Don’t expect to see a plaque with Mike Gillislee’s inspirational words pasted on the side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium any time soon. Tim Tebow, he is not.
But Gillislee summed up Florida’s 26-21 win against Vanderbilt as well as anyone.
“It was … it was … relief,” he said.
Then, Gillislee tilted his fitted cap down, covering his eyes, shaking his head and flashing a grin. Nothing more. Just a quick smile.
Many writers have talked about this win curing ills, about this team showing some life in a season that was once considered lifeless.
No. It’s still dead.
So much of this game is measured by expectations, and Florida has already fallen well short of its own. The Gators always, always expect to compete on the biggest stage. But now, for the last month of the season, Florida is not Florida.
Players don’t choose Gainesville so they can finish third in the Southeastern Conference East. They don’t envision celebrating a six-win season, partying because they stamped their tickets to the BBVA Compass Bowl or some other irrelevant destination.
The Gators can’t challenge the big boys. Instead, November is about saving face, about maintaining whatever pride is left, about feeling relieved. And more importantly, November is about next year. It’s about building momentum going into the offseason and spring practices and training camp.
It’s about convincing someone you can one day be a champion, even if that someone is only yourself. Florida needed to beat Vanderbilt to prove that it could actually win again, that it could maybe be Florida again sometime soon.
That’s why every Gators player, coach and fan let out a collective sigh of relief when Jordan Reed snagged Vanderbilt’s onside kick to preserve the win.
If Reed doesn’t hold on to the ball, or if Vanderbilt doesn’t bail out Florida with a pass interference on its last drive, or if Commodores defensive tackle Rob Lohr doesn’t jump offside on a fourth-and-1, or if the referees don’t ignore a blatant pass interference by De’Ante Saunders on a third-and-8 on the previous drive, Vanderbilt wins Saturday.
By the end of the fourth quarter, UF’s cornerbacks had no confidence left. Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers (brother of Aaron) carved them up, finishing with 297 passing yards and three total touchdowns.
Coach Will Muschamp chided his defensive backs after the game for going soft, but that has become the Florida Way the last five games.
Still, the Gators came out with the win. They can breathe.
Earl Okine described the locker room after Saturday’s win as “ecstatic.” Jeff Demps and Gillislee said they could sleep sound again. John Brantley said his teammates would wear a smile — the kind Gillislee flashed — while watching football on Saturday night.
And we all know what game they were watching, because there was really only one game worth watching Saturday. If the Alabama-LSU game felt familiar, it’s because Florida used to be on that stage, used to thrive on it, even.
Like Gillislee, Matt Elam’s words won’t ever be immortalized. Still, his thoughts on Saturday are worth noting, courtesy of Twitter. “Why can’t Elam be in this game right now,” he wrote in third person.
Maybe you will get to play in that game one day, Matt, but the journey starts now.
Contact Tyler Jett at tjett@alligator.org.
