Florida’s 45-7 win over FCS Samford on Saturday was not enough to pull the Gators out of the cellar in the SEC.
The Athletic’s latest “vibe check” ranks the Orange and Blue 16th out of 16 in the SEC after two weeks of play.
“Billy Napier was hoping for a better Saturday with an FCS team in town to kick around,” said Seth Emerson, a senior writer covering Georgia and the SEC for The Athletic. “Then the day started with Nick Saban going on GameDay and saying that while Napier inherited a culture lacking toughness, he had yet to turn it around. So much for Saban taking it easy on his former staff members. (And good for Saban, by the way.)”
It might sound like Florida is being held in the mud for off-the-field comments, but Emerson was not impressed with the Gators’ play on Saturday either.
“Florida then puttered around with Samford and was up only 14-0 at halftime before pulling away. Far from what was needed to take the pressure meter down. The Gators stay in the bottom spot for a second straight week.”
What The Athletic missed
While Emerson’s assessment is narrowly based on fact, it had to have been difficult to write two whole paragraphs recapping Florida’s win over Samford without mentioning DJ Lagway.
It’s nearly impossible to define the criteria for a list named the “vibe check,” but Lagway delivered future Heisman vibes in his very first start. Sure, Graham Mertz is likely to take over the starting job again once healthy, but there’s no doubt that the “vibe” in Gainesville is significantly better than last week.
Meanwhile, Emerson ranks Texas A&M 10th on his vibe-o-meter. Keep in mind that the Aggies entered Week 2 coming off a 10-point loss to a Notre Dame team that was upset by Northern Illinois. Following that up with a 52-10 win over McNeese is somehow worth a two-spot jump for TAMU, though.
Opinions can’t be wrong, but something seems off here.
It’s easy to make Florida the punching bag after that ugly loss to Miami, but the reality is that the Hurricanes are playing like a top-10 team right now. At least that’s what the US LBM Coaches Poll voters think. So do the AP Top 25 folks…
If Florida keeps things competitive with Texas A&M, the two need to trade places on this list. If the Gators win, there needs to be an even bigger jump.
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