GAINESVILLE — No one saw this coming. No one.
Even after a 4-0 start. Even after last week's program-building, momentum-gathering, confidence-boosting, come-from-behind victory against Tennessee.
Even most Gator diehards could only hope for the best — the best being that maybe Florida would just hang tough Saturday night against Ole Miss.
But this? No one predicted exactly what happened, that the Gators would crush and humiliate the No. 3 team in the nation, while stunning the rest of the country with a 38-10 victory.
The Gators are back.
Back among the SEC powers. Back in business. Back from the dead.
Want to know their secret? Want to know why they were so good Saturday? Want to know why they will have plenty of good Saturdays in their future?
The Gators have found themselves a heck of a head coach. Jim McElwain has come to Gainesville and, unlike the last guy, has brought an offensive playbook with him.
The Gators throw. They run. They throw some more. They baffle defenses. Heck, they score.
They win, too.
Maybe the old coach, Will Muschamp, laid the groundwork for a UF defense that continues to swarm and shine, but the poor sap didn't have the first darn clue or even seem to care about offense.
But McElwain is bringing a pedal-to-the-medal roadster that harkens back to the good ol' days of Florida football. You know, like the days before Muschamp's 3-yards-and-a-pile-of-mud style ran the Gators to 13 losses in the past two seasons.
Muschamp knew defense, but you got the feeling his offensive game plan was designed specifically to get his defense back on the field.
That's not the case under McElwain. Look at this offense. These are many of the same weapons Muschamp had a year ago. Yes, quarterback Will Grier, who threw four touchdown passes Saturday night, redshirted last year, but it's not like he wasn't an option for Muschamp. Yet Muschamp's offense was pathetic.
McElwain's go-for-it style brings confidence, it brings swagger. It brings attitude. Muschamp used to play not to lose. McElwain is playing to win. And, in college football these days, you win with offense. You win by scoring points.
McElwain coaches it better than he talks about it.
"We were okay," McElwain said of the offense. "We took some shots. We were aggressive."
Here's a perfect example of McElwain's step-on-their-throats style: The Gators had a 19-0 lead with 4:50 left in the second quarter when they took possession at their 9-yard line. Under Muschamp, Florida would have sat on the ball and tried to get to the locker room with the 19-point lead. A lot of coaches would have done that.
What did McElwain do? He threw on third down and got the first down. Still pinned at their 20 with two minutes left, the Gators could have shut it down. Instead, he attacked. It's exactly what the Gators practiced during the week.
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Explore all your optionsGrier worked the Gators into field-goal territory, but McElwain still wasn't satisfied. He kept throwing until Florida tossed in a touchdown. And even that wasn't enough. McElwain went for two. Although the Gators didn't make it, 25-0 looked a lot sweeter than 19-0. And the late touchdown was a knockout punch.
See, this is how you win big games. This is how you change programs. This is how you excite the fan base, particularly Gator Nation.
When you think of Florida football, you think of Spurrier, and Urban, and Tebow. You think of offense. And now it's back.
The Gators have thrown for the most yards in their first five games since 2007. They've already had six passing touchdowns of at least 30 yards. Grier has thrown multiple touchdown passes in four games, the most for a UF quarterback since 2009, making you wonder why McElwain would even think about playing Treon Harris.
"As an offense, we're starting to click," Grier said.
Okay, okay, so the defense deserves credit, too. That's what McElwain wanted to talk about after the game, and the unit was sensational Saturday. It shut down one of the best offenses in the country, an offense that hung 43 points on Alabama — in Tuscaloosa — two weeks ago.
But the UF offense helped the defense. It held on to the ball long enough to let the defense rest. In the first half, it had the ball for nearly 17 minutes. Every second Mississippi's defense was on the field, that was a second that its offense was on the sideline.
It was a glorious night in Gainesville, the kind of game we haven't seen in these parts in some time.
"That stadium was something special," McElwain said. "For a kid from Montana, that was pretty cool."
There are tough games down the road and on the road. At Missouri. At LSU. In Jacksonville against Georgia.
"We'll see how we handle success now," McElwain said.
But now there is real hope after beating Tennessee and kicking the snot out of Ole Miss. There's a renewed sense of optimism at Florida. The defense is swarming and tough. And the offense is potent for the first time in a long time.
Thanks to the head coach.