Renowned football philosopher Ringo Starr sang: “It ain’t easy.” Florida fans might not like it, but it’s a tune they have to embrace.
Nothing comes easy for the Gators this year, with A 24-17 win on Saturday Missouri is the latest example. For most of the 88,471 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, it was a sun-drenched day of depressing, exhilarating, anxious and hopeful football.
Mixed emotions are a big part of the first year of any recovery year. If you want to say the Gators are winning ugly, Oklahoma fans can only wish they had such complaints these days.
Pointing out the flaws in the Gators’ win isn’t too nit-picky. But imagine how much worse the fans would feel if UF lost.
“A lot of guys were saying, ‘We have to win. We have to win,” Anthony Richardson said.
Notebook after the UF win:Hall of Famers are honored, and the current Gators are playing clean
Florida Football:5 takeaways from the Gators’ 24-17 win over Missouri
Preparing for greatness:The GatorMade program aims to prepare players for life abroad
Florida didn’t want a seventh straight SEC loss, not with (arguably) the toughest part of the schedule. If the Gators are going to do better than a .500-type season, they definitely need Saturday to be a springboard.
It was, but not much.
“We haven’t been using our formula to win games at the rate we’d like at any given time,” Billy Napier said. We are very…”
You probably don’t have to guess what happened next… “work in progress”.
He said it so often that we should just shorten the phrase to WIP. The main thing in WIP, of course, is P.
Progress on the Gators’ unfinished business is hard to come by early
We didn’t see much of that in the first half. There was probably a bonfire on social media that broke up the homecoming proceedings. I haven’t checked, but did Ben Sass really write that he won’t be the next UF president until AR has a no-turnover game?
Richardson had a fumble and an interception Saturday. But he also had a 35-yard run on fourth-and-2, something only an AR can do.
You never know what you’re going to get with these Gators. They had 65 yards in the first half – only 16 of them on the ground.
About all the fans had to cheer for was Xavier Henderson’s 48-yard punt return and Jayden Hill’s 49-yard field goal. He was the story of the day, with two interceptions to back up his pregame boast that the Gators had no right to lose to the Tigers.
“Man, I knew we had to beat Missouri,” he said. “What I said, we should have supported.”
Hill also did it without a knee brace. It was his second start after missing all of last year with a torn ACL. He also had one in high school.
Hill was scheduled to wear the brace for one more game, but he brushed off the coach before the game.
“I’m just happy to still be playing,” he said. “It’s just an honor. I feel so good inside.’
He’s a sophomore, and that’s the building block that will go a long way in determining if this year is a success. That determination won’t depend solely on the final record, though more W’s than L’s will certainly ease the psyche of Gator Nation.
Billy Napier’s winning formula worked most of the time in the second half
The second half involved Napier’s formula a bit more. The defense was ridiculously bad when Mizu was faced with a third-and-long. But Ventrell Miller was a monster all day and the Gators shut down the Tigers when they needed to.
They’re now 4-2, and this supposed nightmare stretch isn’t looking so dire. Based on their performance against Tennessee, Brian Kelly appears to have his work cut out for him at LSU.
Then there’s a trip to Texas A&M, where Appalachian State beat this year. All three games after Georgia (South Carolina, Vandy, FSU) look completely winnable. With this Florida team though, who’s to say?
When it comes to WIP, you can see enough P to cheer yourself up.
But all we really know is that nothing will come easily. And no matter how ugly the games, fans should consider any victory a beauty
David Whitley is a sports columnist for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley.
