ARKANSAS: A DANGEROUS GAME FOR FLORIDA?

 Gators, meet Joe Haden.  He’s the above-average cornerback that “jumped the route” last week in The Swamp.  The result, as we all know, was a play the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott (look it up neophytes) which in turn has led to the fine mess we Gators are in now. 

Unfortunately for Haden, the untimely decision to gamble-which admittedly, looked much worse due to the lumbering free safety’s inability provide deep help-has made Arkansas a dangerous team.  No, not dangerous in the sense that the Hawgs pose a viable threat to the Gators, but dangerous in the sense that anything short of a total beatdown of this team will be deemed a colossal failure and spawn a fresh round of thickly Southern-accented attacks on the Gators over the local airwaves. 

Hell, it’s gotten so bad on this week’s localtalk radio shows, which are  hosted primarily by prominent Ex-Gators os Spuurier lineage who comprise a de facto  junta in Gville, has devolved from a general indictment of the offense, into pointed attacks on Mullen and surprisingly, the formerly untouchable Tebow.

In addition to spawning another week of verbally incontinent assaults on the Gators by the…err….more “rural-minded” fans ( PC enough Pierce?), allowing Arkansas any success at all Saturday will provide the national media with another reason to question this team and most importantly, will serve to undermine the confidence of the players heading into next week’s ostensible showdown with LSU.

Now, for those of you who view Saturday’s in October to be nothing more than a chance to down some barley-pops and check out this year’s crop of UF co-eds, the obvious pressure on the Gators, as 24-point road favorites coming off a shocking home loss, is incomprehensible.  Well this is the same way SNL feels about you when you show up at the tailgate with your sweater draped over your shoulders and loosely knotted in front of your soup-bowl chest. You know who you are “sweater-guy,”  you were among the ever-optimistic group shouting “a win is a win” from the rooftops after Florida’s seemingly one-sided wins over UT and UM. 

For the rest of us, who recognized early on that this year’s team was not without significant flaws, what was once a constructive bye week, has become more than a “must win,” it has become a veritable Waterloo for the Gators-on both sides of the ball.  And don’t think the players and coaches don’t know it. 

In retrospect, the pressure began before the season, when the national pundits heightened the expectations of this year’s Gator offense to a nearly unattainable level.  And, with each successive game, the failure to live up to the offensive expectations engendered a fear amongst Gator-backers that the offense might not be as good as advertised. These fears continued to crescendo following UM and UT, but were drowned out by the lofty ranking, (seemingly) much improved defense, and the unsubstantiated belief that the offense was employing a “rope-a-dope” tactic before opening up the big guns later in the year.  Following the Ole Miss game, even those most willing to swill copious amounts of Gator kool-aid have opened themselves to the possibility that this team is overrated.

The distillation of the foregoing facts has given rise to a dire situation this week as the Gators go on the road to play the SEC’s worst team.  The Gators are injured.  Arkansas has been blown out in consecutive weeks against top-5 foes, Alabama and Texas, but Petrino knows how to throw the ball.  And, like it or not Gator fans, Florida’s secondary and pass rush remain questionable and the offense is without direction or identity at this point. 

So, Gators, this Saturday can be summed up as follows:  The Gators  must play a perfect game against Arkansas to have a chance next week in The Swamp and this, my friends, is what is known as “pressure.” 

 -So Sayeth the Shepherd

Up Next:  Thursday’s Games

Photo courtesy of AP-wire