Urban Meyer spent part of the bye week trying to solve the enigma that is Florida’s offense.
He went through each play the unit, which is ranked ninth in the Southeastern Conference in scoring and total yards, has run this season and analyzed them. He came back with four problems to fix: turnovers, the lack of big plays, inefficiency in the passing game and red-zone struggles.
If quarterback John Brantley can raise his passing efficiency rating of 117.9 (10th in the conference) it would help resolve a lot of the offense’s struggles. Meyer noted that he expects quarterbacks in his system to post a rating of 165.
“[The passer rating is] a multitude of issues that need to be corrected,” Meyer said. “No. 1 would be drops, No. 2 would be protection issues between the offensive line and backs and No. 3 would be execution of the play.”
One thing he did not include as a reason for the low number was offensive coordinator Steve Addazio’s play-calling.
“We don’t have a bad play,” Meyer said. “I don’t allow that. That’s kind of my job. There’s no such thing as saying, ‘That’s a bad play.’
“Are there times where I would have rather run this as opposed to this? Yeah. Is it a bad play? It’s not a bad play. It’s poorly executed because we didn’t efficiently practice it.”
Injury Report: The Gators also used their week off to heal.
Running back Jeff Demps, who has been limited the past four games with a sprained left foot, ran on a treadmill Monday and Meyer expected him to practice about 25 snaps.
His availability for Saturday’s game is still unknown, and freshman Andre Debose is questionable with an ankle injury.
But UF received good news on kicker Caleb Sturgis. After missing the previous three games with a back injury, Sturgis will play against Georgia, Meyer said. Defensive tackle Jaye Howard is also expected to see action Saturday despite a sprained ankle.
Rainey’s status still unknown: Meyer will not decide on junior Chris Rainey’s status for Saturday’s game until later this week.
The wide receiver is eligible to play against Georgia but still has to fulfill some behavioral obligations before being cleared for the game. Rainey has not played since Sept. 11 against USF because of an aggravated stalking arrest.
“He has really changed as a person,” Brantley said. “He has changed his attitude toward football. He’s working really hard and he just wants to get back on the field and play.”
