Few moments of UF’s beatdown loss to South Carolina could be described as poetic, but there was at least one.
Early in the fourth quarter, Florida’s band struck up Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” The Gators trailed 29-7 and had just turned the ball over on downs, and it would’ve been hard to choose a more appropriate song thanks to the first line:
“I used to rule the world…”
And that summed up exactly how most of the 90,885 watching Florida get pummeled by South Carolina must have felt at that moment. Remember when Tim Tebow was running around in The Swamp and a trip to the Southeastern Conference Championship felt like a birthright?
Saturday night was a long way from there.
By then, it was clear there would be no SEC title, and the reality of watching Steve Spurrier’s boys romp in The Swamp had set in.
It effectively meant the end of the season, and that’s something Gators fans haven’t felt in quite a while. In the last rough year, 2007, Florida still had Tebow’s Heisman Trophy campaign to look forward to.
Even in somewhat of a rebuilding year, it was a shock.
But please, hold the tears.
This is karma.
No one gets to win all the time. Teams have to suck at least occasionally for the world to stay balanced.
Sometimes they have a pitiful offense and lose a lot.
Sometimes they get you-know-what-slapped by the Gamecocks.
What goes around comes around, and Gators fans were due for some bad moments.
So the powers that be had them lose to the team that ruined last season (Alabama) and then three former Florida coaches: LSU’s Billy Gonzalez, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen and South Carolina’s Spurrier — men who helped set the standard for exciting UF offenses that this year’s team fell so frustratingly far short of.
And the loss to the Gamecocks was a throwback to the win that started it all. Run back the opening kick and get blown out? Sounds like Ohio State in 2006.
Meanwhile, they have to sit and watch Cam Newton guide Auburn to an 11-0 start and likely lock up a Heisman Trophy. They have to dream about what life would be like if Newton was still in Gainesville.
These aren’t coincidences. They’re what had to happen, and experiencing this is what makes true fans.
The delirious run of Florida athletics from 2006-09 was so much sweeter for those who suffered through down seasons, much like how watching my favorite school win back-to-back conference titles was more special after seeing just three wins in a two-year period.
People who enrolled at UF in the fall of 2006 and graduated on time (oops) left having seen a total of three national championships, a Heisman and an undefeated regular season.
Life isn’t supposed to work that way. For those who showed up in Gainesville this year: bad timing. You arrived for the payback phase.
And based on the wild success of years past, it can’t be over yet.
True, a trip to Atlanta is still possible for the Chick-fil-A Bowl, but that wouldn’t be the karmic cherry atop this season.
Three bowls match up the SEC and Big Ten, and Illinois is a win away from being bowl-eligible.
ZOOOOOOOOK!
