Lopresti: Don't call these Gators 'soft' anymore

• LSU put 41 on Florida last year
• Gators respond to being called 'soft' by coach
• Teams combined for 19 pass completions, 14 punts

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The coach called them soft. Will Muschamp stood right up there in front of his first Florida team last January -- after a 7-6 season that included several second-half fades -- and called the Gators soft to their faces.

That is what stuck with them all offseason, through the work and the sweat and the hours in the weight room. That is what made them feel so good about what happened Saturday in the Swamp.

Not just the fact they crunched LSU and its No. 3 ranking, but how.

And not just the fact they are now 5-0, but why.

"We kind of took that to heart," guard James Wilson was saying Saturday night, after the 11th-ranked Gators took care of LSU in the way a steamroller takes care of asphalt pavement. "No one likes to be called soft. You don't play at Florida if you're soft."

Behold a Florida revival. You looked on the sideline to see if Urban Meyer were pacing. You looked into the huddle to see if Tim Tebow were there. The old days and the old thunder and the old swagger returned to the Swamp Saturday.

Are the Gators back? Can't tell that for sure until they spend a little more time out in the dangerous world of the SEC. But the 14-6 stuffing of LSU made it plain enough that this is Muschamp's Florida program now, and the pains of transition are over.

Things have changed with the Gators. There is nothing unsubtle in how.

"We've beaten it into their head that last year in SEC games, we were outscored 72-22," Muschamp said. "That's something that has been pounded into their head. As competitors, you respond to those things. We've got some guys who don't like to hear that. They've taken it personal.

"When you take something personal, sometimes you get pretty good results."

This is not soft: The Gators have trailed Texas A&M, Tennessee and LSU at halftime this season. Three SEC games sliding toward the dark side. They outscored all three 51-6 in the second half. They have not given up a point to anyone in the fourth quarter.

This is not soft: Their last 24 plays from scrimmage Saturday were on the ground. They rushed 58 times for the game. LSU ran 50 total plays and had but eight first downs.

This is not soft: LSU put 41 points on Florida last season. Saturday night, the Tigers managed two field goals.

Play tougher. Play harder. Play longer. Surely Muschamp preached that all week?

"Three-hundred and sixty-five days," he corrected.

And why?

"Were you in Baton Rouge last year?"

He talks of a team with confidence growing in concert with its bench press totals. He talks of having more believers. You could hear it around the Florida room.

From Wilson, "We had a standard we had to pick up and get back to where Florida's supposed to be."

From tackle Jonotthan Harrsion, "We kept it in our mindset we were going to be the first one to swing and we were going to be the last one to swing."

From defensive back Matt Elam, whose forced fumble after a long LSU completion was the defensive turning point of the game, "That's what we didn't do last year, finish. You've got to be able to finish in the SEC.

"We grind and we grind and we grind."

So said the man with a pink gator on his shirt, in honor of a sister fighting breast cancer.

There were only 19 pass completions the entire game by both teams, 14 punts and nine sacks. Baylor-West Virginia, it wasn't.

"That was typical 1980 SEC right there today," said Muschamp, who was all of 9 years old in 1980. "It was a physical, physical match because both lines of scrimmage were going to put pressure on the quarterback. That's the difference in playing in this league and these other leagues you watch on TV."

And the No. 3 team they hammered? LSU not only remains an enigma, it is now a one-loss enigma. A team that can stop anyone. But the best way it moves the ball up and down the field is with the punter.

So this had the gritty and intense feel of a rite of passage and test of manhood, as headliner SEC games tend to be. And when it was over, the Gators had not only put a torch to the chances of another Alabama-LSU No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown, they had established their own credentials. We'll know more about that later this month when they get South Carolina and Georgia back-to-back.

"This is one win. It doesn't count for 1½ and it doesn't count for two," Muschamp said."As you continue to climb the mountain, it gets more treacherous."

Soft teams won't make it. The new Gators seem anything but.