The time to be critical is over. Let’s put to bed all of the questions about whether Florida’s success is sustainable. It just doesn’t matter.
Is throwing for less than 100 yards in three consecutive games a winning formula? Of course not. Should fans be encouraged after UF had 29 yards of total offense and 64 yards of penalties in the first half? No.
Did Florida really assert its dominance on Saturday? In the words of South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier: “The one thing you can hope is that your guys give it their best shot and not just lay the ball down and basically say: ‘Here Florida, we don’t want to win. You guys take this fumble and this fumble and this fumble.’ So it was sad.”
The thing is, none of that matters.
Florida is one win away from the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, two wins away from being in the BCS title game and three wins away from the national championship. (Don’t count Missouri, Louisiana-Lafayette and Jacksonville State as real opponents. Florida State is no pushover, but if Florida loses that game and win the SEC Championship, they’ll play for the crystal football anyway.)
Forget about a lack of discipline resulting in three personal fouls, or an inept passing attack, or the fact that Florida has been outgained in the first quarter of every game this season. Doesn’t matter.
Any problems the Gators have at this point in the year aren’t likely to be fixed. The team is what it is, and coach Will Muschamp’s approach reflects the shift in mentality.
On Sept. 8 in College Station, Texas, Muschamp went on a tirade while speaking to a group of 30 reporters crammed into a room about the size of the average dorm. Sure, he was happy UF had just come from behind to beat Texas A&M 20-17, but there was something he had to get off of his chest. The media had given him a lashing after Florida apparently struggled to beat Bowling Green, and he was tired of hearing about it. He had called a run-based attack with an eye on the big picture, even if that led to an ugly victory in Week 1.
“It’s a long season, and when they start having one-game seasons, then we’ll start doing everything we can do,” Muschamp said. “We’ll put everything we can into one game, so we can win one game and all be really, really happy at the end. But I like to look at it as a 12-week season, and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to improve our football team.”
But, when asked on Saturday about a possible trip to the SEC Championship Game, Muschamp had a different tune to sing.
Before the reporter could even finish asking his question: “We play in Jacksonville next week. We’ve got one game, a one-game season.”
Of course Muschamp isn’t done trying to make improvements. He admitted that the Gators “don’t have a lot of margin for error,” adding that he wants Florida’s offense to evolve into something more balanced.
“This is who we are at this point,” Muschamp said. “Will it be who we are in three weeks or next season? No, I don’t think so.”
As nice as that is to say, nothing is going to change, because nothing has to change.
In a one-game season, or even a three-game season, anything can happen. As silly as it sounds, being the best team isn’t that important this late in the year. The only thing that’s important for Florida is scratching and clawing and trying to win every game in a vacuum.
Changing what to this point has been a winning formula won’t make that any easier. Besides, maybe UF already is one of the top two teams in college football. Of course, if it isn’t, that’s not important. What matters is which team wins the most games, and right now Florida has unquestionably the best resume in the NCAA.
How great the team really is doesn’t matter. Only the results matter. And, with three more wins, the Gators can be national champions.
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
Omarius Hines (20) celebrates after making a one-handed touchdown catch that was called back in UF’s 44-11 win against South Carolina on Saturday.
