It’s safe to say these have been three of the wildest and most chaotic weeks of recent Florida Gators history. This was a team that seemed destined to make the playoffs, then had back-to-back meltdowns and looked like a team that would struggle to make a bowl game.
Heading into Texas, Florida hadn’t won a road game against a top-ten opponent since 2012. They were starting a backup quarterback, and they fell behind 17-3 off the same narratives that doomed Florida the past two weeks.
And somehow along the way, the Gators flipped a switch that helped spark a 14-point comeback to once again put Florida back into the naitonal conversation.
Florida storms back to take out Texas
Judging by social media, fans were ready to be done with the Jon Sumrall Experience by the time the 2nd quarter rolled around. But two key things happened that enabled Florida to come back:
- Tramell Jones settled in and kept the chains moving with some long and grinding drives.
- Brad White came up with a game plan that dared Arch Manning to do litteraly anything in the face of a blitz.
On the second part, fair is fair. We have been hard on White and Florida’s defense the first half of the season looking like a JV squad at times. But rather than sit back and play scared to enable Manning to pick Florida apart, the Gators sent constant pressure and harrased Manning all afternoon long.
We saw Ty Jackson flying around early. LJ McCray reminded everyone that he’s not finished. Brendan Bett had a huge stop on Manning.
And outside of the 4th and long when Florida sent a blitz, which, to be honest, we didn’t hate the call given how successful Florida had been, the defense held firm and looked like a squad that finally had some things click.
The stat line for Jones wasn’t anything crazy. 22/35 for 155 yards is the complete antithesis of why Florida fans wanted him in the first place. But every time Florida needed to find someone to keep the chains moving, Jones was there. And he caused just enough havoc with his legs, which wasn’t supposed to be his calling card, to power Florida’s offense to 27 points.
Unless Florida runs the table, it’s hard to see them sneaking into the playoffs. But wins like this matter. We said before the season that it’s not unfair to have standards, even if it is Sumrall’s first season. Sumrall himself is the one who said: “The standard is the standard.”
The last two weeks were not up to the standard of the Florida Gators.
Today in Austin, Florida reminded everyone what this team is capable of when they play up to the standard.
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