“This game is good for the state.”

If ever there was a bowl game ripe for a “didn’t show up” effort, buddy, you’d have to think it was this one:

The Florida Gators are in a bowl game this year — barely.

Florida (6-6) will play in-state rival UCF (8-4) in the Gasparilla Bowl on Thursday in Tampa.

… The current Gators squad has some issues, though. Defensive end Zachary Carter, who led the team with eight sacks, declared for the NFL Draft and will skip the bowl game. He was a team leader and Florida’s most physical player.

Quarterback Anthony Richardson, a Gators fan favorite, will not play due to a knee injury. Quarterback Emory Jones will play, but he has announced he will enter the transfer portal after the game.

Pregame scuttlebutt makes it sound like the Gators are a bunch raring to go.

As time grows nearer to the game on Thursday, there’s simply been no indication from anyone not definitively in only a position of “positive spin only” or risk being fired or reprimanded, i.e. Florida coaches that have commented about the Florida players prior to the game.

In short, it’s been quiet. Too quiet. Experience should tell people that many of the Gators on the current roster may not be 100% invested in this game.

Some of the players are still trying to figure out when they will know their new position coach (may not happen until some point in January for many of them), or if they might transfer. That’s not a positive situation with a football game to be played in four days.

It’s not just the players, either.

Malzahn said preparing for the Gators is difficult due to Florida’s coaching situation. Running backs coach/special teams coordinator Greg Knox will run the Gators on an interim basis, but what that means in regards to schemes could be difficult to decipher.

“We will do our best trying to predict who is going to coach,” Malzahn said, “but we know they have excellent players.”

As far as UCF goes, “We’re expecting our full team.”

The irony here being that Gus himself was on the losing end of a team not showing up to play Central Florida.  Should be fun!

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