Breakdown: Has The Florida Offense Arrived?

We’re four weeks deep into the 2010 college football season and the highly anticipated new look gator offense sans Tebow is slowly rounding into shape. Despite winning all their games by 14 points or more the gators slipped in the polls in the opening weeks. The team, for the most part, has won in spite of the offense.  With the help of a stingy, talented, and ballhawking defense and one of the best secondaries in the country the gators hold a turnover margin of plus 8 and a nation best 12 interceptions. For gator fans it was a frustrating three weeks as talent is far from the issue. With talented redshirt junior John Brantley at the helm, a veteran offensive line, young talent a wide receiver, and a returning talented stable of runningbacks this was supposed to be the year of the ‘Fun n’ Gun’ offense. Instead the growing pains of the 2010 gator offense have been rather painful to watch.  However, the Kentucky game showed some very encouraging signs. With an October 2nd date at Alabama looming the gator offense is going have to continue to improve on the fly.  The following are the main issues (aside from general execution) with the 2010 gator offense through first couple weeks of the season and yes there have been other factors to consider besides the loss of a certain national championship and heisman winning quarterback. 

 Identity- 

 For most of the season the 2010 gator offense has lacked identity.  John Brantley is a pure passing quarterback with an NFL arm. He is not a running quarterback and yet in the offense thus far offensive coordinator Steve Addazio has continued to mix in run option style plays despite the defense not having to account for Brantley. For the option to work Brantley is going to have to keep the ball and run it himself on occasion. The option had some success in 2006 with the similarly non-running quarterback Chris Leak breaking off a 1 or 2 large runs in big situations when the defense was not expecting it. For the option to even be moderately successful Brantley will need to do the same on occasion. Nevertheless, the option needs to cut down in this Brantley led offense.  Furthermore, the larger issue in identity is the downfield passing so far or lackthereof. Brantley has a great arm and can slice and dice a defense when give a chance. Steve Addazio, however, has called the short pass at the expense of potential big plays in the vertical passing game. The lack of deep passes allows the defense to cheat and in put an extra man in the box for the defense to stop the running game. The Kentucky game has shown signs of improvement in this regard. The gators came out throwing, taking a few shots downfield and moved the ball effectively all game. As a result Brantley had over 240 yards passing and the offense awakened for a 48 point explosion. In the redzone freshman dualthreat qb Trey Burton bursted onto the scene against Kentucky with a 6 TD explosion (5 running, 1 receiving). Despite the gators offensive woes in their first few games redzone offense has not been much of an issue and this should continue with Burton’s newfound role in the redzone. Burton’s emergence should also give the coaches the necessary confidence in using him in the option game and allow Brantley to do what he does best, spreading the ball around to the many playmakers on this squad. 

 Predictability-

The 2010 gator offense has been incredibly predictable. Through first 3 games of the season the gators ran the ball about 70% of the time of first down and have averaged a pedestrian 3.7 yards a carry. The gators also ran the ball close to 70% of the time on second down against Tennessee. With opposing defenses well schooled on tendencies the result was often uncomfortable 3rd and long situations for Brantley. Despite being put in bad position on third down Brantley bailed out the offense on several occasions converting 7 for 7 on third and longs against the Vols with wide receivers Deonte Thompson and Carl Moore stepping up and making several key catches. The gators simply need to be more efficient and less predictable on first and second down. This is partially attributed to play calling. Against Kentucky the gators mixed it up on first and second down and the difference in results was evident. 

Use of personnel-

The use of personnel up to this point of the season has been great in some areas (Trey Burton in the wildcat) and very puzzling in others. Despite his 185 pound frame thus far the gators have used running-back Jeff Demps on many of the called halfback dive plays up the middle. While Demps is the gators most dangerous offensive threat due to his speed and can break an occasional run up the middle if he has a big enough crease, he is often inconsistent in these running situations on first and second down. Demps simply isn't built to get the tough yards necessary to prevent putting John Brantley and the rest of the offense in uncomfortable third and long situations. The gators have the running-backs on roster to get these tough yards, senior Emmanuel Moody and sophmore Mike Gillislee, it is only a matter of using them. While Mike Gillislee's subpar blocking has limited his playing time, he is the best all-purpose running-back on roster with his combination of speed, tough running style, and vision.  Moody is better in pass protection, but slower in speed and his cuts and is often injured. The usage of running-backs will be particularly important against Alabama with their ability to stuff the run up the middle. Gillslee continues to shine when given his opporunity as he showed when Jeff Demps left the Kentucky game with a lower ankle sprain. Look for the gator staff to use Gillislee more in these situations as the season progresses and continue to use Demps on sweeps, misdirections, and draw plays, where he is most lethal. 

 What we have seen- 

The eyes do not lie.  Before the Kentucky game, statistically the gators had 63 of 188 plays go for zero or negative yards. That is approximately 33% of the offensive plays, one of three plays. You simply cannot have that number of unproductive plays and expect to have a potent offense. Whether some of the predictability and blandness on offense was attributed to breaking a new different style starting quarterback remains to seen. Talent is certainly not the issue.  What is known is that the gators are going to have to bring their best offensive effort thus far to Alabama Saturday. Arkansas revealed a clear blueprint against Alabama attacking Alabama’s inexperienced secondary. The transition period is over. For the gators to win the coaching staff is going to have leave it in Brantley’s hands.  Has John Brantley and the gator offense arrived?  The answer will be revealed this Saturday.