Was Effort Vs Alabama Fool's Gold? Meanwhile, Rome Has Burned And Two Heads Have Rolled At UF.

Dan Mullen severed his ties with two loyal assistants and hopes to jumpstart the Gators. (Chris Spears Photo)

The near-win over Alabama provided camouflage for what was truly ailing this team and a blind eye was turned by all. First, no one had any indication at this point Florida would not be able to win on another team’s campus, but that is almost beside the point.

By CARLTON REESE

GatorBaitColumnist

He paid heed to the clamoring among us, we the self-anointed praetorian guard of UF football. And just like that, with the wave of his hand Dan Mullen has rid us all of that pesky nuisance named Todd Grantham, the first in a line of many scapegoats for what has turned a once-promising campaign into one that has the chaos of a burning Rome.

Instead of playing the lyre and reciting hisTroyad, Mullen has taken action to turn the tide of this conflagration by making the necessary sacrifices. We say farewell to the maligned defensive coordinator as well as offensive line coach John Hevesy, two coaches set afoot as means of a controlled burn around Mullen. For now, this takes some heat off Mullen, who is showing he can at least sever the ties of loyalty which has been among his trademarks – he and Hevesy have been together on coaching staffs for nearly all of the last 20 years. For Mullen to cut loose these two guys is a clear indication things may be even more rotten inside the program than even the most cynical of fans believe.

Heading to Lexington, the Gators were 3-1 after having just throttled Tennessee and nearly defeating top-ranked Alabama. Yes, there were chinks in the armor we noticed in victories over FAU and South Florida, but those were soon forgotten when a mere successful PAT could have spelled a win over the Tide. The consuls around Mullen seemed perfectly capable of delivering a serious run toward Atlanta and not a peep could be heard in the halls the Florida palatine nor among the jersey-clad plebeians.

So where did it all begin to break down? The near-win over Alabama provided camouflage for what was truly ailing this team and a blind eye was turned by all. First, no one had any indication at this point Florida would not be able to win on another team’s campus, but that is almost beside the point. The offensive line was too undisciplined to handle the crowd noise in Kentucky – keep in mind, the game was not played in Rupp Arena but in the friendly confines of Commonwealth Stadium, not exactly known for intimidating opposing teams. Defensively, Florida put together an effort that should have yielded a relatively easy win for a team under the guidance of an offensive mind as stout as Mullen’s.

The foundation was shaky heading into the Vanderbilt game, which despite the score, was not the dominating performance all would expect. Mullen himself fumed throughout the contest and even after.

Let us not forget that Grantham’s defensive woes were not the spark of this collapse – it was the offense. Not until the Gators traveled to Baton Rouge did the defense decide to contribute to the arson, and no one saw that coming.

Let none among us claim to be the soothsayer of this debacle.

Against Georgia, Grantham’s defense performed admirably despite the scoreboard showing 34 points for the opposition – we need not ponder the accounting for those points, except to merely point out that most of them were the fault of Florida’s offense.

Heading to South Carolina, then, there was no reason to suspect the defense would melt down the way it did against what may have been the second-worst offense faced by the Gators this season. Whatever goodwill Grantham had accumulated in a mostly-commendable season outside of the LSU vaporization, completely vanished in Columbia. No hapless offense such as the Gamecocks’ pushes a team around the way it did on Saturday night no matter who may have been sick during the week.

Grantham was safe before the visit to Columbia. All he needed was a mediocre performance from his squad and an offense to carry the team to victory in a game that should have been won by merely stepping safely off the bus.

That did not happen, and so Grantham and Hevesy are looking for work.

What transpires the rest of the season is perhaps the toughest guesswork of all: Surely a win over Samford can be expected, but does anyone feel confident about winning at Missouri or even at home against Florida State? As absurd as it seems, winning all three may come as surprise to most people.

And now that Rome has burned, everyone must understand that it cannot be rebuilt in a day. Everyone wants to be Alabama, but no school of Florida’s academic stature will ever be Alabama, nor should that even be a goal. The goal is to compete on an annual basis and be in the national conversation in a positive way. It’s not about creating a perpetual empire the Nick Saban way.

For now, Kirby Smart has his recruiting empire in Athens as does Saban in Tuscaloosa and Ryan Day in Columbus, Ohio. I doubt Mullen will ever get to that level no matter how good of a coach he is. But remember this: Saban is an unattainable measuring stick and Smart has never won the big one.

In time, all empires are destined to crumble with others rising to replace them. For the moment, there is little consolation in that notion, not when you’re 4-5 and firing assistants to satiate the bloodlust of a rabid fanbase and have not made any serious run at a championship since 2009. Nonetheless, it is time to rebuild, and Mullen has begun the process by bringing in the demolition crew. If he’s not careful, that wrecking ball will swing back in his direction, and sooner than he’d ever imagine.