Bianchi: The wrong QB is famous! Florida’s Tramell Jones Jr. outplays overhyped Texas golden boy Arch Manning

The Florida Gators staggered into Texas on Saturday looking like a punch-drunk prizefighter who had spent the previous two weeks getting his teeth knocked out, his nose rearranged and his dignity dragged through the mud.

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Missouri beat them senseless. South Carolina administered another humiliating beatdown. And when Texas returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown to take a 17-3 lead in the second quarter, it appeared the No. 7 Longhorns were about to land the final, jaw-shattering uppercut and send the Gators crashing through the ropes and into the laps of the ringside judges.

But then something utterly inexplicable happened.

The Gators got off the canvas, wiped the blood from their lips, tightened their chin straps and proceeded to punch the Texas Longhorns squarely in their big, bad burnt-orange mouths.

Florida 27, Texas 24.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Is there a more confounding, maddening, schizophrenic football team in America than the Florida Gators? One week, they blow out No. 3 Ole Miss. Two weeks later, they couldn’t stop hapless South Carolina if the Gamecocks were running uphill in flip-flops, carrying a king-size mattress. The next week, they’re sacking America’s most famous college quarterback five times and beating a top-10 team in front of more than 100,000 stunned fans in Austin.

And they did it with a backup quarterback making his first college start and a defense that came into the game ranked statistically as the worst in the Southeastern Conference.

Seriously, somebody explain this to me. Preferably with charts, graphs and a licensed psychiatrist.

Just seven days earlier, the Gators looked like a team whose season was circling the drain. Their defense had surrendered 83 points in consecutive blowout losses to Missouri and South Carolina, and the optimism surrounding new coach Jon Sumrall had evaporated faster than a puddle on a Gainesville sidewalk in August.

And now? Florida is 5-2, back in the College Football Playoff conversation and celebrating its first road victory over a top-10 opponent since 2012.

Translation: College football is what happens when you give chaos a marching band.

Perhaps the most delicious part of Saturday’s stunning upset was watching unheralded Florida backup quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. thoroughly outplay Texas’ overhyped golden boy, Arch Manning.

Can we finally stop with the ridiculous Manning coronation?

Heisman Trophy candidate? Future No. 1 overall NFL draft pick? The next great Manning quarterback?

Puh-leeze.

At some point, shouldn’t you actually have to play like a superstar before everybody starts treating you like one? If his name were Al Smith instead of Arch Manning, he’d be on the bench right now.

Manning holds the football too long, makes questionable decisions and seems to wilt when the pressure intensifies. Florida sacked him five times, and with the Longhorns desperately trying to mount a winning drive in the final two minutes, linebacker Myles Graham forced a Manning fumble that Kanye Clark recovered.

Meanwhile, Jones — the kid who spent last season watching DJ Lagway struggle and this season backing up Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo — was everything Manning wasn’t: Poised, resourceful, efficient and clutch.

Jones completed 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception. More importantly, he made the plays that mattered when Florida absolutely had to have them.

None was bigger than his 17-yard strike to Dallas Wilson on fourth-and-12 late in the first half, a gutsy throw that kept alive the touchdown drive that cut Texas’ lead to 17-10.

Then came the masterpiece: a 15-play, 69-yard touchdown drive to open the second half that consumed eight minutes and ended with Jones throwing his second touchdown pass to Lacota Dippre.

Against one of the nation’s most talented defenses, Florida’s first-time starting quarterback calmly engineered the kind of drive that wins championships and changes seasons.

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Then, late in the fourth quarter as Texas desperately tried to get the ball back with no timeouts left, Jones ran for the game-clinching, clock-killing first down on third-and-7.

And now Sumrall and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner have a fascinating decision to make when Philo’s injured shoulder heals: Do they return to their original starter or stick with the quarterback who just delivered in the clutch and on the road against one of the most talented (and expensive) rosters in the country?

My advice? Don’t overthink it. Sometimes the best quarterback isn’t the one who wins the job in August. He’s the one who wins the game in October.

Of course, Jones couldn’t have pulled off this upset without the most improbable development of all: Florida’s defense suddenly remembering how to play defense.

This was the same unit that had been shredded by Missouri and embarrassed by South Carolina. Yet against Texas, the Gators stopped the Longhorns twice on fourth down, repeatedly harassed Manning and held the Texas offense under 300 total yards.

The turning point came in the second quarter when Texas coach Steve Sarkisian went for it on fourth-and-1 near midfield while leading 17-3. Florida stuffed the play, seized the momentum and began its remarkable comeback.

For the first time in weeks, the Gators looked like the tougher, more physical, more determined team. And that, more than anything, should give Florida fans hope.

“This gives me belief that our guys understand that you have to fight your tail off every time you play the game,” Sumrall said.

Let’s not forget what Sumrall inherited: a battered program, a skeptical fan base and a football culture that had forgotten how to respond when somebody punched it in the mouth.

Saturday, the Gators responded with a brass-knuckle blow of their own. They didn’t fold when Texas went up by 14. They didn’t panic when Manning connected on a desperation 62-yard fourth-down pass to help pull the Longhorns within three late in the game. And they didn’t allow the deafening Texas crowd to intimidate them.

Instead, they found a way to win a game nobody outside their locker room expected them to win.

Does this mean Florida is suddenly a legitimate national championship contender? Who the heck knows?

Three weeks ago, I thought the Gators were back among college football’s elite. Last week, I thought they were headed for another season of misery. At this point, predicting what Florida will do next is about as reliable as trying to predict the next words to come out of Stephen A. Smith’s mouth.

And with Georgia looming on Halloween, the Gators could just as easily turn back into pumpkins. Then again, the Dawgs just lost to Auburn at home on Saturday, a team the Gators comfortably beat on the road.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

Saturday belonged to a backup quarterback who refused to be intimidated, a much-maligned defense that refused to be embarrassed again and a football team that refused to stay down.

The Gators had been knocked to their knees and were being counted out.

Then they got up and knocked Texas flat on its back.

And somewhere amid the wreckage of the Longhorns’ fading playoff dreams, one unmistakable truth emerged:

Don’t ever try to make sense of the Florida Gators.

Just enjoy the madness.

Email me at [email protected]. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show “Game On” every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen.

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