COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It's not that Florida coach Will Muschamp didn't appreciate all the hype, the emotion, the external factors or even the complexity of football itself.
He did. He even said something about ruining the happy narrative of Texas A&M winning its first SEC game.
It's just that Muschamp did not see his No. 24 Gators' 20-17 win over Texas A&M on Saturday at Kyle Field as a feat of engineering or even one of athleticism.
He saw it as a mythbusting expedition.
"You can have an illusion these guys are a passing football team," Muschamp said of the Aggies and quarterback Johnny Manziel. "Really, they're not right now with Johnny."
And there it was. That was the game. Once you figured that out, you had the Aggies licked. Texas A&M (0-1, 0-1 SEC) gained 220 yards on its first three possessions, and at halftime led Florida (2-0, 1-0) in first downs (18-9), yards (269-101), offensive snaps 46-26) and points (17-10).
It was not until halftime that Muschamp successfully convinced his defensive linemen they didn't need to worry about their pass rush.
"We have a very aggressive front, and (the Aggies) had a good plan coming in with a quarterback that has legs," Muschamp said.
"They were going to invite us to run up the field and they were going to hit run creases. Finally at halftime I told them I'm firing you if you run upfield again. Sit on the line of scrimmage, squeeze blocks inside and quit running up the field. That's what they want you to do."
Guess what?
Texas A&M punted on all six second-half possessions, Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel hit one big pass play, a 39-yard sideline pattern to Omarius Hines that set up a go-ahead touchdown run by Mike Gillislee early in the fourth quarter, and that was that.
"We didn't have any run lanes in the second half," Muschamp said.
Of course, Florida still needed to score, and that looked like it was going to be a problem, too.
Driskell absorbed eight sacks, a few of them the result of an outright refusal to hurl the ball in a forward motion. Florida finished with just 165 passing yards (and 307 total), and Muschamp took the opportunity after the game to rather passionately hammer home the idea that this is not your older brother's Florida offense, and isn't going to be.
"We ran the ball well, we stayed balanced in the game and we moved the football," Muschamp said. "We're gonna have a lot of games like this. It's just who we are."
The whole thing had an air of confrontation to it, although Muschamp did not mention any specific combatant.
"Sometimes you have to put your realistic glasses on," he said.
And yet there came that moment when Florida had to do what Texas A&M either could not do, or did not dare try with a freshman quarterback. The Gators called a long-developing pass play designed to push the ball downfield.
It was quite a proposition, given the way the game had gone, what with Texas A&M in Florida's backfield all day and Driskel reluctant to let it fly. It was second-and-5 from the Florida 43 when UF called a play that would send Hines deep and wide. Texas A&M still had a 17-13 lead.
"This is a deeper route," Driskel told his linemen in the huddle. "We need firm protection."
He got it.
"He was one-on-one and I saw a guy running with his back to me," Driskel said. "I just laid it out there for him."
It was the game's defining play and a big moment for Driskel, a sophomore who has his share of doubters. He did not dazzle anyone with his stat line – 13-for-16 for 162 yards – but he did not turn over the ball, and when it came time to make a play, he made one.
So Florida left a big orange-and-blue stain on the carpet at Texas A&M's SEC welcome party, and Florida did not apologize.
"Everybody wanted a glory story with A&M," Muschamp said, "and they didn't get it."
