It's time to turn back the clocks again.
Last week against Arkansas, Florida did its best impression of the 2008 Ole Miss letdown.
UF managed to come through the challenge unscathed, obviously an improvement from a year ago.
Now the Gators need to repeat another '08 turning point - the week after the letdown game.
In 2008, this came at Arkansas as Florida used 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to break open a 38-7 victory.
The scenario sets up well for UF to repeat such a dominant performance as it prepares to face a less-than-stellar Southeastern Conference foe with a pretty weak defense in its way.
Last year, Arkansas finished 72nd in the nation in total defense and No. 93 in scoring defense.
The Mississippi State defense that will take the field Saturday night currently sits at 59th in total defense and No. 64 in scoring defense.
Those stats are buoyed by the fact the season is only halfway through, and MSU has had a few cupcake games - Jackson State and Middle Tennessee - to help the numbers.
It still has to face Florida, Alabama and Arkansas, three of the SEC's top four scoring offenses.
The Dan Mullen factor is worth a little something, although Mississippi State's talent level won't allow Mullen to put his in-depth knowledge of the Florida offense to good enough use.
MSU's defense surrendered 30 points to LSU earlier this season.
The recipe for a breakout game? Fixing the little things.
After all, as it's been pointed out plenty of times this week, Florida is just off its stats from this point a year ago.
But for UF to come anywhere close to making the offensive leap it made a year ago, a few specific deficiencies must be cleaned up.
The Gators are only scoring on 80 percent of red zone trips, compared to 95.8 percent in the first six games of 2008.
A big reason is UF's surprisingly high number of turnovers. Florida finished +22 in turnover margin last season, good for No. 2 in the nation.
This fall, the Gators sit at minus 2, tied for 76th in the nation.
Do I expect UF's fumbling ways to persist through the whole season?
No, but playing the what-if game for too long is like continually betting hard sixes at the craps table.
Eventually, seven hits and all is lost.
If Tebow didn't fumble near the goal line against Tennessee, Florida might finish with a 30-6 win.
If UF didn't decide to just play conservatively against LSU, the offense could've done more.
If the Gators didn't fumble twice within the Razorbacks' 10, they could've won by several touchdowns and not been forced to kick a game-winning field goal.
There is something to be said for a team being forced to fight through adversity, especially if it comes out the other side undefeated.
But there is still plenty of risk.
What if those things never get fixed? What if UF can't stop turning the ball over? What if teams stack the box and the passing game lets Florida down?
The Gators' national championship hopes could use a boost from a great game by the offense.
Can it reproduce the eye-popping stats of last season?
Probably not, and UF players and coaches seem like they're beginning to realize this.
But with just a little more offense and a fixing of the fundamentals, the Gators are a game away from fans wondering why they were so worried.
Otherwise, Florida will be playing in a bowl far from Pasadena this winter, asking what if it could turn back the clocks one more time.
