Up to this point in the Jim McElwain era, Florida hasn’t had trouble at all knocking off the easier foes. It’s the tougher opponents who have given the Gators plenty of problems.
Against teams that finished below or at .500 in 2015, and that are currently at or below .500 this season, Florida is a combined 13-0 under McElwain’s leadership. However, the Gators are just a combined 4-6 in the past two years against teams who finished or are currently at or above .500. Florida has only one win this year against a team currently better than .500, an unranked 6-4 Georgia squad.
The Gators are just 1-5 under McElwain in games against AP Top 25 opponents, with the lone win in that category – a 38-10 rout of then-No. 3 Ole Miss last October – coming when Florida had Will Grier as its starting quarterback. Since then, Florida has dropped games to ranked teams like LSU, Florida State, Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee. The other loss – a 31-10 defeat at Arkansas on Nov. 5 – came against a Razorbacks squad on the cusp of being ranked that week.
Florida’s record in The Swamp with McElwain has been impressive – 11-1 with the lone loss coming late last year against the Seminoles – but 10 of those 11 home wins have come against unranked teams. Meanwhile, the Gators are just a combined 6-5 on the road or at neutral sites, and they haven’t beaten a ranked opponent on the road yet under McElwain. The best true road wins under McElwain? Maybe Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt…
Basically, up to this point the Gators have built a reputation with McElwain at the helm for being unable to win away from home against quality opponents.
However, they’ll have a chance to buck that trend these next two weeks, as Florida’s next two games are road contests against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 16 LSU and No. 17 Florida State.
Florida (7-2, 5-2 SEC), ranked No. 21 in the AP poll, can clinch the SEC East with a win against LSU (6-3, 4-2 SEC) this Saturday at 1 p.m. ET in Baton Rouge, but to pull off that feat it’ll need to turn the corner in a major way – especially with a number of starters sidelined this weekend, including its top three tacklers in linebackers Jarrad Davis (ankle), Alex Anzalone (broken arm) and safety Marcus Maye (broken arm).
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“You’re getting tested here, all right?” McElwain said. “You’re getting a chance to go into somebody else’s neighborhood and go take something they want. Right? It has nothing to do about the rest of it. The rest of it is because you were successful in those environments that allow you to maybe go get that championship. And that’s really what it’s all about. It’s looking inside yourself and say do you really — do you really want to go put yourself out there and give everything you have or do you want to just say, ‘It’s OK. You know, we aren’t supposed to do these. We’ve got however many starters out,’ you know, all this stuff. Well if you’re willing to do that, if that’s your deal, stay home. You know? Go challenge yourself to be great. That’s really what it’s all about.”
Considering the stakes on the line involving the SEC East hunt – and war of words between both schools and fan bases during the infamous Hurricane Matthew postponement fiasco in October - the Gators shouldn’t have difficulty finding motivation for Saturday’s game.
“They think we had a choice of avoiding this game when there’s a hurricane,” said safety Nick Washington, a Jacksonville native. “Not just me but a lot of my teammates, a lot of us had family in places where the hurricane was hitting. It kind of bothered us a little bit but we had to let it go.
“I mean it’s a big rivalry game. I think the LSU game is one of the biggest games for us every season just like FSU, just like Georgia. I mean we’re going to go into it with a little more of a chip on our shoulder because what’s been said in the media and what not. I know we’re ready to go.”
Florida knows the margin of error this weekend is thin against a team like LSU, which has won four of its past five under interim head coach Ed Orgeron.
“I think first and foremost you’ve got to take care of the football. You cannot allow them extra possessions,” McElwain said. “For us, it’s going to be. … we’re going to have to create some explosive plays. It’s that simple. Our good players have to play good. Our secondary has to play good. Our strengths have to play and accept the challenge. That’s really the key to me. We’ll see. We’ll see if they accept the challenge or not.”
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