The vibes in Gainesville for the last three weeks have been better for Florida Football than what they were this time a month ago. The Gators are coming off two straight wins over Power Four opponents, have a QB rotation that at least for now is working, and even the defense finally looked competent on Saturday night when it only gave up 13 points to UCF.
But to paraphrase the late Mike Leach, that was last week; that wasn’t this week. And the team Florida has to play this week is much more of a litmus test than the previous two games for the Gators.
Florida Football: Good Vibrations
We pointed out in our Two Truths and a Lie piece yesterday that as nice as the win over UCF felt, the reality is that preseason projections that had Florida going 4-8 included wins over Mississippi State and UCF.
The further truth is that while Florida is 3-1 over their last four games, those three wins are among three of the four easiest teams on Florida’s schedule for 2024.
Billy Napier was asked about what Florida’s mindset is this week, given the Gators are having to step back up in competition this Saturday when they travel to Tennessee.
“We have to live in the world of preparing for competition. You know, I think obviously we know the implications. We understand what it would do for the program or this team.
This is a big game. You know, Florida-Tennessee on the road and certainly a lot on the line. I think for our team, again, you got to get back to we are in training for competition, right? We’re in the process of preparing. We have to go about that the right way.
When we have done it the right way I think we’ve got a good result. You know, self-discipline in terms of the things we do off the field, our practice habits, the focus and intensity on the field, and then just continue to prepare all the way up until we kick that thing off.”
Translation: If Florida focuses on the process of doing the right things, then good results will follow.
Follow Up Observation: We have heard this story before, only for it to be a fable.
There were elements of the defense that felt like they were transferable to Saturday. Florida was playing far more of an Austin Armstrong style of aggression versus the Ron Roberts sit 30 yards off the ball style. Mind you, Armstrong shut down Tennessee last year.
But there are also elements to the offense we are not convinced are going to continue to work. It is not an accident Florida scored zero points in the second half against UCF when the Gators only accumulated 100 air yards on the day.
Napier’s dink-and-dunk strategy worked against Mississippi State and UCF because both those squads had terrible defensive lines combined with highly suspect secondaries. That will not be the case for Tennessee’s defense.
So the reality is that if Napier wants to make a believer out of the 98% of Gator fans who have jumped off the Napier Train, step one is beating Tennessee.
Because if the 17-point spread from Vegas comes to fruition, then nothing has actually changed in Gainesville.
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