Oliver Barry CRS, GRI
Begin forwarded message:
From: Shane Ford <goufgators@bellsouth.net>
Date: November 19, 2016 at 8:22:29 PM CST
To: GatorNews <gatornews@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Dooley: Gators earn stunning W
Reply-To: gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com
--Dooley: Gators earn stunning W
Florida head coach Jim McElwain walks on the field before an NCAA college football game against LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The Associated PressPublished: Saturday, November 19, 2016 at 6:44 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, November 19, 2016 at 6:44 p.m.
BATON ROUGE, La. — In the same south end zone where they just had to defend their manhood one last time, Florida players were now enjoying a celebration that could be felt all the way back in Gainesville.
David Sharpe and Lamical Perine were waving oversized flags. Cece Jefferson was hugging Gator fans at the fence. Austin Appleby tossed his wristbands into the orange and blue crowd.
And they sang.
Boy, did they sing.
"... the orange and blue VICTOOOOORIOUS!"
This was more than a victory over a team that Florida's players, fans, coaches and just about everybody not an LSU fan felt disrespected UF, right up to the skirmish on the field before the game.
So much more.
"To win the East on a goal-line stand, crazy," said Caleb Brantley. "It's the greatest feeling in the world."
They were having their fun Saturday afternoon for so many reasons. It wasn't just that they won. It was the way they won. It wasn't just that they won the East. It was that they did it by going on the road and beating an LSU team that accused them of being scared.
"We were terrified of them boys," said Jalen Tabor with a straight face. "I guess out of fear, we just fought back."
You can understand why this team celebrated this win with so much gusto. The game was taken from them and put in someone else's backyard. And then the people who took it added insults to the injury.
Seriously, I don't think I've seen a happier Florida football team and I covered three national championship games.
"It feels sooo good," said Jefferson. "I love these guys."
There was a lot of love being passed around after a fistfight came down to one last punch. Florida punched harder, stopping Derrius Guice just short of what would have been a stadium-rattling touchdown.
You remember Guice. The guy who said the Gators "can't run no more." Oh, they were running. All around your end zone as LSU fans grumpily stormed the exits.
Hey, Joe Alleva. How's that two-for-one deal looking now?
"It just shocks me that somebody would question the Gators," Florida coach Jim McElwain said. "The way I look at it, they got what they deserved. And it should have been worse."
This was a huge win for McElwain because of what it means. You certainly could question some of the calls in the game — like the pivoting pitch on third-and-inches at the goal line and not going for the jugular after the fumbled kickoff return.
Heck, even he questioned that pitch.
"We were denting them pretty good," McElwain said. "And we should have kept denting them."
But all I know is that he has won the East in each of his first two years and the last guy to win two in a row was on the phone minutes after the game in a pretty dang good mood.
Who in the Gator Nation wasn't?
The head coach certainly was, lecturing us after the game about his football team and even making sure the people back home know how to go up I-75.
"I'm happy for Gator fans who don't think we're very good, but all we do is end up back in Atlanta," McElwain said.
Meanwhile in Knoxville, people were being talked off ledges. And In Baton Rouge, that loud thud you heard was Tiger fans jumping off the Ed Orgeron bandwagon.
On the final play, Guice ran the wrong way. This was after LSU called timeout to set it up.
That goes on your resume, bro.
Because of a defense that learned how to move on to the next play, Florida is going to Atlanta. Because of the second longest touchdown pass in school history, Florida is going to Atlanta. Because of a kicker who shook off a rough week and a swirling wind, Florida is going to Atlanta.
And because of a running back who has emerged from a four-pack to become a 100-yards-a-game machine, an offensive line that overcame injuries and questions about their effectiveness, defenders like Marcell Harris and David Reese who combined for 23 tackles, Florida's season has been extended a week.
Considering the two home games they lost, that feels like justice.
The Gators, too, got what they deserved.
Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at pat.dooley@gvillesun.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.
Sent From Shane's iPhoneGo Gators! & Skål Vikes!ALPCA #8756Europlate #1045
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GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY!
1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions |
Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007)
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