In all of his years playing and watching football, Jaylen Watkins has never seen an offense this fast.
While watching film of Houston’s 2011 attack, which coach Kevin Sumlin has brought to Texas A&M this season, Florida players were surprised by the speed of the nation’s most up-tempo offense.
“They’re very fast,” Watkins said. “Probably the fastest offense I have ever seen, including the NFL.”
Houston ranked No. 1 in the nation with 8,387 total yards last season — nearly 600 per game and 700 more than No. 2 Baylor.
The Cougars ran an NCAA-most 1,102 plays last year, while second-ranked Clemson ran 1,055.
That 47-play margin is bigger than the gap between Clemson and No. 11 Oregon, which ran 1,015.
“They try to get you out of rhythm,” Watkins said. “Sometimes they look back and they hike the ball, and you’re trying to get your call from your coaches. They try to catch you off-balance when you’re not paying attention.”
To prepare, the Gators defense has been running almost constantly in practice.
There are no breaks after a play ends, not even time to jog back into position. The Gators know they won’t have time for that against the Aggies — they need to line up as quickly as possible and be ready for the next play.
A Florida defense that frequently rotated fresh players in and out during Saturday’s opener against Bowling Green might not have that luxury against Texas A&M.
Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said he wants his team to be able to pressure the quarterback and play physical with the Aggies’ receivers, but both could be difficult given how quickly Texas A&M will look to get the ball out of freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel’s hands.
And with how quickly the Gators are starting their Southeastern Conference schedule, as UF prepares to face a league opponent in just the second game of the season.
Florida hasn’t faced a conference foe before Week 3 since 2004, when it lost 30-28 against Tennessee in the season’s second game.
Wide reciever Frankie Hammond Jr. said he told Florida’s freshman to stay focused and pay close attention to detail in the conference environment, especially one as loud as Kyle Field.
Focusing on communication and coming out of the gates strong will be critical.
“[Starting fast] is very important,” wide receiver Frankie Hammond Jr. said. “We definitely want to get off to a great start and just keep it rolling from there.”
One of Florida’s primary focuses this season has been setting the tone early.
After a 7-6 2011, the Gators are looking to establish themselves as a tough, physical team in the new year.
That mission got off to a poor start on Saturday, as four-touchdown underdog Bowling Green played Florida close into the fourth quarter.
“That’s one of those things all summer: We want to start fast,” Jon Bostic said. “We wanted to start fast last week. We got off to a slow start. Hopefully we can start a little better this week at Texas A&M.”
The Gators showed many signs of rust on Saturday.
Florida committed 14 penalties for 106 yards, the offensive line failed to get a consistent push on third-and-short, the defense missed tackles and both sides of the ball suffered from costly drops.
Coach Will Muschamp knows how important it is to get those issues ironed out, or the Gators could very easily start SEC play 0-1.
“It’s a critical game for us to go on the road and play well,” Muschamp said, “to improve from Game 1 to Game 2, which we need to.”
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
Jaylen Watkins (14) looks to the sidelines during UF's 24-17 win against Bowling Green University at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
