Florida Gators Football Team in a Good Place Right Now

The 2016 edition of University of Florida football wasn't given much of a chance to do anything, according to many of the so-called experts in our national sports media.  Yet here they are in mid-November with only two games to go in the regular season, sporting a 7-2 overall record and leading the Southeastern Conference's East Division.  It's true that the remaining games will be difficult to win: Next Saturday at Baton Rouge against Louisiana State and the following week against FSU.  And if the Gators do manage to get by LSU, then they will be playing against the number one team in the country, Alabama, for the conference championship...and then there's still that season-ending bowl game to think about.  Not an easy road to travel down, to say the least.  Still, this team, coached in his second year here by Jim McElwain, has shown a great deal of resilience to get this far.  Although their quarterback play has been inconsistent so far and plagued by injuries, the improved offensive line has allowed them to play a more ball-control type of attack that has helped keep their defense off the field and less tired.  With a couple of exceptions (their two losses to Tennessee and Arkansas), that defense has been spectacular! And don't get me started talking about their placekicker Eddy Pineiro...

Back in 2009, when Florida had already won two national championships under Urban Meyer and was shooting for a third, the fans here simply got to where they expected, as a matter of course, another championship, with anything less considered to be a failed season.  That's been pretty much the case during the last few years with the Alabama fans, too.  For me, I'd rather have a competitive team, the way the Gators are now, that makes a good run almost every year and is still in contention for a title late in the season.  Sure, Florida has its shortcomings in some areas, but they have a lot of spirit and a coach who seems to be a genuine leader.  Let's just suppose that all of the bigshots on TV who aren't giving UF any chance for the remainder of the year are wrong and that the Gators instead win their next three games.  That would mean that Florida, with a 10-2 record and the championship of the toughest conference in the nation, would be in a position to make the case for inclusion in the four-team national championship playoff.  But would that be a realistic assumption, given that they still would have lost two games?  My answer: remember LSU's two-loss national championship team of 2007...

It's fun to be this late in the season and still be able to daydream about my hometown team, realistically or not...