The defense – with all the returning starters – never made the jump from good to dominant. To see that unit gashed like they were against ‘Bama isn’t as surprising if you think back to how both Tennessee and Arkansas were able to run on the Gators. Once again, this was a bend-but-don’t-break group. Unlike a year ago, the big plays just weren’t there in key situations. It all finally caught up to the Gators on Saturday night.
There’s so much more to it, however. A wide receiver corps that seemingly had more than enough talent waiting in the stable to offset the losses of Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, couldn’t find someone to step up their game and emerge as a true go-to receiver. The offensive line took a step back from their superb performance of a year ago, never able to fill the void of departed tackles Phil Trautwein and Jason Watkins. Even Tim Tebow wasn’t the same player fans had become accustomed to seeing over the past three years – perhaps owing to the brutal hit he suffered against Taylor Wyndham and Kentucky? Maybe opposing teams finally figured out how to handle the spread offense as run by Tebow? The answer isn’t readily apparent – but the reality of a great run coming to an end certainly is.
Florida will now head to New Orleans, where the Sugar Bowl will serve as a consolation game in the wacky world of the BCS. Over the coming weeks, Gators fans will reflect on the great career of Tim Tebow – which will be remembered for so much more than the miserable fashion for which it effectively ended on the floor of the Georgia Dome. Fellow seniors Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, Jermaine Cunningham and company will have a chance to end their careers on a positive note – likely against Cincinnati Bearcats – which just happens to be the same team for which Florida head coach Urban Meyer suited up for in the mid-1980’s.
For now – the sting of disappointment remains fresh. The dream finish of a date in Pasadena is gone. My bet is that the thoughts of some Florida fans will now start wandering to a talented incoming freshman class that is coming together. The possibility of starting another great run under a new group of star players will be dancing in the heads of Gator Nation this Christmas Eve.
A very good Gators football team will have one more day in the sun (or this case, the dome). Eventually, the accomplishments of this bunch will be fully appreciated and treasured. But today, there’s no time for that – it just feels too “surreal” to think about.