Reality Check: Changes Must Be Made at Offensive Coordinator

Wow. That is all you can really say after a loss like that.  If some of you can recall the week leading up to the Alabama game I wrote an article on the progress of the Florida offense titled "Breakdown: Has the Florida Offense Arrived". I concluded with a simple question and statement: "Has the Florida Offense arrived? The answer will be revealed this Saturday".  

We'll now the game has passed and we have our answer. It's an answer Gator nation did not want to see, that is for sure, but it is clear.  The Gator offense has most certainly not arrived!  The following article I write will, unfortunately also be something Gator fans most certainly don't want to hear, but nevertheless it is something that must happen if the Gators are to salvage their hopes at a SEC championship and potential shot at a BCS national championship this year and if the Gators intend on competing for many SEC titles and potential national titles in their future. 

I feared it, I heavily implied such in my statistical breakdown of the Gator offense where I cited identity ,predictability, and use of personnel as the overriding reasons for the offensive struggles, but now my position is clear: I am firmly entrenched on the anti-Addazio bandwagon now. 

Steve Addazio has no business being offensive coordinator for any major division I school, let alone the coordinator for our beloved Florida gators. I avoided this reality before like many other fans have, not out of particular trust with Addazio, but rather because I simply could not bring myself to believe that Addazio could possibly be THIS bad. 

When Dan Mullen left for the Mississippi State head coaching job in 2009, Urban Meyer looked from within for a replacement. The choice offensive line coach was Steve Addazio, a loyal colleague and very good friend of Meyer with little to no prior experience. However, clearly the resources were in place for him to succeed, right?  Meyer's spread philosophy, Mullen's success, and a wealth full of talent that no other team in the nation can truly boast (no, not even Alabama)...  When Addazio was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2009 not even the most pessimistic gator fan or optimistic rival could predict the level of ineptitude he would bring as Mullen's replacement. 

In Addazio's first season as offensive coordinator he successfully accomplished what was supposed to be the impossible: Addazio successfully stopped and slowed what was supposed to be one of the top if not the top offense in college football and made it completely one dimensional and predictable. An offense that featured one of college football's greats, Tim Tebow, with weapons all over the field in Aaron Hernandez, Riley Cooper, Jeff Demps, Chris Rainey, Deonte Thompson and more. Addazio rode the back of Tebow on option and run plays to victory no matter how much more ineffective it became as defenses adjusted and slowed it. He ran running back dive plays to 185 pound speed backs in Demps and Rainey to a nausuem no matter how many times it was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. He reigned in a lethal vertical passing attack and allowed Tebow to "regress" as a passer under his watch. All to the tune of 17 less points per game in SEC play compared to 2008. 

Nevertheless, in 2009 a loaded defense that averaged 10 points allowed per game and an all time great in Tebow hid Addazio's glaring deficiencies  to the public. 

But clearly Addazio can not possibly be that bad? Florida must have been playing intentionally conservative because of the reliability of Tebow and a great defense? Right? 

That was what I thought and went with until...

This year things have not gotten any better, but have drastically worsened. Without Addazio's favorite battering ram, Addazio's repetitive, one dimensional, predictable, offensive approach is glaringly exposed. To make matters worse, the gators have a tremendous pure passer in John Brantley that Addazio absolutely refuses to utilize to his strengths in his playcalling. 

There are many things that keep Addazio from being a good, even adequate offensive coordinator. The following are the most glaring inadquecies with Addazio as offensive coordinator: 

1.  Does not tailor the offense to player's strengths:

-It is beyond me how Addazio continues to force Jeff Demps, an 185 speed back that weighs 5 less pounds than I do, up the middle on dive plays into 300 pound SEC defensive lineman, yet that is exactly what Addazio does. In fact, it has become a regular favorite of his for someone unknown reason, despite a pedestrian rate of success. How many times does Jeff Demps take one to the house on that play, 1 in 100?  Meanwhile, Addazio continues to sit the Gator's only true legit good all purpose back, Mike Gillislee on the bench while he is running these plays. 

- Addazio continues to run option plays with a non-running quarterback. John Brantley is a pure passing quarterback. Let him THROW the ball. The defense doesn't account for Brantley whatsover or respect his running because they don't have to! I counted 8 option plays against Alabama, EIGHT. Most of them coming in the first half, when Addazio should have had Brantley exploiting Alabama's secondary. 

- Continues to line-up non-receivers at receiver. Addazio will line up backup quarterback Trey Burton at wr and a running back like Demps or Moody at wide receiver while talented receivers like Andre Debose and Frankie Hammond Jr. sit the bench. 

2. Refuses to challenge the defense downfield and keep them honest:

-Addazio completely neglects the vertical passing game, rather calling short slants and hitch routes all game. Against Miami (OH) Addazio called close to 13 screen passes with little or no success as the Miami (OH) defense cheated and loaded their defense toward stopping them. Against Alabama not only did Addazio fail to call any shots downfield, but incredibly continued to do so while down 24-0. The closest resemblance was to a deep pass was a great 20 yard endzone throw by Brantley to 6-5 receiver Carl Moore, who was held on the play (with no call).  

