Charlie Weis is a miserable, miserable man. And that should make you very happy.
Weis has a lot of reasons to smile. By day, he works alongside his son, a UF freshman. By night, he gets to go home to his wife and daughter. Oh, and he also gets to tinker during the day with the fastest car on the block in Chris Rainey.
Still, Weis was frowning Tuesday.
“I’m pretty disappointed,” he said. “Anyone who really is meticulous in their preparation at this stage of the season finds a lot of faults in things (their team has) done. I think we can get a lot better on offense than we are right now. We can get a lot better.”
Florida converted just 31 percent of third downs against the Vols (Weis: “That makes me miserable”). Jeff Demps fumbled the ball in the third quarter (“Not very happy about that”). Florida had a chance to run out the clock with 4:46 left but went three-and-out (“Not very happy about that”).
Florida’s offense committed nine penalties (“Sign me up for not being happy about that, too”). Weis made a couple of bad play calls, and the Gators experienced a few mental lapses (“Trust me; there are plenty of things for me to be miserable about”).
Actually, the Gators’ offense hasn’t looked so miserable. Florida is averaging 37.7 points and 442.3 yards per game. At this point last year, the Gators were averaging 34.3 points (not too different) and 317.3 yards (much worse).
Weis sounds like a curmudgeon, but you should be pumped Florida finally has an offensive coordinator willing to address issues.
During his two-year run as the Gators’ play-caller, Steve Addazio came to interviews ready to fight. He morphed into Sgt. Slaughter anytime somebody asked about offensive problems.
(In 2009): Why isn’t the offense as productive as it was in 2008?: “There’s a reason we’re 9-0. We didn’t just fall off the pickle boat.”
Do you think Mike Pouncey played better at guard than at center?: “You won’t want to play against him; leave it there.”
Why is John Brantley running the option?: “In the option game with John Brantley, we’re averaging 5 yards a carry. You need to know that. That’s a fact.”
No. When he was asked that question, Florida was averaging 3.8 yards on runs by Brantley. Pouncey did struggle from time to time at center. And Florida’s 2009 offense did, at times, look like it had fallen off the pickle boat, assuming that’s a bad thing.
Weis, meanwhile, has not been afraid to criticize his offense when it’s experiencing problems. In fact, he might be a little too critical. But that is way better than the Addazio reign.
Perhaps Addazio didn’t have a choice. Perhaps he would have taken even more heat if he admitted failure — lord knows it was tough to be an Addazio living in Gainesville last year.
Weis doesn’t have those problems. He has already proven himself at the highest level. You want to question whether he knows what he’s doing? Pay attention to which one of his four Super Bowl rings he is wearing while you ask.
And while you’re hanging around, listen for a few self-criticisms. It should make you smile.
Contact Tyler Jett at tjett@alligator.org.
