Florida’s offense has for years wandered aimlessly through the Desert of Mediocrity. And for most of Saturday, it continued to do so.
There were fumbles. There were interceptions. There were goal-line stops and juked defenders and a 63-yard touchdown pass to win the game with zeros on the clock.
It’s been 308 days since UF has seen a college football game played in the confines of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
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.
Imagine being an SEC coach. One under SEC expectations from SEC fans, looking down the barrel of a brutal SEC schedule. One stuck with a scarcely tolerable offense, even by SEC standards.
Week 1 of the 2017 NFL regular season came and went this past weekend, and boy do I have a pair of fiery, red-hot takes to pass on to you.
Hurricane Irma may have gotten Florida’s home opener against the star-studded Northern Colorado Bears canceled this weekend, but nothing is ever strong enough to interfere with an alligatorSports weekly picks column.
Anyone that’s active on social media or has read the news knows that Hurricane Irma is coming.
Around 55 percent, give or take.
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.
Jim McElwain is under a lot of pressure at the beginning of his third season. He has to deal with the pressure of starting quarterback Feleipe Franks, a redshirt freshman who’s never thrown a pass in a college football game. He also has to deal with the pressure of going up against Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines without his star running back, Jordan Scarlett, and star receiver, Antonio Callaway, who have been suspended for disciplinary issues.
Jim McElwain was asked a question on Wednesday that I found to be enlightening.
Dear Coach McElwain and Gators football team,
Florida football coach Jim McElwain made an announcement Wednesday that the entire Gators fan base has been patiently waiting for.
The city of Houston is hurting right now. It’s hurting pretty bad.
Florida’s Jim McElwain, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and a bouquet of other college football coaches are wasting their time drawing up plays to move a ball up and down a rectangle. No, based on how much paranoia, control and secrecy they like to involve in such an arbitrary task, it’s clear they belong somewhere else: the U.S. military.
Floyd Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor by technical knockout on Saturday.
Do you trust Jim McElwain?
Quarterback Luke Del Rio took first-team reps in front of reporters Tuesday. And as soon as the news hit Twitter, some fans went ballistic. Or, you know — as ballistic as a faceless Twitter egg on a computer screen can go.
Former scientist and founding father Benjamin Franklin once said the following: “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
Solutions by The State News