3. Does not adjust:

- The word adjustment is a foreign word to Addazio. In the first game against Miami (OH) Addazio calls screen pass after screen pass that are stopped with little to no gain against a cheating Miami (OH) defense.

-Against Tennesee this year Addazio repeatedly forced halfback dives to the 185 pound Demps up the middle that were stuffed to the point where Demps injured his ankle. Brantley and the passing game repeatedly bailed out Addazio when put in uncomfortable third and long situations. 

- Against Alabama, Addazio comes up with the genius plan of "surprising" Alabama by running Brantley on 8 option plays that were almost all stopped with little gain. 

4. Offfensive Line has Regressed

- The offensive line has regressed notably since Addazio has assumed the juggling roles of assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in addition to his offensive line duty. This is a line that is highly recruited, the biggest line in the SEC, and has 4 senior starters. And yet the offensive line with a lot of the almost all the same guys from 2009 and some of the same guys from 2008 has gotten worse. Simply put, instead of doing one job pretty well like he used to, Addazio is now doing two jobs poorly (1 job OC epically bad). Addazio has also not moved Mike Pouncey from center, despite being 5 games into the season and Pouncey still having trouble snapping the ball. 

5.  Pass Routes have no purpose

-  There is no clear design on some of his plays to get wide receivers open. It just seems like a random collection of routes. 

The result is what we have seen so far : 

-Addazio’s offense put up 26 total yards in the first 3 quarters of the 2010 opener against Miami of Ohio, a team that was 1-11 last year. Mike Pouncey, also had a shockingly ridiculous 13 fumbled snaps in the game (Addazio also coaches offensive line). 

- Addazio's offense went on to not score a single touchdown in the first quarter until the Kentucky game. 7 points at the half against a grossly overmatched USF team.  A close half with a vastly outmanned rebuilding Tennessee team.  When Addazio mixed up the playcall just enough to allow Brantley and the offense succeed against Kentucky with a season high 48 points and close to 290 passing yards it was a welcome mirage for Gator fans until this disgraceful performance....

-Against Alabama Addazio called a great first drive, which was likely scripted with Meyer before hand on the first 15 plays, only to ruin it with horrific goaline calling with a couple of forced runs up the middle with our speedbacks. Then when Meyer made the gutsy call to go for it on fourth down Addazio comes up with the genius call of calling a jump pass, a pass where Burton has literally 1 option of where to go with the ball...This all while the entire stadium knows what's coming and Alabama defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart is jumping up and down yelling at his team to watch the jump pass. After the interception and an Alabama score, Addazio reverts to his conservative "stay on schedule" mentality on the second drive, running Jeff Demps up the middle for no gain and John Brantley on an option play, setting up a third and long and eventual three and out. True to Addazio inadequecy #3 ,Addazio doesn't stray from his mentality until the game is already out of reach and when he does decide to let Brantley throw the offense moves the ball all second half, keeping the Alabama offense off the field. 

Stats of the game:

Total Yardage (keep in mind many of these came after Addazio decided to let Brantley throw it on 2nd downs):

Florida- 281   Alabama- 273

Ingram- 47 yards (3.7ypc)  Richardson 63 yards (6.3 ypc) 

If you were to look at those stats you would think UF would have a very good chance of staying in and possibly winning that game....

Not with Addazio...

5 Redzone Trips, 6 points

In the end Urban Meyer has to shoulder part of the blame as well. Meyer has let this situation persist.  Meyer's loyalty and friendship to Addazio is directly affecting the success of the team. Meyer owes Addazio for assuming the role as interim head coach in his absence and all the hard work associated with that in recruiting and keeping intact a #1 recruiting class that could of easily fallen apart. As a result is giving Addazio every opportunity and more to succeed as an offensive coordinator and earn himself a head coaching job. Meyer may very well still be a better coach than Saban (I still think he is), but the fact of the matter is if Saban were in the same situation as Meyer, Addazio would have been out as offensive coordinator a long time ago. It doesn't pay to be nice oftentimes. Look at Mark Richt and how he has handled his coordinators and how it has worked out for him. 

I remember when Meyer initially decided he'd be taking a leave of absence he said something about trying to not let down his assistants and program. It is admirable, but in the end Meyer will ultimately need to be able to make the tough decisions that are ultimately in the best interest for the program and that is demoting his friend Addazio back to offensive line coach and bringing in another coach such as Scot Loeffler the QB coach as an interim offensive coordinator until he can find an established, qualified coordinator. 

It is an unfortunate trait that some of the best coaches in the business are also some of the most stubborn. If you can recall back to the the days when Bobby Bowden was head coach at Florida State he hired his own son as offensive coordinator and refused to fire him to the own detriment of his team. Bowden eventually became too old and FSU's window closed rapidly. Meyer still has many good years left, but Addazio is our Jeff Bowden. The guy is a passionate, hardworking coach that is well liked by his players and was a good offensive line coach before beginning to juggle multiple jobs, but as an offensive coordinator he simply hasn't cut it and changes need to be made. Has Meyer's post health issue perspective changed him? Is Meyer still willing to do make the difficult decisions it takes to maintain a national championship contender?  

Some tough decisions lie ahead.