Florida entered the season with hopes of making noise in the SEC after multiple disappointing seasons under Billy Napier. New head coach Jon Sumrall started his tenure with four wins. In particular, the Gators’ thrashing of Ole Miss made everyone notice that something is brewing in Gainesville.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
However, since then, Florida has lost back-to-back. The Week 6 home loss has now killed all the hype surrounding Sumrall’s team.
“Florida is the biggest scammer of college football,” CBS analyst Bryant McFadden said on October 10. “I say this because since week 3, we started to invest in playoff commentary for Florida. And then in week 4, Ole Miss comes to town. They just took care of business against the Rebels with ease. More playoff commentary.”
“Even last week, when they lost to Mizzou, we still gave them a little bit of grace. On the road, hostile environment, top-ranked SEC foe. You took one on the chin. We still gave you playoff commentary. They stole our money because they’re frauds. They are not a playoff-caliber team. They fooled. They scammed all of us to believe they actually have playoff aspirations.”
For a brief moment, Sumrall was one of the hottest coaches in the SEC. The Gators took down Ole Miss a week after the Rebels had defeated LSU at home. As a result, Florida entered the top 10 rankings. But they soon got found out in the 17-45 loss to Missouri. The Gators’ run game, which had amazed everyone, was nonexistent against the Tigers.
But was it a blip, or was this what Florida really was? Looking at the Week 6 loss to South Carolina (19-38), it seems like the teams have figured out Florida’s flaws and how to exploit them.
The Gators started their redemption game with Bailey Stockton catching a pass and running 59 yards for a touchdown. They gave the fans a few seconds of hope and then took it away for the rest of the game. South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers threw for 279 passing yards and four touchdowns.
In the second quarter, Florida started losing control and making mistakes. Aaron Philo’s throw was intercepted by Vicari Swain, which gave the Gamecocks possession. The turnover was capitalized on by Sellers with his second touchdown. By the end of the 1st half, the Gamecocks led 17–10. The Gators gave hope again in the second half when they got a field goal. However, South Carolina regained momentum.
For the second consecutive game, Florida couldn’t establish an effective run game. Moreover, the Gamecocks forced the Gators into three turnovers. The Gainesville crowd was not happy with what they were seeing from Sumrall’s team. The head coach was also met with boos when he decided to go for a field goal on a 4th-and-goal situation early in the second half.
With two SEC losses, Florida may find it difficult to stay in the CFP conversations. However, this is Sumrall’s first year at the program. It was never going to be easy to turn around the program from where Billy Napier left it.