Alabama vs Florida: Why a Gators Win Can Revive Charlie Weis' Coaching Career

Charlie Weis went 35-27 during his tenure with Notre Dame ('05 to '09) that included two BCS Bowl beatdowns from LSU and Ohio State, but he could put a signature win on his resume if he can find a way to pull off an enormous victory over the Crimson Tide of Alabama.

As the offensive coordinator who calls the shots for the Gators, he does have a lot of options at his disposal.

Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey have been putting up video game numbers early on in the season, but going up against the NFL-ready style of defense in Alabama will be the test of a lifetime.

Weis has used his personnel to his advantage often getting Demps and Rainey to the edge on the perimeter to break loose onto the secondary for huge gains. 

Weis' receivers have been fairly productive early on in the season, and they must continue to improve going into this heavyweight battle against a very talented Alabama team. Deonte Thompson, Quinton Dunbar, Gerald Christian, Frankie Hammond, Trey Burton, Andre Debose and Omarious Hines bring a ton of speed to the table for quarterback John Brantley.

Many of them are used in the backfield on jet sweeps and end-arounds, which makes the play calling a bit easier for Weis.

Still, this is a pivotal game in Charlie Weis' career since it has been a bit of a disappointment thus far. His career in South Bend did not exactly go as planned, but right now his Gators come into this game ranked 22nd in the nation in total offense averaging 461 yards a game!

Demps and Rainey are the two horses that keeps this offense rolling, but Alabama will more than likely take them out of the game in the running game due to their physical presence that has been just dominating the nation the past few seasons.

Nick Saban has his own assistant in Kirby Smart who will be dialing up an array of blitz packages that will look to confuse Weis and Brantley.

The Gators were smoked 31-6 in Tuscaloosa last year, but playing at home in a night game is certainly an improvement and Florida looks to be much improved team from a season ago.

The SEC is a place that Weis is not exactly familiar with, but his offenses have always had success wherever he has gone. He develops his signal callers into something special with the toys around them and this team surely has the looks of a more talented team than he saw during his time at Notre Dame.

Unfortunately, the SEC is not a weak conference and in fact it will challenge you every single Saturday with all of the exceptional talent that each team has at their disposal.

Can Weis really revive his career at Florida, and what will it take from him to do so?

If the Gators were to win the SEC East this season it would certainly be a terrific start for Weis, but he just fell off a cliff at Notre Dame.

He does not have the personality where every youngster listens, because Weis does not bring that demeanor in the way he talks. I even fell asleep when he was talking on television the other night, and quite frankly he never seems excited to be a part of one of the best programs in college football. 

Those are the negative talks that surface around Weis, but he is a guy where his actions speak louder than his words. He shows respect by what he does not do rather than what he does. 

Take note though that tonight's game against the Tide and next weekend's game against the LSU Tigers could go a long way for Weis and his career if he manages to find a way to exploit the best defenses in the nation with his own explosive offense.