Is Florida a Dark Horse to Win the SEC East?

By now, you've read all of the preview magazines, seen the conference preview television shows and analyzed every predicted order of finish on the Internet.

One question that pops up out of nowhere in the SEC East is, "where's Florida?"

Head coach Jim McElwain's first Gator team seems to get lost in the wash in a division that includes a talent-laden Georgia team, the ever-growing Tennessee bandwagon (which I'm driving, or at least riding shotgun) and the two-time defending division champion Missouri.

Rob Foldy/Getty Images

Should they, though?

For now, yes.

In the age of instant gratification in a sport that has seen several high-profile coaches like Urban Meyer, Gus Malzahn, Nick Saban and others lead their teams to success quickly, McElwain's biggest opponent in 2015 might not be Georgia, LSU or Florida State. It's expectations.

Winning the division shouldn't be the goal for the Gators. The two primary goals for Florida should be to keep the defense at or close to the level it was playing under the former regime while establishing some kind of identity offensively.

McElwain knows just how important that second point is.

With a quarterback battle that will rage into the season, an offensive line that was pieced together in the offseason, the injury to stud freshman tackle Martez Ivey that will keep him out early in the season and the absence of an established playmaker opposite of wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, that identity is still up in the air.

"For us going in, to discover some explosive playmakers; guys who can stretch the field and picking our time to take those shots," McElwain said in quotes emailed by Florida. "One of the things that we stress is putting the ball down the field vertically and not worry as much horizontally and to do that, consistency and performance is something that we have got to find out."

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The Game 1 depth chart, though, does include former FCS (Fordham) All-American transfer Mason Halter and also guard Trip Thurman, who has been slowed all offseason with a shoulder injury. Those two players will be a big part of the battle in the trenches when Ivey comes back (and wherever he plays), so the quest for an identity won't be hampered all that much with Ivey's absence.

As for quarterback, McElwain has stated that both redshirt freshman Will Grier and true sophomore dual-threat Treon Harris will play in the opener vs. New Mexico State. How that rotation will (or in this case, won't) be implemented, should speak volumes.

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McElwain says there is no determination yet how the QBs will split time in the game. Will share reps today.

— Gators Football (@GatorsFB) August 31, 2015"

It's going to be a season of feel for McElwain. As he gets into games, expect him to roll with the hot hand at quarterback, play the guy who exploits favorable matchups game to game and series to series and rotate as needed. Of course, Grier eventually will be the guy and likely will be considered the "starter" for the majority of the season, while Harris is more focused on making an impact on the ground.

Because McElwain will likely push buttons with his quarterbacks all season, Florida is much more of a wild card than other teams in the SEC East.

If he pushes the right ones, Florida is capable of beating anybody in the SEC. After all, this is the same team that throttled Georgia 38-20 last year in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the score indicated. Pushing them all—or enough of them to get into legitimate SEC East contention—is too much to ask in Year 1 for McElwain though.

The 2016 season is one in which Florida will contend for an SEC East title. In the meantime, though, that defense is going to be a beast for the 2015 contenders to deal with.

Because of that, Florida could have a huge impact on which contender wins it this year while it prepares to make a run at that title itself in 2016.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93 XM 208. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.