College Football Rankings: Are the Florida Gators Legit?

The Florida Gators are supposed to be really good. Not just good, but really good. At least that's what the people who voted in the preseason polls thought.

The Gators received enough votes to be No. 4 in the AP top 25 and No. 3 in the USA Today poll. 

But the first week showed us that the rankings are wrong and the Florida Gators are drastically overrated.

The team in the first week was like a gator without it's bite; it just wasn't able to do much damage.

Generally the teams at the top schedule pushovers or tough games for their season opener. If they do the former they hope to win significantly and leave an impression of domination; if they do the latter they are expected to win a hard fought game. 

Alabama killed San Jose State. Ohio State destroyed Marshall. Boise State beat a tough, top ten ranked Virginia Tech squad. The Gators struggled against Miami, and not The U, but the Redhawks of Miami (Ohio) who went 1-11 last season. 

Which of those seems out of place to you?

The transition from a true legend of the game to a new quarterback is always a difficult one. This is especially true for John Brantley, who has to somehow fill the shoes left behind by Tim Tebow, one of the greatest college football players and leaders of all time. There was a great chance he would struggle. 

And struggle is exactly what he did. 

Brantley couldn't even get the center-quarterback exchange down. There were 13 poor snaps in the game, four of which led to fumbles. And the Gators still managed another four fumbles throughout the game. 

The new quarterback only managed to throw for 113 yards against the Redhawks defense, and they're not exactly talked about as having a stellar defensive unit. What is he going to be able to do if he plays like that against an SEC school?

In fact, the entire offense struggled for most of the game. The Gators only managed 212 yards, and 187 of those were in the final 13 minutes of the game. Deonte Thompson dropped an easy touchdown, continuing the problems he had with his hands last season.

Hell, even the Gators fans booed the offense. When was the last time you heard that happen?

Part of the problem is the expectations. Because Florida is historically a good program they are expected to compete every year, and thus they are placed high in the rankings. 

But the reality of the situation is, the Gators just aren't that good this year. It happens. Everyone needs to rebuild. 

This team has too much talent and Urban Meyer is too good of a coach for this to continue for long.  They'll probably be much better as soon as next week. But, the Florida Gators are not a top 10 football team right now and they definitely showed it on Saturday.