Florida Football: No Romp in the Swamp For the Gator Offense

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

Florida may have won the game, but not the hearts and minds of the Gator Nation as the offense did little to calm the fears of fans in this post Tebow era.

The defense was good and certainly showed they can play, but the offense was, for the lack of a better phrase, offensive.

In the first half the Gators put up only 14 yards of total offense and combined that with the second half's total to finish at 213 total yards and win a game 34-12 where the Miami Red Hawks handed them 14 of those points with turnovers.

They looked horrible.

These Gators could have used a snapping turtle on the team as even the simplest and most fundamental of offensive routines, the snap from center, seemed to be a mystery for most of the game.

For a team that likes to do so many shotgun snaps, this is certainly something you would have thought would have been ironed out by now.

Had Florida faced a tougher team today, they would be 0-1 instead of 1-0 and there are many phases of the game that need more work than most Florida fans would have thought.

Yes, they had two runs for decent yardage that helped the stats, but only two, and yes they had a deflected pinball desperation pass completion for a touchdown, but no one can deny the offense simply stank it up in the swamp.

With the Gators soon stepping up in competition, these wrinkles are something that coach Urban Meyer and staff should iron out and iron out quickly.

It's not that Brantley didn't look particularly good, even though he didn't, or that the offensive line couldn't dominate an inferior opponent, which they couldn't, or even that the center failed on so many long snaps, which he did early and often, but the whole offense lacked of fire and purpose.

If this was a top 10 team I saw playing today, I feel extremely sad about the other 100 or so teams in college football.

These no go Gators can't continue to be bailed out by the defense against better teams.