GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Generally, the flashback is saved for definitions of movies or plays where the background is needed to understand a scenario or drama that stands inside of the writer’s talent.
Moving to Saturday’s Week One of the 2024 college football season, plenty of background and scenarios were present as Miami quarterback Cam Ward’s debut was lethal. He passed for 385 yards and three touchdowns as the Hurricanes announced an eye-popping 41-17 win over Florida … yes, in The Swamp.
Miami had arguably the top dynasty in college football from 1983-2002. Howard Schnellenberger led the Hurricanes to their first national championship in a 31-30 win over Nebraska in 1983. He was followed by a national championship by Jimmy Johnson (1987), two by Dennis Erickson (1989, 1991) and Larry Coker (2001).
Do a deep-dive into that era and three more national titles had potential opportunities in a playoff concept, but not in voting for the champion, as it was then.
The Hurricanes fell by the wayside after leaving the Big East and joining the ACC in 2004. There has only been one appearance in an ACC Championship Game … and not even a sniff of potentially a return to a national championship.
The dynasty fell because of mistakes on coaching hires that caused players in south Florida and across the state to move other places to perfect their games instead of Coral Gables.
Saturday afternoon brought a remembrance of yesteryear among everyone associated with “The U”.
Ward was a mismatch for Florida’s defense as he was nimble in the pocket while using his patented side-armed throws.
“Protection-wise, shout out to the O-Line, and preparation-wise, this is the best one I have been since coming into college,” said Ward.
The transfer from Washington State wasn’t deterred by Florida’s secondary as he could look deep where he found Xavier Restrepo on a 24-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone just 45 seconds before halftime.
“He’s ridiculous; he’s a ballplayer, and we are super lucky to have him,” commented Restrepo. “I think it all starts with the emotion he has for the game, for the love he has for the game. It’s easy to do something for someone who loves football as much as you.”
Then, Ward came out in the second half and drove the Hurricanes 75 yards in six plays as he hit Restrepo on a 40-yard pass after Mark Fletcher caught a 22-yard pass out of the backfield. This set up Fletcher’s 2-yard touchdown run as Miami looked almost like it had 7-on-7 command with its offense in taking a 31-10 advantage early in the third quarter.
“We really just need to focus on the next thing, not really looking at the past to the future, but taking this step by step,” Ward commented.
At 5-10, Restrepo is a high-level wide receiver who brought down seven of Ward’s passes for 112 yards and the two touchdowns.
“We knew if we could do what we needed to do, we would be able to get it done because we have so much faith and so much trust in each other,” said Restrepo.
Gator Bait-ed: Restrepo’s idea of care among the players is a must for the Gators to develop, immediately.
They didn’t show the same leadership as Miami since no one stepped up and proved to be in charge, including the sideline to all 22 spots of the field. The only impactful play that Florida had that could have changed momentum was Montrell Johnson’s 71-yard touchdown run off the left side for a touchdown which cut the Miami lead to 17-10 with 3:14 left in the first half.
Miami outgained Florida, 529-261, as Johnson’s score accounted for 28 percent of the Gators’ offense on the afternoon. After Johnson, no one stepped up or picked up the Gators.
Quarterback Graham Mertz threw for only 91 yards as the Gators’ offensive line had major problems with generally all matchups with the Miami front-7. Mertz left late in the third quarter with a concussion.
Embattled Gators head coach Billy Napier called the game “embarrassing” and what may have been even more of an embarrassment was his acknowledgment that Florida had been working on Miami “for a while.”
“I think they had a handful of wrinkles that were new,” said Napier. “Overall, I think the game comes down to fundamentals. It comes down to good communication, good execution. At times out there, we did not do that.”
A Gators’ flashback has no recent memory of the place to where this football program has fallen.
Napier is now 11-15 and without a major change in the team’s lack of leadership and communication, he has to be on short notice.
Gators alums, fans and people who care about the football program will look at the Steve Spurrier era which was the Gators’ first dynasty.
Spurrier, who won the team’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1966, posted a 122-27-1 record. He is the patriarch of Gators football. In fact, he was the first coach who took South Carolina to 11 wins in three consecutive seasons and posted an 86-49 record in his 10.5 years in Columbia, so he fits as the patriarch of Gamecocks football with really no competition in that position.
Spurrier posted the Gators in the Top 13 in all 11 seasons he was on the sidelines in The Swamp. He could have potentially won two national titles (1995 and 1997) in addition to 1996 when the Gators took a 52-20 win over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl to raise the trophies.
The Urban Meyer Era saw two more national titles in 2006 and 2008 as Meyer created his own dynastic entry into Florida football. The loss of Meyer was tough as the program fell until Dan Mullen came on the scene and went 34-15 in three and a half years with three wins in New Year’s Day Bowl games.
For now, Florida does have quality talent, but the leadership, communication and real team concept hasn’t been bred inside of the team in noticeable fashion.
