Florida Football: 5 Things Will Muschamp Must Fix Before Kentucky

Things seems to be going well in Gainesville: Will Muschamp has the Gators at 3-0, they are facing an undermanned Kentucky team and they have a Heisman contender in Chris Rainey.

It's not all sunshine, though. The Gators offense is marginal without Rainey. There are things that need to be corrected this week against Kentucky before the Gators start in the real challenges of Alabama and LSU.

Will Muschamp has a lot on his table. This breaks down what he needs to correct now.

The Impression That Kentucky Can Be Overlooked

Sure, Alabama is on the other side of this weekend, and it can be hard not to start preparation for that matchup.

Kentucky is certainly not in the same league as Alabama, but could put a halt to any SEC or BCS Championship hopes the Gators might have. Overlooking an easier opponent can be detrimental to a season.

Thus far, Florida has looked to be on the right track. This can't be the hiccup that derails the season.

The Reliance on Chris Rainey

Chris Rainey is having an impressive season. In college football, teams can generally rely on one player to carry them through the season.

Unfortunately, Rainey is a running back by nature, and an undersized one at that. The SEC defenses will eventually take him out of a game, whether by scheme or force.

Rainey accounts for 39 percent of the total offense. That needs to change, or the Gators will be facing some losses very soon.

Stretching the Field

Too often, John Brantley is checking down because the deep threats are not open. That is compacting the area of the field that defenses need to defend and making things much easier on them.

While it may not make a huge difference this week, it needs to be addressed. If it can't get the ball downfield and stretch the defense, the offense is going to stagnate even more as teams start to figure out Chris Rainey.

Hold onto the Ball

The saying is that defensive backs are just receivers who can't catch.

Florida is trying to prove that point. It might be time for the secondary to be doing some pass-catching drills.

The Gators have five dropped interceptions. That's a lot of missed opportunities. Considering that the schedule only gets harder from here, a missed turnover opportunity can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Pass-catching drills. Get on it.

Penalties

There was an outrageous number of penalties against Tennessee. With 16 penalties totaling 150 yards, this looked more like a Pop Warner team than bigtime SEC football.

No matter what Will Muschamp says, there is no way he can be pleased with this. Aggressive or not, the Gators need to figure out a way to play clean.

With a young team, mental mistakes happen, but this was an outright epidemic. This needs to be addressed, yesterday.