You’ve heard this before. You’ve heard it so many times that it has probably lost much of its meaning: Florida’s next game is a must win.
But this weekend, it has a different meaning.
Yes, if Florida defeats No. 23 Tennessee on Saturday, it will move to 1-1 on the season and 1-0 in the SEC. But that doesn’t really matter.
What matters is lifting the team’s spirit and boosting its morale. What matters is escaping from the funk that the program has been stuck in as of late. What matters goes deeper than football.
So I’ll just say it: Florida needs a win this Saturday. Badly.
In case you haven’t heard, the Florida football program has had a rough couple of weeks. The Gators suspended 10 of its players for its season opener against Michigan on Sept. 2, nine of whom were reportedly involved in an alleged scandal involving the improper use of school funds. Then the Gators lost that game to Michigan by 16 points. Then coach Jim McElwain grimly announced that freshman wide receiver James Robinson was dealing with a heart problem and would be out indefinitely, declining to explain further. Then they had to cancel their home opener against Northern Colorado. Then a hurricane hit. Then 60 players’ families were affected.
And then McElwain addressed reporters on Wednesday, and he looked downright downtrodden. He talked slowly and softly, taking long pauses after questions to think about his responses. He looked unhappy. He didn’t joke. Usually jovial, he didn’t smile.
And how could he? After seeing what Hurricane Irma had done to parts of Florida? After hearing from his players, the ones he feels personally responsible for, tell him that their families had been affected by the storm?
Never mind the irregular start to the season, one that saw Florida play a nonconference game outside of the state for the first time in at least 25 years, and lose. Never mind losing two of its best offensive weapons in receiver Antonio Callaway and running back Jordan Scarlett due to a suspension.
Never mind all of that. That would have been enough to deflate the morale of any team, even before a natural disaster bulldozed through its home state.
No, none of that mattered to McElwain. The only thing that mattered was the hurricane. And on Wednesday, you could hear it in his voice. You could see it on his face. He looked sad, and so he said what he thought was right. He called on his players to play for something more than themselves on Saturday.
“Hopefully (they) play with a little bit of passion and desire for the people of the state of Florida,” McElwain said.
And then later: “I want our guys to understand that it’s so much more than just them,” McElwain said. “It’s an opportunity. It’s awful special coming off of what just occurred.”
Florida needs this win. It needs this win for reasons that go beyond simply earning its first victory of the season, that go beyond fixing its lifeless offense.
It needs a win to move past its suspended players. It needs a win to lift the program out of the figurative mud it has been trudging through the past couple of weeks, unable to play football with the harsh inconveniences of real life at its doorstep.
It needs a win to make everyone — fans and players — feel just a little bit better.
Ian Cohen is a sports writer. Contact him at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Florida football coach Jim McElwain paces the sideline during UF's 31-13 loss against Florida State on Nov. 26, 2016, in Tallahassee.
