What year is it?
No, no, no. Seriously. What year is it? If you have followed Florida football for the past month or so, be it through television or radio or this publication, you have heard plenty about 2010.
While they haven’t lashed out during interviews, players are clearly getting annoyed with the same old storyline, and you can’t blame them. The questions grew stale two weeks ago, and they are still being trotted out each day by reporters, including myself. Sorry guys.
But there are a couple reasons you keep hearing those questions about last season. 1) Last season was shockingly bad, and 2) You guys aren’t giving us much to work with.
Some people say an 8-5 year isn’t that bad. Those people are wrong. Take away wins against Miami (Ohio), South Florida and Appalachian State because sixth-graders don’t deserve credit for beating up second-graders.
Linebacker Jelani Jenkins and cornerback Cody Riggs see things differently. They said Tuesday that their record was deceiving because they lost so many tight games. They’re wrong.
Of those five losses, only two were close: a shocker in which punter Chas Henry missed a game-tying field goal with seconds left and a heartbreaker in which Les Miles went all “Les Miles” on the Gators. The other three? Blowouts.
Counting only fair competition (including Vanderbilt, if only because it’s in the conference), the Gators would have gone 5-5.
But there I go talking about last season again. My bad. Really. It’s not fair. Here we are, just three days before the first game, and all we can talk about is last season. Last season isn’t this season. This season is this season.
And there are so many new things to talk about. Eight new coaches. New offense. New defense. But here’s the thing: It’s tough to talk about all this new stuff when you don’t actually see it.
Since Muschamp and Co. took the reins in January, only once has the team opened up its operations to the public: the spring game. And even then Muschamp said fans were getting a stripped-down version of what is to come, on both sides of the ball.
Translation: Trust me, dude, it’s going to be TOTALLY way more awesome next time.
Muschamp’s statement actually made sense. The team suffered a lot of injuries before the scrimmage and didn’t have the personnel to flex any muscle. But the uninformative spring, coupled with the all-too-familiar team policy of closing every practice ever, gives media members less incentive to talk about all the change — you know, the things that are universally seen in a positive light.
Florida’s strict policy has actually hurt itself this month, because this preseason, unlike any other preseason in recent memory, is about atonement.
There are reasons to believe Florida can redeem itself.
But if you value truth, you have to lean on what you have seen, not what people tell you. What is the last thing you have seen? A really disappointing 2010.
I’m excited for Saturday. I’m excited for football to finally start. I’m excited for something different.
But, until then, let’s get back to last season: What was up with that, guys?
Contact Tyler Jett at tjett@alligator.org.
