Saturday, Florida will play Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, a contest even the most optimistic of Gator fans couldn’t have dreamed of being in for at least another two years.
It’s easy to forget with how quickly expectations change in college football, but this was a program that had gone 11-13 in the last two seasons and was expected to finish in the middle of the middling SEC East.
If told Florida would get eight wins in 2015 back in August, most fans would have taken it and run fearing they had committed highway robbery.
But now, sitting at 10-2 with an opportunity to play in the conference’s crown jewel game, it begs the question: How in the world did they get here?
Even UF coach Jim McElwain believes that playing on a stage such as the one in the Georgia Dome on Saturday in year one is "something that I’m not sure anybody expected."
It’s also something everybody should be stunned by.
Nick Saban took two years to take Alabama to Atlanta for the first time during his tenure, and he took the same amount of time to do so when he was the coach at LSU.
Urban Meyer also needed two years to get Florida to the conference title game when he took over the program.
Those are two of the greatest coaches this sport has ever seen, and they’re without a doubt the top two currently coaching.
But Jimmy Come Lately, McElwain from Montana reminded the media on Monday that he wasn’t out building Florida’s program this time last year, but rather checking to make sure he was awake.
"You know guys it was about a year ago, maybe yesterday, I was first contacted about the opportunity and had to pinch myself," McElwain recalled.
Twelve months later, it’s the Florida fans who need to pinch themselves.
Making SEC title games is hard.
Making SEC title games with a first-year head coach in the conference? Almost impossible.
In fact, in the 24-year history of the game, only one other coach has pulled off the feat — Auburn’s Gus Malzahn in 2013.
Even more amazing: this team isn’t all that different from the ones before it.
The defense is relatively the same, with a few departures like defensive lineman Dante Fowler Jr. and linebacker Mike Taylor and only a few notable additions like defensive lineman CeCe Jefferson
The offense should be worse, with a complete shakeup on the offensive line and the loss of running back Matt Jones and some veteran wide receivers.
And other than the emergence of wide receiver Antonio Callaway and tight end Jake McGee, there haven’t been any drastic differences since quarterback Will Grier’s suspension.
Yet here they are, preparing to go toe-to-toe with the best program in the conference and a team McElwain believes is arguably the best in the nation in the Crimson Tide.
Maybe it’s the confidence the coach has brought into the locker room.
Maybe it’s the fresh and innovative ideas about how to run a team and an organization.
Or maybe it’s the fact that McElwain’s goal has never been to get "here," but instead to get "there," even if everyone else doesn’t believe getting "here" is possible in the first place.
Either way, with the pace this program is on, "there" is probably right around the corner.
"I’ll tell you what: we’re going to get there," McElwain said. "And we’re getting there in a hurry."
Follow Graham Hack on Twitter @graham_hack24
UF football coach Jim McElwain walks down the sideline during Florida's 27-3 win against Georgia on Oct. 31, 2015, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.
