Right now, you probably read the headline and pulled a full-on Jim Mora.
“Playoffs? Don’t talk about—playoffs?! You kidding me? Playoffs?!“
No I’m not kidding you, Jim. Dan Mullen’s already said his team’ll worry about the Playoff “after we win” which in itself is a lot to unpack. But those of us who don’t coach football own the luxury of thinking about it whenever we want and writing about it. Because what else am I going to do?
Look, people were skeptical of Florida making the Playoff in general seeing as that road goes through Tuscaloosa East (Atlanta). It’s now a laughable notion even if Florida beats the Tide after LSU gave the Gators A) a bad loss on the resume and B) their second loss overall this season.
If the Gators win beat Alabama, according to my calculation, these are the teams Florida probably needs to lose on Championship Saturday:
- No. 3 Clemson (vs. No. 2 Notre Dame in ACC Championship)
- No. 4 Ohio State (vs. No. 14 Northwestern in Big Ten Championship)
- No. 5 Texas A&M (@ Tennessee)
- No. 6 Iowa State (vs. No. 10 Oklahoma in Big 12 Championship)
You see, Florida’s season is a lot like the movie “Speed” starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. The Gators were barreling along at 50 miles an hour trying to keep the bomb from exploding. The bomb being their chances at the CFP.
The Gators losing to A&M on the road is like when Sam, the bus driver, gets injured by a stray bullet. It hurt and put them on shaky footing but they were still “safe.” By the way, yes Kyle Trask is Sandra Bullock in this scenario. Beating Georgia and winning the East is when they finally got Sam off the bus to get medical attention for his wound.
Then, while everyone was celebrating, Helen happened. She tried to get off the bus after Sam made it, triggering a smaller bomb on it. And things turned real grim but the bigger bomb didn’t go off somehow. That scene = the loss to LSU and the committee dropping the Gators one spot.
Now we’re at the part where the passengers discover the stretch of highway they’re on is incomplete and they’ll have to jump the gap with the bus. That’s the SEC title game. Almost an impossibility it ends well.
But, just like Keanu and Co., if Florida “makes this jump” it’s still not out of the woods. They’ll still need to rely on getting to the airport, successfully fooling Howard Payne, getting all the passengers off before he realizes and then escaping the bus before it’s engulfed in flames. And all that is equivalent to Florida getting a ton of help by the above teams and the CFP committee.
A win over the Tide means the Gator resume looks like this: wins over Alabama and Georgia with losses to TAMU and LSU plus the SEC title and a 9-2 record against an all-SEC schedule. Obviously the two losses will severely hold Florida back. That’s why it needs so much help.
No I’m not trying to peddle hope or even hold it out. I just like chaos and what-if scenarios. I’m down for the Gators to play spoiler. So, let’s get weird.