Tyler: Florida’s offense will be more complex this week. It certainly won’t be getting any simpler.
Whether Jacoby Brissett or Jeff Driskel take snaps Saturday, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis will have more confidence in his quarterback than he did the week before. And that will be the case each week until John Brantley returns.
Seven days isn’t a lot of time, certainly not enough for any season-changing revelations that turn Brissett or Driskel into polished passers. Sorry. However, both quarterbacks can grow more in those seven days than an experienced player like Brantley can.
That doesn’t mean either will be better than Brantley — they can just improve more, because they have more room to develop. Think about any skill you have tried to pick up. The most growth always comes in the first couple of weeks.
And being a capable Southeastern Conference quarterback is an acquired skill.
Greg: There is no reason to think Florida’s quarterbacks will be worse, but that doesn’t mean the offense will expand.
Both have struggled to execute the limited portion of the game plan they have been entrusted with, and burdening them with more won’t help.
Driskel’s numbers have been pretty poor through four games: 7 of 16, 73 yards and two interceptions. At times he looked nervous, scared and unsure of himself.
Brissett was serviceable against LSU, but if you take away his flukey 65-yard touchdown, he was just 7 of 13 with 29 yards and two interceptions. And Florida only let him orchestrate about 56 percent of the offensive plays — not exactly a ringing endorsement of his grasp of the offense.
Give these guys some time to digest what they’re working with before giving them more to swallow.
Tyler: Brissett taking only half the offensive snaps has little to do with his grasp of the offense, or lack thereof. Weis didn’t replace him with another quarterback; he replaced him with a special package to kick-start the running game.
Trey Burton and Chris Rainey took snaps out of the shotgun because the Gators could not establish the run with Brissett in the game. LSU dared Brissett to throw, and in the first half Weis handled his freshman with kid gloves.
Weis won’t do that Saturday because Auburn will crowd the line. Florida became more complex in the second half at LSU, and Brissett looked OK.
He wasn’t good, obviously, but he looked more confident than most expected. That deep ball to Debose was no fluke. It was a good throw. And although Brissett made plenty of mistakes, he never panicked.
Greg: Being calm is one thing, being prepared to run Weis’ offense is something else entirely.
Florida’s inability to run the ball when Brissett was in the game can’t be brushed over. To some extent, those struggles fall on him.
The experience he got playing against LSU is supposed to be a big factor in his development, but he only completed one pass in the second half. Tyrann Mathieu was the last player to catch one of his throws.
It’s not like he made improvements as the game went along and can carry that over to next week.
I’d envision a jump in performance if he had been nervous and jittery Saturday, because he’d probably calm down and play better in his second start. But the mental part was already there.
So why should I expect his skills to improve enough to change the offense in only seven days?
Tyler: THEIR INABILITY TO RUN THE BALL HAD LITTLE TO DO WITH HIS GRASP OF THE OFFENSE. It was about Weis’ play calling. Why don’t you understand that?
Also, his “skills” weren’t really in question. His problems were mental — as are the problems of every freshman. His skills aren’t going to improve in seven days, but his comfort level will.
Nobody is asking him to morph into Peyton Manning. The offense was so stripped down last weekend; of course, it can be more complex.
Florida won’t look like it did the first month of the season, but it won’t be as simple as it was last weekend.
Greg: The struggles on the ground may have been related to play-calling, but the play-calling was related to Brissett. He wasn’t ready to execute more than he did last weekend, or he would have done it.
And by admitting that he needs to increase his “comfort level,” you’re accepting that he wasn’t comfortable with what they did against LSU. And the stats back you up on that one.
Giving him more to learn is a good way to take a step back, because he would have a whole new set of variables, he would need time to get comfortable with.
That’s why Florida’s attack will look pretty much the same against Auburn: so Brissett can master the offense one step at a time.
Contact Tyler Jett at tjett@alligator.org and Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org
