Florida coach Jim McElwain seemed surprised to hear that he is a combined 16-4 in one-possession games at Florida and Colorado State.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s pretty good. You’re right. I haven’t monitored it and yet, I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but whether it’s spring ball or fall camp or even during the season one day a week in practice, you practice those scenarios.”
McElwain said he picked up the practice from his former college coach.
“This goes all the way back to my head coach that I played for and coached with, Dick Zornes at Eastern Washington,” he said. “You actually practice those scenarios so you can tell your guys, ‘We’ve done it. We’ve practiced it.’
“I don’t know if that makes sense, but maybe that has something to do with it. I know that we put our teams through as many different ways to end a game in one shot. You have one shot. That’s it. Both offense and defense and special teams. I don’t know. Maybe that has something to do with it. Don’t credit me. Credit Coach Zornes.”
I’d rather see the Gators up 31-10 in the 4th quarter than having to win or lose on the last possession. The odds are 50-50 as opposed to about 99-1 with a comfortable lead.
The one being FSU in 1994.
So yeah it is fun to have a big lead but I tell you what. I was at the UT game. The first three quarters were a snooze fest. For all the bad I saw in the fourth quarter, I certainly never complained it was boring. If we are up 31-10 and keep trying to score then sure, that is a game I like. When we stop doing that (like in ’94) I almost don’t want to watch.
In Ron Zook’s final six losses as head coach, the Gators were ahead on the scoreboard with 2 minutes left in the game. We should’ve won at least half of those.
Just think, if we had won at least half of those, Zook probably would not have been fired when he was, and we would not have gotten Myer along with those two national championships.
I support Coach Mac. Stats prove he is winning the close ones and winning more than losing. We are spoiled. It will come but it may take time. Patience is a virtue.
Congratulations on those stunning one possession victories over ECU, Kentucky, Vandy (twice) and FAU in overtime. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.
Convenient that you didn’t mention the majority of those close wins Adam 🙂
I will take one score wins over the alternative we experienced so often with Mustychump, That is the best thing about this coach to date!
If Mac’s teams are winning in one score games, then how amazing will it be -when- they can run some teams outta’ the packed stadiums? I hope it all starts this weekend with the blue ‘Cats!
”There’s more than one way to skin a cat!” Go Gators! Work ’em silly!