The Florida Gators have sent two very clear messages through their play over the first couple weeks of this season. This is not a story about whether they won or lost against Tennessee. This team is not up to the hype that surrounds them, and they have made some critical missteps that make them look completely inadequate in the Sec East. This may have become one of the worst divisions in all of college football, and the Gators are not helping its reputation. Consider what Florida has done to get to this place, why it matters, and how they have been let down by coaching.
Systems only go so far
System football is not a problem at all. Recruiting, however, is a major problem at Florida. This school has claimed for a while now that they would be just fine if they could find the right quarterback. The problem seems to be that they cannot find that guy. Has it occurred to us that perhaps this team does not have an identity on offense? Have we wondered if there is no quarterback who can fix this because the coaching is substandard? We just assumed that Jim McElwain was great, but what if he benefited from the people who were left behind by Urban Meyer? What if he just cannot find the right guy because he needs a better head coach like Nick Saban or recruiting staff to help him?
Who has that much bad luck?
The team looks lethargic
No team that is supposed to compete in their conference title game should look this lethargic this many times in a season. We have to have a clear indication from the beginning that the team will be competitive, and we have not gotten that from the Gators at all. They have not shown us that they cannot compete for 60 minutes in a row, and that means that a comeback win against Tennessee means nothing.
All Florida can prove is that they got it together with half of a football game gone. No one can compete on the national stage only playing half of a game, and they would surely be blown away in the SEC title game by a waiting Alabama team yet again. However, Georgia and Tennessee do not look much better.
Who wins the SEC East?
We cannot know definitively based on what we have just seen. It is terrible to think about how overmatched any team from this division will look. Georgia has not looked great. Florida has no quarterback, and Tennessee has been disappointing for the past couple years. Each of these teams must walk away from this game knowing that they have a lot of work to do. Florida needs more than a victory. They need an identity.
