If You Don't Believe in Florida Yet, What More Do You Want?

Remember the Florida of old that was littered with questions, average at best and at least a year away from making any kind of noise in the SEC East?

Yeah, me neither.

That quarterback battle? Solved.

The offensive line woes? Fixed.

Maintaining that defensive success from the old staff to the new staff? Accomplished.

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Clearing a road test against divisional foe? Taken care of.

Name me a more complete team in college football than the 2015 Florida Gators. Utah certainly could be in that mix. Baylor should be, if you look past the weak schedule thus far and only focus on how well the Bears have played.

But Florida is on the list of the top teams in the country and again proved it should be there Saturday night in Columbia, Missouri, when it stymied the Tigers 21-3 in a game that was reminiscent of Gator wins of the glory days. The win makes Florida the SEC's first bowl-eligible team of the season.

Quarterback Will Grier tossed for 208 yards, running back Kelvin Taylor rushed for 99 and two scores and the offense didn't commit a turnover on the night.

The stingy Gator defense held Tiger quarterback Drew Lock and his crew to just 257 total yards with two interceptions. Jalen Tabor returned one for a touchdown, and Florida controlled the game from the opening whistle to the final gun.

The defense held Lock and the Tigers to 1-of-14 on third down and forced two turnovers on the night.

"I gotta tell you, I was really proud of that," head coach Jim McElwain told ESPN's Maria Taylor in the postgame interview. "We didn't play with great energy, and yet, sometimes you have to win games that way."

Think about that for a second. Florida won on the road over the two-time division champs with its "C" game. In years past, that would have resulted in the game getting sideways in ways that wouldn't please Gator fans.

This, on the heels of McElwain doing everything else right so far this year.

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Remember that offensive line? You know, the one that was decimated by graduation and early departure, used to block itself and was pieced together by McElwain this offseason by various means, including via graduate transfer?

All it has done is dominate Ole Miss' front seven in the trenches, control the talented Missouri line and transform itself from a liability into a potential power.

Remember the lack of playmakers outside? 

All Demarcus Robinson, Brandon Powell and Antonio Callaway have done is provide McElwain and first-year starting quarterback Will Grier multiple options who have proven they can perform when needed.

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Remember the quarterback issue? 

All Grier has done is take control of the job, toss 10 touchdowns with only three picks and stabilize a position that had been shaky ever since the Tim Tebow era ended in 2009.

Remember the talk all week that the game could be closer than the 6.5-point spread in favor of the Gators, the OddsShark.com-predicted score of 21.2-17.5 and a Missouri defense that would give Florida's new-look offense fits? 

That didn't happen.

If you aren't a believer in Florida yet, what more do you want the Gators to do? 

Beat LSU?

The two old-school cross-division foes will meet next week in Baton Rouge, with SEC supremacy perhaps on the line. LSU finally got a bit of a spark in the passing game this week against South Carolina, but Florida's secondary, led by Vernon Hargreaves III, Quincy Wilson and Jalen Tabor is slightly more challenging than the Gamecocks'.

Plus, this is a Florida team that can slow down star running back Leonard Fournette at least a little bit and put the game in the hands of quarterback Brandon Harris. If that happens, LSU will be out of its comfort zone and ripe for the picking.

A big win against LSU shouldn't have to happen in order to buy in to the Gators, though. They've answered every offseason question, improved weekly and are in a select group of teams nationwide that have actually gone out and proven they are complete on the field.

That should matter much more than ancillary talking points like perceived strength of schedule, the division in which they play and the manner in which they operate.

The 2015 Florida Gators have proven through six games that they are elite by the standards the season has dictated thus far. 

If not the Gators, who?

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 SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.