A week after exploding out of the gates against Georgia to score touchdowns on its first two drives, No. 1 Florida reverted to the struggling offense it has been for most of the season.
Saturday, the Gators (9-0, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) moved the ball down the field with ease at times but never could get in a rhythm offensively in their 27-3 win over Vanderbilt (2-8, 0-6 SEC).
"It was a little bit choppy," quarterback Tim Tebow said. "At times, we got into a very good rhythm moving the ball. On a couple of those field goal drives, I thought we were in good rhythm, but then we do something to throw us off schedule. We need to stay on schedule."
The offense was also lacking big plays to spark drives. Last week, three of the Gators' four offensive touchdowns came on plays of longer than 20 yards. They only had three plays longer than 20 yards all game against the Commodores, one of which was a 25-yard sprint into the end zone by Jeff Demps on an option play on fourth and 1.
UF clinched a birth in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 5 last week, and as its game was just getting started, Alabama beat LSU to secure the other spot in the game.
Florida coach Urban Meyer knows by the time that game comes around his team must be able to break off big plays like it did in 2008.
"Last year, it seemed all of a sudden we would pull one out. We would get one down the field or make a long pass. We're just not getting that," Meyer said. "Everybody is pressing to get that done, and we need to get that done with the games coming up."
On the sidelines Saturday were two former Gators responsible for many of the long plays last season, Louis Murphy and Percy Harvin, whose NFL teams were on bye weeks.
In every game during the 2008 season, at least one of the two receivers had a play that gained more than 20 yards, and in six games, both of them had one.
Harvin said it seems Tebow has too much pressure on him and is having to run too much.
Tebow has carried the ball at least 15 times in all seven conference games this season compared to just four all of last season.
"A lot of the explosive plays are coming from the running backs instead of the wide receivers, and Tim Tebow is taking too many hits," Harvin said after the game. "They still have a lot of fire power; they just need to put it together and take the pressure off of Tebow."
While the offense found itself struggling to finish drives with touchdowns, the Gators' defense looked as dominant as ever even without Brandon Spikes, who was suspended for the game for his eye-gouging incident against the Bulldogs.
For the fifth time this season, Florida's defense did not allow an offensive touchdown.
"We gave them a (30)-yard run, but we bend but we don't break. That's pretty much our goal this year," linebacker Ryan Stamper said. "They are going to make plays, that's just football, but we try to just to keep them out of the end zone."
Stamper, who replaced Spikes at middle linebacker, and fellow linebacker Dustin Doe, who started in Stamper's usual spot, were the standouts on defense.
Doe had a team-high 11 tackles. Stamper was second with six and also added an interception.
Spikes' replacements made the plays on the field, but Spikes still found a way to contribute Saturday.
Stamper said Spikes got the players going with a talk in the locker prior to the game.
The return of Spikes next week will only bolster the dominant defense for the SEC Championship Game against Alabama in less than a month.
Tebow said he expects the game to be exciting, but the team will not be worried about the Crimson Tide for a few weeks.
The offense will need to fix the problems that has plagued it all year before the game that again is likely to decide which team will play in the BCS National Championship.
