What In The World Has Happened To Florida Football?

Growing up, Florida football was THEE powerhouse in college football. I know that Bama came in and erased all that in the late 2000s, but during the heart of the Urban Meyer era, Florida was to college football with Georgia is today. They've already had shitty documentaries made about it. They were the program that everyone wanted to be. They produced Heisman winners, NFL stars. They won multiple National Championships. One of the greatest beatdowns I've ever seen in college sports was the absolute ass-whooping they laid on Ohio State in the 2007 BCS National Championship game. 

Time really does fly. Florida's been one of those programs that I expect will find a way to turn it around. But while watching them get their lunch money taken from them against Utah last night, I realized something. Florida Football ain't that good, and it hasn't been that great for a long time. Time really does fly. Florida's been one of those programs that I expect will find a way to turn it around. But while watching them get their lunch money taken from them against Utah last night, I realized something. Florida Football ain't that good, and it hasn't been that great for a long time. It's not like Florida is a bad football program. Just a few short years ago, they gave Bama one hell of a fight in the SEC championship game. 

But this is Florida. When I think of Florida, I think of Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer, and championships. Gainsville was the place to be. Say what you will about Urban Meyer, but all the man did was win football games. I feel like we've been waiting for the better part of a decade for that dominant Florida culture to be re-established. It just hasn't been. 

I'm a college football fan. I'm mainly a Michigan fan, but I keep up with the movers and shakers in the college football world. I rarely pause, look at a program, and realize that they are not up to par with what my brain thinks they are. Even after Nick Saban leaves, I'm always inclined to believe that Alabama will be great at football. It's something that's just ingrained in my head at this point. But it's been a long time for Florida. 

Did the program die with Tim Tebow? Even Urban Meyer's last few years were somewhat underwhelming. 

There's ebbs and flows to the stuff in college football. Some programs have their run of dominance and then plateau for a while. But in terms of Florida, they've had multiple opportunities with new coaches to figure this out. The leash was pretty short with Dan Mullen, and up to this point, Billy Napier has a lot of question marks surrounding him. If Anthony Richardson becomes an elite quarterback in the NFL, people will call into question his player development. It takes programs a long time to get off the mat, but Florida has been in flux for a long time. Watching that Utah game last night was a prime example of that. 

Utah was better at every facet of the game. And Utah is a good team. I'm not trying to knock the Utes. Kyle Whittingham has done an excellent job there, but seeing Florida getting bullied is something that I'm just not really used to seeing. They'll get it back one day. A program like that will keep pounding the pavement until they get it right, but for the time being, they don't make Gators like they used to.