Florida Gators 34 – Miami (OH) Redhawks 12
When a 22-point win isn’t enough, you know you have a serious problem.
Many Florida fans left today’s game thinking “what the ____?!?” It’s a natural reaction. Over the years, we’ve been taught to love the blowout and accept nothing less against what we consider to be inferior opponents. That’s not a shot at Miami (OH), but when your team is favored by 36 or more and they win by 22, you leave a little less than satisfied.
That was the case today. The Gators won. Technically, they won big. 22 points is three scores. It’s not a close game. It means you handled your opponent and got your job done. You won and you won big.
But it wasn’t what you may have expected. You expected the wide-open passing offense to show you things you haven’t seen since Steve Spurrier walked the sidelines. The type of offense only a video game gives you. What you were looking forward to ended up producing 114 yards on 17 competitions. A deep pass was attempted here and there, but not what you may have wanted to see. If an early deep attempt to Deonte Thompson had been completed (and orange and blue bias aside, the Redhawk defender was a little early on his slash at Thompson’s arms), it may have been a different game. But it was incomplete and the game unfolded as it did.
Let’s get this out of the way right now, shall we? Mike Pouncey. I love Mike Pouncey. I love both of the Pounceys. It’s because of Maurkice that I’m even slightly interested in the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. Mike was a great guard. An All-American guard. He was that good. He can be a great center too. But he has to get out of his own head. Mike wasn’t the reason the game didn’t turn out how we as fans would have liked, but he definitely had his struggles. The center-quarterback exchange needs to be perfect. And whatever happened today, needs to get ironed out before even one more game. On the other side, we’ve heard for two years how good Sam Robey might be. If that’s the case, why not try him out? We all know Pouncey is a great guard. Why not let him be a great guard? If the reports we get are accurate, Robey is a more than capable center. There, done. I’m sure many are being much harsher than I am, but I’ve said my peace and that’s as far as I’ll go. Game number two is in one week. Get that fixed Gators.
The defense did its part, holding Miami (OH) to four field goals and 212 yards. What made the game interesting (is that the right world?) is that the Florida offense matched that. 212 yards. Jeff Demps had a nice, long run. Mike Gillislee too. Those two runs covered 113 yards, or more than half of Florida’s entire offensive output. In part because the Gators lost three fumbles. I don’t know if that has to do with whatever gloves Nike has given the team to experiment with, but if so, CHANGE THEM! The score could have easily been 41-12 or 48-12 if it weren’t for those fumbles. And that’s despite the passing game never getting into its grove.
There’s something I always say about games like this and it rings true. Just win. In sports, nothing is more important. But in college football, it’s taken to another level. You can’t lose. The Gators have gotten lucky during each of their championship seasons. Not to say they didn’t deserve those titles, but during each year, they had one loss. Sometimes you can sneak in with that loss. Sometimes it kills you. So in the end, just win. It may not be pretty. It may be downright ugly. But just win. That’s how Florida and fans have to feel today. It was a win. Fix what needs to be fixed and move on. There are 11 more games that we know of and one in only a week. Just win.