I wanted to believe the hype. I wanted to believe Jim McElwain when he said Florida’s offensive line would be much improved in 2017. I wanted to believe the Gators had the pieces for a successful, potent offense that could put up points, yards and wins. I wanted to believe the defense could pick up what NFL draftees Jarrad Davis, Alex Anzalone, Quincy Wilson, Teez Tabor and Marcus Maye left behind.
But to say UF’s offense was impotent on Saturday in the team’s 33-17 loss to Michigan is a compliment that might make players perk up and say, “Huh. Well maybe we weren’t as bad as we thought.” More accurate words are much more painful. To say its defense was good isn’t accurate either.
Those same thoughts probably could’ve been written of Florida’s offense last season when the Gators lost to Tennessee. Or the year before that, when they lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. Florida’s offense simply hasn’t been fun, exciting or effective since Tim Tebow left in 2009.
But the same couldn’t be said of the defense.
In Jim McElwain’s first two seasons at Florida, his teams won because of defense. Last year, the team was fifth in total defense nationally. It was second in the SEC behind Alabama.
I’m not saying that now the offense has to win in spite of the defense -- Florida’s defense is still good. It just doesn’t look as effective as in the past two years. While the Gators allowed an average of 292 yards per game in 2016, they allowed 433 against the Wolverines.
Maybe that’s just because of the opponent. Michigan is physical and has better playmakers than many teams Florida will play this year.
But it’s hard to argue they’re much better than Alabama’s players or FSU’s players or LSU’s players, which Florida will have to defeat to be relevant. Especially after the throttling it got against the Wolverines.
To compete against those programs, UF’s defense is going to have to play better than it did against Michigan. But unlike in past years, the Gators playing their best defense might not be enough with how much youth and growing pains are sure to show up.
That means the offense is going to have to improve. Again, I wanted to believe it would. But on Saturday, it looked even worse than in previous years.
The offensive line was, to use Jim McElwain’s own analogy from two years ago, getting pushed around like fish on a frozen pond. Sure, Michigan’s front is better than the average defensive front, but that was hardly the result expected for the unit McElwain proclaimed as the “strength of the team” in the preseason.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing in the weight room,” he said of the group improving after being manhandled.
I’m skeptical of the improvements happening, but for Florida to contend, they need to. Having Antonio Callaway and Jordan Scarlett back won’t make a difference when Feleipe Franks doesn’t have time to throw to Callaway and Jordan Scarlett doesn’t have room to run the ball.
In the past, UF was able to get by with poor offensive line play on the strength of its defense. It appears those days are over.
It’s time for Florida’s offensive line to realize that and play like it. If not, without an elite defense, this will be one of Florida’s worst seasons in a long time.
On Saturday, the group was given a chance after all the offseason hype and were shown to be frauds. They have another chance to prove themselves starting with next week’s game. To them, I say this: Prove me wrong.
UF's defensive line waits for the snap in Florida's 33-17 loss to Michigan on Saturday in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
