For The First Time Since The Tim Tebow Era, Florida Is Showing Promise

Seven years ago, after Florida lost to Ole Miss in a shocking upset, Gators quarterback Tim Tebow gave his famous "Promise Speech"—vowing that nobody in the country would play harder for the rest of the season, and that Florida would never lose a game like that again.

Tebow was prophetic: Florida blew through the rest of its schedule, beating No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Oklahoma en route to a national championship.

Much changed since then. Following one more season of dominance, the Florida dynasty regressed. Citing burnout and health issues, coach Urban Meyer left the program. His successor, Will Muschamp, went a combined 11-12 over the last two regular seasons, leading to his firing after the 2014 season.

But Saturday night, the 4-0 Gators won an inverted version of the famous Tebow speech game. In another stunner, a flu-stricken Gators team absolutely dominated No. 3 Ole Miss, 38-10. This is the same Ole Miss that won at Alabama and has the hardest-hitting defense in the country.

No surprise, then, that Florida is now ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll, shoving its way into College Football Playoff contention.

The SEC schedule is a meat grinder, and odds are that this won't last. The Gators still have to play LSU and Georgia on the road and Florida State at home. But even if Florida doesn't reach the playoff or win the national championship, it's safe to say that the school is good at football again and will be for quite some time. The bigger question is why the Gators ever struggled in the first place.

In a dominant era for the SEC, it always was surprising that Florida—the East Division's historically most impressive team, and a major contributor to the conference's overall rise—wasn't a consistent contender. Over the past five years, the Gators made only one top bowl game — which they promptly lost — and developed a reputation as a program that wildly screwed things up at any time.

Talent has never been the issue. Despite its on-field woes, Florida continued to recruit at an elite level. Moreover, Muschamp's defenses lived up to both their on-paper billing and his considerable defensive acumen, almost always keeping the Gators in games. Problem was, the offense was hardly ever good enough to win those games.

In his first year as head coach, Jim McElwain—who revived Colorado State's program and ran Alabama's offense—seems to have figured out how to score, while still benefitting from a dominant defense. Against Ole Miss, quarterback Will Grier was sick with the flu. He threw four touchdown passes anyway.

Quarterback has been the biggest factor for Florida's offense since the Tebow era, and Grier is the best freshman quarterback Florida has had since 2010. The numbers don't lie: Grier has a 10-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and his passer rating is higher than any Gators quarterback—Jeff Driskel, Treon Harris, John Brantley, Tyler Murphy … sorry for the horrors, Florida fans—since Tebow.

Florida isn't spectacular on offense, ranking just 38th in offensive efficiency according to Football Outsiders. But the Gators don't need to be spectacular. They just need to be competent, and explosive enough to give their defense some margin for error. Will that be enough to reach the playoff at some point during Grier's tenure? Probably. Is this the year? Probably not.

Keep in mind: Florida snuck past Kentucky and pulled out a miracle win against Tennessee because of the Vols' incompetence—the Gators could easily be 3-2—and just because they dominated Ole Miss doesn't mean they'll play that well every week. As good as Grier and McElwain have been so far, a freshman quarterback and first-year head coach are bound to experience growing pains. Running the table against Alabama, Georgia and Florida State is likely too much to ask.

Still, Saturday's blowout win showed what Florida can accomplish with a halfway decent offense, and what the Gators consistently could accomplish in the future. For the first time since the Tebow era, the program isn't just showing promise—it appears capable of keeping promises, too.