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GATORS COLUMN

The Secret Is Out: Gators Are Exposed

By MICK ELLIOTT

Published: Sep 30, 2007

GAINESVILLE - With the nation watching, the Florida Gators were exposed Saturday night.

Courtesy of the underdog Auburn Tigers, every flaw, mark and weakness of Florida's previously undefeated team was bared for the college football world to see.

No. 4-ranked Florida was beaten and beat down. Forget airbrushing any imperfections. To cover the scars left on this night, the Gators will need a five-gallon bucket of spackling.

The 3-2 Tigers, with losses at home to South Florida and Mississippi State, came to The Swamp for their first road game and jumped on the Gators like they were a welcome mat.

And just like No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 5 West Virginia, No. 7 Texas and No. 10 Rutgers before them, Florida fell victim to a crazy, zany week of college football.

"I'm sick to my stomach," Coach Urban Meyer said. "Not by the effort but from the loss. It [stinks]."

Nothing worked as planned. The team that was averaging 49 points and 500 yards of offense per game was held to 17 points and defeated by a last-second field goal. Tim Tebow wasn't Superman. The offense wasn't in shape. Running backs couldn't run.

"At no point during that game did I feel like we were blocking well enough to hand them the ball," Meyer said.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

On the Tigers' opening possession, they had pass plays of 16, 21 and 13 yards during a 14-play, 84-yard touchdown drive. A second-quarter 80-yard scoring march used 10 plays, including completions of 22 and 25 yards.

Auburn led 14-0 at halftime.

"It's never good to be shut out for a half," Tebow said.

Auburn led 17-3 at the end of three quarters.

"I thought we could come back and win the game," Meyer said. "But we didn't do it."

Not Much To See

Hadn't Florida already mistreated Wilber Marshall enough? The former All-American linebacker who did amazing things for Florida from 1980-83 was left out last year when Florida unveiled its Ring of Honor. He was brought back on this night to correct the oversight during a ceremony prior to kickoff. Too bad he had to be present.

Florida has known it has problems with pass defense, particularly at cornerback and safety. Meyer would not even mention players by name early in the week, mentioning only "the free safety position."

With two freshmen and a sophomore in its defensive secondary, Florida lined up against Auburn with the 10th-rated pass defense in the SEC. It didn't improve.

The shocker, however, was a Florida offense, the SEC's most-productive attack, last seen going nowhere.

That Florida rallied with two final-quarter touchdowns to fight its way into a 17-17 tie was more surprising than Auburn's Wes Byrum drilling a 43-yard field goal with three seconds left to win. That he did it twice only added an exclamation point.

Only Putting It Off

Florida only postponed the inevitable when Meyer called its final timeout just before the snap on Byrum's first kick. Auburn players had already rushed the field in celebration before realizing time had been called, but there would be no psychological strike. Auburn only lined up and did it again.

"It was heartbreaking," Tebow said. "It's hard to put into words."

Now the Gators visit second-ranked LSU on Saturday before a week off to prepare for back-to-back games at No. 14 Kentucky and against No. 15 Georgia in Jacksonville. Those three opponents have a combined 14-1 record.

"We got to get better starting tomorrow - go back to the drawing board," Tebow said.

"We've got great leaders to bounce back and get ready for LSU."

It won't be easy.

The Gators have no secrets.