Florida football coach Urban Meyer might not want to hear this, but ...
This is it. The season Florida fans have been waiting for. The long-awaited "Year of the Gator."
All of the pieces are in place -- the legend-in-the-making coach, the larger-than-life quarterback, the laugh-out-loud schedule -- for this particular Gainesville Gang to go where no Gators football team has gone before.
All the way.
Undefeated. Unchallenged. Undaunted by the expectations of greatness.
On Saturday, against a ridiculously overmatched opponent, playing in The Swamp's sweltering heat and humidity, these Gators will take their first sweat-soaked step toward what should be Florida's first perfect season. And then some.
Recruited, trained and commanded by Urban Meyer, led into battle by senior quarterback Tim Tebow, these Gators are set up to do more than win championships. They're ready to dominate the college football world. They're poised to make history.
There's nobody on their schedule good enough to stop them as they chase their third national title in four years. Really, there's nobody on their schedule good enough to stay close.
Not Tennessee, which comes to Gainesville with a new coach and new plan, only to go home with the same result. Not LSU, even in that madhouse in the Bayou. Certainly not Georgia, which can't seem to win in Jacksonville, even when the Bulldogs have the better team.
That mid-November trip to South Carolina? Steve Spurrier is going to wish he had never left his alma mater, if he hasn't already.
Then there's the annual, regular-season finale against archrival Florida State. The Seminoles have high hopes of recapturing their lost glory this season and might even take a run at the Atlantic Coast Conference title. But there's no way they take down Florida at The Swamp.
Not this year.
Truth is, the Gators should crush their three non-conference patsies -- Charleston Southern, Troy and Florida International, all of which will be well paid to show up in Gainesville and take a beating.
They should win convincingly against an improved Florida State. They should roll through their Southeastern Conference schedule and on to the SEC Championship Game, where the opponent shouldn't matter.
With Meyer running the show and Tebow running the plays, Florida probably could play Ole Miss at noon and Alabama at night and beat them both on the same day.
OK, I'm exaggerating ... but not much.
Because the Gators are THAT good.
As for those Ole Miss fans emboldened by the Rebels' stunning, one-point upset of Florida last season ... You saw how Tebow responded, playing like a man on a mission, leading the Gators to 10 consecutive victories and a national championship. You know he hasn't forgotten.
And Tebow, who has that rare ability to lift the play of his teammates, is the key.
The most unstoppable force in college football, he won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and should've won a second last season, when he passed for 2,746 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushed for 673 yards and 12 touchdowns. Deservedly, he's among the preseason favorites to win it again this year -- and you've got to like his chances if he gets the Gators back to the title bout, where I wouldn't bet against them.
So it's all there in front of them, Meyer and Tebow and the rest of the Gators, who return all 11 starters from a defense that allowed only 12.9 point per game and an offense that averaged 43.6 points per game last season.
Another national championship. Another Heisman. A perfect season.
This is their shot at history.
This is their year.
(Ray McNulty is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida. This column reflects his opinion. He can be reached at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com.)
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