An Analysis of Florida's Offense Against Ole Miss

Urban Meyer likes to say that games are won and lost in the five minutes before and after halftime. Florida's game against Ole Miss was decided in large part thanks to the five minutes after halftime, proving his maxim true.

I went through all of UF's 71 plays to find out more about the offense's performance in their first loss of the year and to see what should have been done differently.

First Half

Florida had the game mostly under control. The Gators enjoyed a 17-7 lead and had all the momentum. Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt was even visibly frustrated when he came out after halftime.

The storyline for the game was following the same path it had for the previous three games: Florida's defense was holding its opponent down, and the offense was doing enough to get by.

Before the break, 17 of the 33 plays were runs, and Florida scored on three of its six drives. Even Aaron Hernandez's lost fumble was on a play that was on its way to gaining more than 10 yards (before, of course, being called back for illegal formation).

Even so, the offense was not fully clicking. It only had more than two effective plays in a row on the sixth and final drive, when all five of its plays were effective. Prior to that, the Gators could only muster back-to-back effective plays at most before bad execution or a good play by the Rebel defense prevented a play from doing well.

Second Half

Florida passed a lot more in the second half because the sense of urgency grew. Six of the first eight plays after the break were runs, but only two were effective and two others produced lost fumbles. Most importantly, the fumbles allowed Ole Miss to tie up the game and gave the Rebels a lot of confidence.

From that point on, the Gators ran the ball just seven more times. Five of them were on a touchdown drive (one of which was a scramble on a pass play), and two more were their final two plays of the game.

UF actually had eight distinct and meaningful drives in the second half, a remarkable stat considering that they had only six meaningful drives the whole game against Tennessee. The first two ended due to lost fumbles. The third was torpedoed by a third down penalty and a missed block on the same guy by both Phil Trautwein and Marcus Gilbert.

The fourth drive was done in by a first down sack that was followed by a catch out of bounds and Tebow being hit as he threw. The fifth drive was when the offense finally found a rhythm, making six effective plays in a row despite the linebackers dropping into coverage only once in that span. It ended in a touchdown.

The first play of the sixth drive was also effective, but a sack on the second play could not be overcome, thanks in part to a drop by Carl Moore.

Five of the six plays on the seventh drive were effective, with the other one being an overthrow on a 20-yard fade route. It ended in a touchdown.

The final drive of the second half, as we know, ended because of a failed Tebow smash play, but two more overthrows on first and second down were counterproductive.

A Word on the Rebel Defense

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