Let’s get this straight: The Gators aren’t purposefully struggling on offense.
Many of my friends have come to me with the idea that Urban Meyer and his cronies are showing a bland scheme in order to bust out an offensive outburst against Alabama on Oct. 2.
This is not going to happen because UF’s coaches don’t work this way. Fans were waiting for the same thing to happen last season before Florida was pummeled in the Southeastern Conference Championship game.
There is only one reason the offense is struggling, and that’s because of the play-calling.
Much like last season, fans can predict the upcoming play, sometimes multiple plays in advance, correctly from their living rooms. And that’s the problem. Predictability.
Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio called just seven first-down passing plays against Tennessee on Saturday, which led to some success by the Vols’ defense. If I noticed that, I’m sure UT’s coaching staff did, too.
The first-down struggles forced Florida into 12 third-down-and-long situations (seven yards or more) out of 16 total third downs. This led to even more predictability as Addazio called 12 passing plays and just two running plays to adjust to the yardage needed — the other two third downs came as the clock ran out at the end of both halves.
Football 101 says offenses need to mix running and passing plays to avoid tipping defenses off with tendencies they can take advantage of. But predictability has been a problem for the Gators since Addazio began calling plays last season.
However, nobody can argue with the man’s success. He has posted 16 wins to just one loss as UF’s offensive coordinator.
Without the safety net of former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, a couple of losses will be added to that record if he continues his trend of play calling, though.
Against South Florida on Sept. 11, it was Florida’s formations that tipped its hand on offense.
The Gators ran 39 plays out of the shotgun and 26 of them — 67 percent — turned out to be passing plays. Meanwhile, 16 out of the 18 I-formation plays against the Bulls were run plays.
Much like how a good poker face correlates to money earned when you turn in your chips, keeping defenses guessing leads to offensive success.
This is what is wrong with the offense.
Not the offensive line. Not the running backs. Not the quarterback. Not the wide receivers.
Fans are calling the plays before the Gators even run them.
