This was not what Florida football fans expected in 2021, even if the media did. All you heard in the summer was that Florida would take a step back this season, paving the way for an easy path for Georgia.
And now that it’s happened, everyone seems shocked.
Too much was put into the near-miss against Alabama as the measuring stick for how good this team is. In front of an amazing crowd, the Gators were this close to beating No. 1.
But they did not.
And what has happened since has a good chunk of the Gator Nation calling for mass firings and accountability. Dan Mullen’s reply to all of this has been, “We’ll evaluate everything. It’s a long season.”
Yeah, but it’s getting shorter every day. There are four games remaining after Georgia, Florida’s second game against a No. 1 team this season, and they are all games where the Gators are going to be huge favorites.
South Carolina and Missouri are a combined 1-6 in the SEC. FCS team Samford is 3-3 with a loss to Mercer already on its record. FSU is 2-4.
Which likely means an 8-4 record, a decent bowl game but certainly ending the streak of New Year’s Six bowl games under Mullen. Then again, Georgia’s bus could take a right on I-10 and the Gators might get a forfeit.
That’s a joke, of course. Like a lot of this season has been a joke. Seriously, Florida’s biggest win this year was a two-point loss.
So, let’s look at why they are here at 4-3 and 2-3 in the SEC by grading the rooms through seven games: