Jim McElwain was asked a question on Wednesday that I found to be enlightening.
The question: Are you worried, Jim, about giving the first ever playing time to your redshirt freshman quarterback, Feleipe Franks, in a game as big as this one? Against No. 11 Michigan? In the Dallas Cowboys stadium? On national TV?
McElwain said no. He’s not worried at all.
“It kind of shows what you’re made of,” McElwain said.
Maybe. Maybe it will show what Franks is made of. Maybe his big arm will shock the college football world, and he will throw four touchdowns and handily defeat Michigan. Or maybe he’ll be just serviceable, efficiently and methodically guiding the offense, sometimes for scores and other times for punts. Or maybe he’ll look as inexperienced as his age suggests, and throw three interceptions and fail to connect with any of his receivers.
Or maybe it doesn’t matter what Franks does on Saturday, and that’s why McElwain is OK with playing him. Maybe there’s no risk, so McElwain can afford to go all in.
Let me explain.
UF and McElwain find themselves in one of the most enviable positions in all of college football this weekend: they will be blameless. No matter the outcome, no matter what happens on Saturday, they can’t lose.
The Gators have suspended 10 players for Saturday’s game, including arguably their most important offensive starters in junior receiver Antonio Callaway and junior running back Jordan Scarlett.
And with a redshirt freshman quarterback receiving his first snaps of college football, is the average fan really expecting Florida to win? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing for Michigan, the No. 11-ranked team in the nation, to lose to Florida, a team without 10 of its players? Wouldn’t it be a huge triumph for the Gators if they somehow defeated the Wolverines without their star running back and receiver?
But let me be clear: I am not saying that I am expecting Florida to lose, or that I am expecting Michigan to win. I do not know what will happen during Saturday’s game. Florida receiver Dre Massey could live up to his hype and return two punts for touchdowns, Franks could finally emerge as the answer to Florida’s near-decade of quarterback woes, or a group of three underclassmen starting linebackers — sophomores David Reese, Vosean Joseph and redshirt freshman Jeremiah Moon — could stifle Michigan’s running game and lead UF’s defense to a shutout.
Anything is possible. Nothing is guaranteed.
But what Florida has guaranteed itself, however it happened to stumble into this favorable position, is a figurative veil that voids itself from blame.
McElwain, who is a few weeks removed from telling fans at a Florida pep rally that the Gators are going to “beat the heck out of Michigan,” suddenly doesn’t really have to live up to that proclamation.
The pressure has been lifted. The expectations have been lowered. And somehow, no matter what happens on Saturday, the Gators find themselves in a peculiar position: they can’t lose.
Ian Cohen is a sports writer. Look out for his next column on Sept. 12. Contact him at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Jim McElwain and the Gators have nothing to lose this Saturday with running back Jordan Scarlett and nine other players suspended against Michigan.
