Austin Appleby was asked a simple question after his final game as a Florida Gator: Where do you see Jim McElwain taking this program?
His answer carried little hesitation.
“To a national championship,” he said.
C’mon.
Is anyone really supposed to believe this 9-4 UF football team is anywhere close to a College Football Playoff berth, let alone a national championship?
I’m not buying it.
If anything, this season should be considered a step back from the team’s 10-4 record the year prior.
The Gators fell to rival Tennessee for the first time in 12 years, in collapsing fashion at that.
They were blown out by Florida State for a fourth straight time, showing the Seminoles still reign supreme in Florida.
And Arkansas and Alabama embarrassed UF as well, showing that the Gators are still light years behind the SEC West, even if they did take the East crown for a second straight year.
Results aside, the program still has one huge glaring question mark at the quarterback spot.
One of Luke Del Rio, Feleipe Franks, Kyle Trask or an incoming freshman will start next year, but none of those give fans a reason to get excited yet, either because they’ve proven to be average (Del Rio) or haven’t seen a live snap yet.
It’s a dilemma similar to that of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, who’ve sifted through numerous quarterbacks over the past decade.
Without a clear-cut answer under center, how is a program supposed to move forward?
McElwain knows this.
After calling this season a “heck of a year” the second-year coach expressed that there are still pieces that need to be added and positions that need to be addressed.
“You know, this was a -- and still is a heck of a building process,” he said. “We're headed to building it, but we're building it right.”
Yes, injuries were a nagging problem for Florida this year.
Starting linebackers Jarrad Davis and Alex Anzalone along with safety Marcus Maye went down for a good chunk of time, just to name a few.
But every team endures this same obstacle in some form.
For example, FSU lost top safety Derwin James for essentially the entire season and still finished with 10 wins, including an Orange Bowl upset over No. 6 Michigan.
One glance at schools like Florida State and Alabama, who both crushed Florida, will show you what success really looks like.
Both teams threw freshman quarterbacks into the fire and it paid dividends for their immediate futures.
The Seminoles look poised to remain a top-flight team under Deondre Francois’ guidance, and the Crimson Tide is still the No. 1 team in the land even with true freshman Jalen Hurts leading the offense.
Florida, on the other hand, let its two highest-ceiling quarterbacks ride the bench all season.
Success should mean improvement of some sort, a step forward for the program.
Sure, UF finished this season with an impressive bowl win over Iowa.
But can anyone really say the team is in a better spot than it was a year ago?
I can’t.
Patrick Pinak is the online sports editor. Contact him at ppinak@alligator.org or on Twitter @pinakk12.
UF coach Jim McElwain looks down in disapproval during Florida's 30-3 win over Iowa in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 2, 2017, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
