College Football

Florida Gators Football: Austin Appleby Drowning Out The Noise

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:12 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Maxwell Ogden/FanSided via Hail Florida Hail

The Florida Gators football team needs quarterback Austin Appleby to step up in the Outback Bowl. He’s drowning out the noise and focusing on getting the win.

The Florida Gators football team will enter the Outback Bowl at 8-4 with negative momentum from a three-game losing streak. Across the field will be an 8-4 Iowa Hawkeyes team that’s trending in the opposite direction with a three-game winning streak.

Though this will come down to which team plays better as a whole, it’s quarterback Austin Appleby who will be tasked with exorcising demons.

Appleby has started six games for the Gators in 2016, amassing a record of 3-3. That .500 mark has alienated Appleby as much as it’s endeared him to Florida fans, as he’s gone from winning games as a backup turned starter to being exposed by elite teams.

According to Edgar Thompson of The Orlando Sentinel, Appleby is drowning out the noise from his critics and focusing on winning his first and last bowl game.

That’s all Appleby can do approaching this clash with the Hawkeyes.

Appleby won three of his first four starts and stepped up with a strong performance in the one exception. He threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns during the 38-28 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers—his first start of the season.

Appleby was also 17-of-21 for 201 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks, but has since gone 1-2.

Iowa, meanwhile, has three consecutive impressive wins: 14-13 over the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines, 28-0 over the Illinois Fighting Illini, and 40-10 over No. 24 Nebraska Cornhuskers.

In order for Florida to secure this victory, Appleby will need to step up and help move the chains through the air. Iowa’s defense has become one of the best in the country and Kirk Ferentz is one of the best coaches in the nation.

Appleby will have one game to silence his critics.

Come the Outback Bowl, Austin Appleby will have a chance to create a positive legacy.

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