Will Muschamp said it best Saturday night: The Gators simply got beat by a better team.
No. 17 Florida came out swinging against No. 2 Alabama in The Swamp, but the overmatched Gators just couldn’t withstand the blows from a true heavyweight team.
Alabama was bigger, stronger and more physical than Florida in a 38-10 blowout, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
The Tide did to Florida what Florida did to FAU, UAB, Tennessee and Kentucky, showing the Gators they aren’t among the nation’s elite right now.
Alabama made Florida’s then-fifth-ranked rush defense look nonexistent, as Trent Richardson plowed over defenders and through arm tackles, dragging Gators for yards at a time en route to a career day.
But what Richardson and Alabama’s offense did Saturday night shouldn’t be Florida’s biggest concern, nor should the injury to quarterback John Brantley’s knee, or ankle, or whatever part of his right leg bent the wrong way in the second quarter.
The Gators’ biggest concern after a demoralizing loss to the Tide (again) should be the team’s inability to run the ball against a good defense.
Which quarterback takes the snaps in the Florida offense doesn’t matter so much as the success of the guys who take the handoffs, and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said as much after Florida’s season opener against FAU.
With Florida up big in that game, and the outcome well in hand, Jeff Driskel relieved Brantley because the coaches said they wanted to get him meaningful playing time.
But the Gators rarely threw the ball with Driskel in the game because Weis wanted to pound the rock.
Florida’s identity is a run-first, smashmouth team, and Weis wanted to make sure his offense would be able to run it when it absolutely needed to.
Well, the Gators needed to run it Saturday — and they weren’t able to at all.
Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps, who have done everything on offense for Florida this season, were swallowed by a hungry Alabama defense.
Alabama dominated Florida’s offensive line, limiting the Gators to half a yard per carry on 29 attempts and recording three sacks on the night. The holes created for Florida’s running backs in the first four games weren’t there Saturday night, and Demps and Rainey couldn’t break runs to the outside because of Alabama’s team speed.
Florida’s run game worked against its first four opponents because the Gators were bigger and the running backs were faster.
That wasn’t the case against Alabama.
It won’t be the case against No. 1 LSU this weekend.
It might not even be the case against the remaining teams on the Gators’ schedule, outside of Furman and Vanderbilt.
While Alabama was clearly the superior team in The Swamp, if Florida can’t establish itself in the running game moving forward, Muschamp will find himself repeating his opening statement from Saturday.
“We got beat by a better team tonight.”
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
