Struggling Gators look to avoid big upset
GAINESVILLE — UAB was supposed to offer a breather for coach Jim McElwain’s Florida Gators.
Veterans would make short work of the Blazers and younger players would get a chance to strut their stuff in the Swamp during mop-up time.
Until recently, this had become a tradition on the third Saturday each November since the NCAA added a 12th game to the schedule in 2006.
UF won the first seven of them by an average score of 54-12 until a stunning loss to Georgia Southern in 2013. Add an overtime win in 2015 against FAU and the added game suddenly had turned into a struggle.
Now a UAB program that did not even field a team the past two years could add to the 2017 Gators’ misery.
McElwain is gone, the roster is ravaged by injuries and the Gators are making yet another quarterback change, back to redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks. Entering today, UF (3-6) is winless since September, out of bowl contention and seeking motivation wherever it can find it.
“Pride. Being a Gator, that’s what it’s all about,” interim coach Randy Shannon said. “Having pride in what you do. Pride as a football team. Pride to represent this university and pride of being something that’s special.”
The Gators will find out whether pride is enough to overcome the Blazers, who like their opponent today are having a season no one expected.
UAB disbanded its football program in 2014, but the public backlash and subsequent financial support from the community led the school to reverse field and reinstate the program.
Coach Bill Clark remained with the program and now oversees one of the feel-good stories in college football. The Blazers (7-3) are bowl eligible and a win away from a school record against Football Bowl Subdivision competition.
Even so, the Gators are a step up in competition. UAB has not faced anyone inside the top 100 of Jeff Sagarin’s computer ratings — UF is No. 69 — and counts last week’s 24-19 decision against No. 108 Texas-San Antonio as its best win.
“They’re kind of going through some tough times. They’ve had injuries, etc.,” Clark said of the Gators this week on the “Paul Finebaum Show.’’ “But their backups are four- and five-star guys. They’ll be plenty dangerous.”
Clark’s assessment of the Gators’ talent level is generous. McElwain’s three recruiting classes at UF featured two five-star recruits — left tackle Martez Ivey and defensive end CeCe Jefferson, each signed in 2015.
Yet in addition to Ivey and Jefferson, who leads UF with nine tackles for loss, the Gators will field a caliber of player the Blazers face only when paid to do so. UAB will receive $1.5 million for today’s game.
UF redshirt junior defensive tackle Taven Bryan, for one, has positioned himself for first-round consideration during the 2018 NFL draft. He and Jefferson are tied for fourth on the team with 33 tackles and each has three sacks.
“He’s playing at a high level,” Shannon said of Bryan. “We expect more out of him. We expect him to be more dominant than what he’s doing.”
Bryan said he and the Gators’ run defense will have to play at a much higher level against UAB. Freshman tailback Spencer Brown has rushed for 1,177 yards while he and junior quarterback A.J. Erdley have combined 22 rushing touchdowns.
“We’ve got some bad stuff on the team, I guess,” said Bryan, who declined to elaborate. “We’ve been purging it out. But it just doesn’t come overnight, coming from zero to hero. Taking the baby steps.
“I promise you guys we’ll play better the next game.”
The Gators have two games to get things right, culminating with next weekend’s visit from rival Florida State on Senior Day. Shannon said his players owe it to the team’s 10 seniors, themselves and UF’s fans to end the season on a high note.
“We’ve got two games left,” Shannon said. “Now it’s an opportunity to come back home and get the fans back into it, get this place back into it and keep moving forward.”