Will Grier's Stellar Play vs. Ole Miss Boosts Florida into Playoff Conversation

Florida quarterback Will Grier played the game of his life against Ole Miss on Saturday, leading the Gators to a 38-10 upset and helping them stake their claim as legitimate SEC contenders and—yeah, let's say it—threats to make the College Football Playoff.

The redshirt freshman completed 17 of 20 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns in the first half and finished with a QB rating of 206.8. After starting the year No. 1b on the depth chart behind sophomore Treon Harris, he has wrested away the starting job and developed into one of the SEC's top quarterbacks.

Florida's defense looked stout as always, swarming to the ball and forcing key turnovers, but in Gainesville that's nothing new. What's new (or at least long overdue) is an offense fit to carry its weight.

Say goodbye to Big Dumb Will Muschamp football; Grier and head coach Jim McElwain have already restored this program to prominence.

Even after starting 4-0, Grier hadn't won the starting job for good.

He improved each week and essentially locked it down after leading the comeback win over Tennessee, but McElwain still wouldn't pull the trigger.

"I thought Will did some real good things in the [Tennessee] game, but there’s some things he’s got to get better at, too," he said earlier this week, per Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel. "There were a lot of drives there that weren’t executed, so we’ve got a long ways to go."

It's amazing how quickly the Gators covered ground and turned that "long ways to go" into a high-functioning machine. The offense that took the field Saturday was the Platonic realization of McElwain's pro-style scheme.

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More than just one player deserves credit. Demarcus Robinson played like a No. 1 receiver. Brandon Powell turned a quick slant into a 77-yard score. The offensive line held its own against Ole Miss' front seven.

But the maestro of the effort was Grier, who tied those performances together like the hub of a bike wheel. He continued to prove his toughness by playing through the flu, and he performed even better than his most passionate defenders could have dreamed.

Despite his ranking as the No. 2 pro-style passer and No. 48 overall player in the 2014 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings, Grier came to Gainesville with a complicated reputation. He played subpar competition in high school, which threw his gaudy numbers into doubt. Combine that with taking a redshirt in 2014 and a tepid start to 2015, and he was inching toward becoming a recruiting bust.

Saturday's performance was just one game, but it felt like the culmination of months. Grier has climbed past Harris, gradually gained confidence, acquitted himself in big situations and slowly become the best Gators quarterback since Tim Tebow.

"Will Grier's decision making and accuracy have been so impressive tonight," tweeted Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus. "So much better than last week against Tennessee."

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Because of Grier's emergence, it's officially time to recalibrate Florida's ceiling. How far can this team really go?

The answer might lie in a game of Transitive Property. The Gators just beat Ole Miss by 28 points; Ole Miss beat preseason SEC favorite Alabama by six points; Alabama beat preseason SEC East favorite Georgia by 28 points.

Which team on that list can't Florida beat?

Even after losing Muschamp and defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, this defense remains one of the best in college football. It played its first game near full strength against the Rebels and held an offense averaging 54.6 points per game to just one measly field goal before garbage time.

Florida also has the benefit of a navigable schedule. Its only remaining true road games are at Missouri, LSU and South Carolina. It plays Georgia on a neutral field and hosts Florida State in the regular-season finale, but that's still (by SEC standards) pretty good.

What Florida did to Ole Miss sent a message that reverberates nationally: The Gators are back and mean business; they have a quarterback, a defense and a purpose; they can beat any team in the country, and with Grier they can make those beatings ugly.

Hope you got your kicks in when they were down.

The Gators have official risen.

Brian Leigh covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter at @BLeigh35