Gator glory is dead.
If we have learned anything this year, it’s that UF’s once-glorified image of indestructibility and infallibility are facades.
As UF’s football team groveled for its second loss in a row Saturday, Gators face the undeniable notion that without Tebow, the rise and demise of UF as an image of perfection and envy was quick and ruthless.
It might be hard to swallow, but with the Tebow Era behind us, the images of National Championships long forgotten, Gators are no longer so revered on or off the field.
We’re not assuming the exit of Tebow simultaneously signaled the fall of UF from statewide academic glory, but we recognize his departure was a significant factor in returning UF to its days of mediocrity.
With Miami claiming Florida’s top academic spot in the rankings of best colleges this year, Gators across the state can no longer say they attend the best or the brightest state institution.
Because, right now, they don’t.
It’s an unpopular opinion, but it’s true. Tebow’s exit from Gainesville signaled a weakness that let schools in Baton Rouge, Coral Gables and Tuscaloosa seize our thrones of academic and athletic triumphs so typically and unquestionably reserved for Gators in the past.
As much as President Machen says our football team’s performance has no effect on our school’s academic notoriety, we can’t help but wonder how much he disagrees with his own words.
UF’s newly built pharmacy school near Orlando won’t be known to teenagers in Idaho. They’ll know of our embarrassing loss in The Swamp on Saturday. They’ll know UF is no longer the best.
They’ll know UF isn’t so indestructibly perfect.
And it’s hard to deny the statistics of “coincidentally” increased admission applications during our years of athletic glory.
But certainly, you say, UF continues to admit a class brighter than the year before with higher SAT scores than the class before it, with more vivacious desires to be a Gator, and with better-written essays, bigger smiles and higher GPAs.
Surely, this is a sign Tebow’s exit didn’t return UF to academic and athletic warfare, fighting for its rightful position atop Florida’s throne.
But who are we comparing ourselves to? Of course our new class is going to be brighter than the last. Competition among high school graduates is increasing across the country, not just at UF.
If we compare ourselves to ourselves, the waters appear to be calm. But it’s others’ views of us that should matter. It’s our reputation that matters.
And it’s in jeopardy, Gators. You’d be foolish to think otherwise.
Regardless if you want to blame our double-loss on the football field to John Brantley’s inexperience, Steve Addazio’s future diagnosis as insane or a general cycle of greatness which UF is now clawing at to get a sliver, any Gator would be foolish to suggest academics and athletics aren’t intertwined in our university’s image.
With UF’s embarrassing fall from statewide academic glory coupled with the swift and painful departure of our Heisman-winning, nationally renowned, God-given savior, we’re hurting, Gators.
