GAINESVILLE<\/p>\n
Florida football (2-0) welcomed an FCS team, Campbell (2-1), that only mustered two wins a year ago. The result: Florida, a lot; Campbell, a little. (For reporting purposes, this is required to mention that the score was actually 52-3.) A win, surely, is quite nice. Whether it meant anything is debatable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re 1-0 this week,\u201d coach Jon Sumrall forced out, \u201cwhich I\u2019m pleased with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of late, though, this type of lovey-dovey fantasia is all Power 4 schools want. In 2026, a single pair of ranked teams from different conferences will play in September (applause, Ohio State and Texas). In the sport\u2019s modern era, there has never been a year with so few ranked nonconference games. This drag is the result of an expanded CFP, which proved the benefit of a strong nonconference win was no longer worth the gamble of an otherwise avoidable loss.<\/p>\n
To Florida\u2019s credit, it played a more challenging nonconference schedule than most SEC teams each of the previous four years, scheduling Miami and Utah. Annually, Florida State marks its final regular-season slot. Under a new coach and implementing a new offense and defense, the Campbells of the world, not to be undersold, don\u2019t provide much of a push before SEC play. Not all points are created equal, and the exchange rate of the 53 someone put up against Campbell is steep when visiting, say, Auburn in a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we play like we did in the second half, we\u2019re about to have a real rude awakening,\u201d Sumrall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re about to walk into in conference play?\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019ll get embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you felt we had an explosive play, well, there\u2019s another penalty flag,\u201d he mused. \u201cThe Gators can\u2019t beat the Gators.\u201d<\/p>\n
To measure a game, though, is ultimately difficult business.<\/p>\n
Take Florida\u2019s first drive of the afternoon. Nine plays, 56 hard-earned yards, before quarterback Aaron Philo rushed for a 3-yard touchdown. The Gators even needed a fourth-and-1 conversion around midfield to get there. Those reps, as ugly as they may have been, carried worth. Florida\u2019s new starter, Philo, found himself in a few new situations before opening up for 242 yards, two touchdowns and only five incompletions.<\/p>\n
Similarly, in the second quarter, receiver Vernell Brown III buzzed to the left, then the right on a 64-yard sprint, which marked the school\u2019s first punt return touchdown since 2020. Under Florida\u2019s last coach, Billy Napier, special teams became so porous that students developed bar games around counting if he had the correct number of players on the field. Then Brown scored on a punt once more. When debating if anyone touched him: \u201cAlmost don\u2019t count,\u201d he said. Did he get touched? \u201cGood question.\u201d A third touchdown, through the air, this time, for a man who led Florida in receiving a year ago but never once scored \u2014 valuable reps.<\/p>\n
Less so: running back Jadan Baugh, who finished with 136 yards after inexplicably coming back out in the second half, scoring a second touchdown from 75 yards while already leading by \u2026 42. Worse, but meaningful: Campbell assembling a 63-yard opening drive for a field goal against Florida\u2019s starters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coaches, they lead us. But the team\u2019s always player-led,\u201d receiver Dallas Wilson explained, who finished with 106 yards and six, somewhat valuable, points on a 40-yard score. \u201cWe had too many mental mistakes out there. As good as a team we are, we got to keep those things out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
While surveying the damage, Sumrall was approached.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d a player, who committed one of Florida\u2019s eight penalties, told him in the locker room postgame.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. Good. You should be,\u201d he responded, no matter the 49-point rout. \u201cWe have to get better,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019m a little uneasy with where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
This game, in the grand image of Florida\u2019s past and future, could prove worthless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE Florida football (2-0) welcomed an FCS team, Campbell (2-1), that only mustered two wins a year ago.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-398457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}