They are what they are — unbeaten

Yeah, I know.

I've written this column before, too.

Certainly, we've seen this game before.

With the same result.

Florida won ... again. That's 19 in a row.

Florida was predictable on offense at times ... again. Sometimes it was downright hard to watch.

The defense dominated ... again. That's five of nine games the defense has not allowed an offensive touchdown.

Did I mention that Florida won again?

After a feel-bad week, Gator fans came to the wrong place for a feel-good night. You want big plays, smooth offense and big scores? Go watch some other team.

You want to win more than any team has over the last two seasons? You're in the right stadium.

But winning with grace and beauty and highlight-reel stuff, people, it's just not going to happen for this team. Oh, there are going to be drives, going to be quarters where this team looks sharp on offense. It's just not going to be every drive or every quarter.

Sure, on this beautiful night, Urban Meyer found his offense. Unfortunately, it was dressed in street clothes as Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy watched from the sidelines.

"We're still lacking the big-play production in our offense," Meyer said. "We didn't have any home-run shots."

There was the one big play, but it didn't come until a good chunk of fans had left. Tim Tebow hit Aaron Hernandez, and the big tight end rambled and stiff-armed his way to a 64-yard gain with 5:20 to play.

That drive ended with zero points.

It's just the way it is with this team.

Deal with it. In fact, embrace it.

Hey, I know. When Vanderbilt kicked a field goal midway through the third quarter, it made a lot of fans nervous ... again. Florida was a strip or a tipped ball away from being in a game with a 2-7 team at home.

But then we saw this Gator team's identity. When the Gators had to score, they did.

When they needed a drive, they got it.

When Tebow had to be Tebow, he was.

He threw for 35 yards and rushed for 19 on the drive, overcame another sack, got three yards on fourth-and-1 and bulled in for the score from a yard out. And the way Florida's defense was playing against a bad offense with a backup quarterback, that was that. It was 20-3, and it might as well have been 200-3.

"We're going to be happy to be 9-and-0," Tebow said. "There aren't a lot of teams who are 9-and-0. What I'm proud of my teammates is that when we've needed to have a drive or when we've needed to put the ball in the end zone, we've done it."

Of course, everybody wants a well-oiled offensive machine that goes up and down the field and scores half-a-hundred on everybody. This is not that offense. It's not a great offensive line, there is a lack of big-play receivers, the quarterback holds the ball too long and defenses in this league are as good as ever. And those defenses have had three years of Tebow video to dissect.

These Gators are what they are.

Unbeaten.

Even if sometimes they feel unloved.

"To those people in that room, it's not ho-hum," said Meyer, pointing to a celebratory locker room. "19-and-0. I don't ever want to take anything away from what those cats have done."

Nobody should. These are unchartered waters for a Florida football team. They are also shark-infested. If this team survived this week, it can survive anything.

"It's been a week of stuff," Meyer said. "It's been a year of stuff."

Alabama is now officially on the schedule. South Carolina awaits on Saturday. The jar is running low on marbles.

That's all you know for sure.

That's all you need to know.