Vanderbilt vs. Florida: Gators Can Forget About Playing in a Bowl Game Now

It's been a sad season for Florida fans, and Saturday marks the end of that season. The Gators lost 34-17 to Vanderbilt, which will put an end to numerous streaks that folks in Gainesville should care about.

What do we start with first? The fact that Florida lost to a mediocre team that is made up mostly of future doctors and lawyers?

Alright.

But it gets much worse.

With Florida dropping to 4-5 on the season, this may be the first time in your lifetime where the Gators are a below-.500 team.

I guess there really is a first for everything.

But the streak that should bother Gator fans the most is that this is likely the first season since 1990 where Florida will miss out on a bowl appearance. That was Steve Spurrier's first season as head coach. That's when you could fill up your car without it breaking your wallet. Uh, those were the days Florida thought it would never see again.

It's the same song and dance with this team every week. The offense can't score, the defense looks depressed and isn't playing with the same edge and the coaches seem to have more questions than answers. Things changing with only three games remaining is highly unlikely.

With only four wins under their belt, the Gators need to win two more games to qualify for a bowl game. At this point, they'll take anything they can get. The AdvoCare V100 Bowl. The AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Anything is better than sitting at home for the holidays and staring a long offseason in the face.

The problem is that Florida will travel to South Carolina next week and will play what appears to be an unbeatable Florida State team at the end of the year. Even the Gators should be able to knock off Georgia Southern, but the Gamecocks and Seminoles are a completely different story.

Winning in South Carolina is never easy, and Florida has only done so twice out of the last four trips. Florida State is a national championship contender led by Heisman candidate quarterback Jameis Winston. If the Gators lost to Vanderbilt at home, they can pencil in losses against those two college football powerhouses.

An ugly season just got uglier.

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