For 49 years, the University of Florida has been quenching your thirst with the signature sports drink of athletes everywhere — Gatorade.
But still, its fanbase exists as a shriveled shell of what it used to be, deprived of what it feels it needs to survive.
It walked through the desert of woe that was seven straight losses and yearned for any kind of oasis through the long offseason it spent hearing and reading about 4-8.
Even with more water than it knew what to do with last weekend, still it thirsted — and in a fitting coincidence, Gatorade’s logo is a lightning bolt.
But Saturday, its thirst was quenched if only for an evening.
Sixty-five points the Gators scored, drawing up material for sustenance from the well of offense that has run dry for years.
For the first time in 336 days, Florida won a football game, and it did so looking more like the 1994 iteration of itself than the 2013 one, beating Eastern Michigan 65-0.
In that season opener in 1994, a game played almost 20 years to the day of this one, the Gators scored 70 points en route to a 49-point beat down of New Mexico State.
After waiting a week to kick things off, the Gators (1-0) wasted little time getting on the board after a 33-yard Frankie Velez field goal capped off a 16-play drive that lasted six minutes and 31 seconds.
It seemed like the first half of Florida’s first game was in some way making up for its offensive ineptitude that has existed for much of the post-Tebow era, and most prominently the debacle that existed on that side of the ball in 2013.
When the teams went in the locker room, the Gators had 30 points on the board from seven drives — six of which produced points. Their 308 yards of total offense in the first half were more than they had in five full games during 2013, including the embarrassing loss to Georgia Southern toward the end of the season. Florida has attempted 30 passes only five times in the Muschamp era including twice last season.
Quarterback Jeff Driskel had 33 attempts in the first half alone, matching his career high.
Intoxicated by the points that filled the Swamp in overflowing quantities, Florida fans ended the game chanting, "we want 70."
A thirst that started for offensive production in general devolved into a thirst for Eastern Michigan (1-1) blood as Gator fans implored its team to score more, because it wasn’t enough.
"I had a headset on and I was looking around and that’s just great that the fans — the students in general stayed that long," Driskel said. "I feel a new energy from our fans. That’s great, we really do appreciate that."
When it was over, Driskel was 31 for 45 in total, and the achievement marks only the second time a UF quarterback has had more than 40 attempts since 2005.
Driskel threw for 248 yards and one touchdown, but in only two passes, his understudy arguably overshadowed Driskel’s efficient performance with two splash plays that immediately endeared him to fans.
True freshman Treon Harris took over the game with 35 seconds left in the third quarter and although he threw only two passes, both of them were touchdowns of more than 70 yards.
"(The passes) were great, coming in as the first two passes of your career, two touchdowns, that’s awesome," Driskel said. "That’s just a testament to coach Roper getting us all prepared and Treon really picking it up quickly."
Florida’s 65 points were the most for a UF team in the Will Muschamp era, and the most a UF team has scored since scoring 70 against The Citadel in 2008.
The 65-point scoring margin was the most lopsided since the Gators pounded Kentucky by the same score in 1996.
The Gators’ 655 yards of total offense were the ninth most in school history, and Driskel said he had never been apart of anything like it, and neither had center Max Garcia.
"Never. Not even at high school, not at Maryland, not here," Garcia said. "I feel like that’s just what we can do this year. That was the first game, we’re getting the kinks out and everything but we went out there and we just played with a lot of excitement. I feel like a lot of guys were just enjoying themselves on the field today and I was just really happy myself."
Gatorade’s tagline for years, "Is it in you?" could be easily applied to the Florida football program since No. 15 hung up his pads in 2009.
The offense has never had the same potency, or anywhere near it for most of the games played since, leaving people to wonder if such margins of victory were even possible in Gainesville.
It’s not a win over a vaunted powerhouse, but the victory over Eastern Michigan proved that it is, that the Gators’ offense has a fourth gear — or even a fifth and a sixth for that matter.
Florida brought the nourishment Saturday its fanbase has so eagerly craved, but it won’t satisfy for long with 10 more games to play.
That’s how football and life work.
You drink to get hydrated, and then you must do it again. Florida fans certainly hope the Gators can get a few more bucket of nourishment from the well during the rest of the season.
"I’ll say I’m satisfied," Garcia said with air quotes around the last two words.
It was good enough for this week, now the Gators move on to the next one.
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
Coach Will Muschamp celebrates following Florida's 65-0 win against Eastern Michigan on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
