At the start of the 2014 season, all the buzz surrounding the Gators was their spread offensive scheme under new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper.
Things even looked promising in the season opener against Eastern Michigan in a 65-0 frenzied victory, when Florida 655 yards of offense.
But fast forward roughly three months, and UF is at the bottom half in the league in total scoring and passing offense.
Not to mention it has a 2-3 record in the Southeastern Conference and is virtually out of the SEC East race.
Although it’s true, Roper’s first year running the offense and the vast majority of the starters on offense were recruited as more pro style than spread scheme players, Roper has no belief that the reason the offense has been unsuccessful is because it’s Roper’s inaugural year at Florida.
"I really don’t think so," Roper said. "Obviously, we’re not playing very well offensively, and I think there’s two major factors that go into it: we’re turning the ball over and we’re not doing a great job in the passing game."
In Florida’s last game out against Missouri, it only managed 13 points and had six turnovers. The latter is what Roper continued to stress on Tuesday as the main issue with the struggles offensively.
"If you look at it, it’s kind of the trend," Roper said. "We were good in the first game, second game we were pretty good in, I think we had one. It’s been a theme of three until we doubled the three. We’re an offense that has to take care of the football better right now."
Florida faces off against Georgia — one of its most heated rivals since the early 1900s. The Bulldogs defense, coached under former Florida State defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, ranks fifth in the SEC in total defense and has allowed just 19 touchdowns on the year.
"They are multiple defense in general so they’re going to create some different looks for us all the time, and so we’ve got to have as many weapons in our bag to answer it," Roper said. "But it’s still going out in executing."
The coaching staff has finally pulled the trigger and has made a quarterback change. It was announced last week that true freshman Treon Harris would make his first career start against Georgia.
The No. 3 ranked dual threat quarterback prospect in the 2014 recruiting class saw action in last week’s loss to Missouri, in which he went 8-for-12 on 98 yards and a touchdown.
He also had an interception and fumble. Roper says his improvisation under center is something that stands out from practice.
"He makes things happen on the practice field that aren’t necessarily designed and are maybe outside the design," Roper said. "It’s not different than some of the plays in the game the other night, one of the first moving pocket passes we called, they brought a pressure off the edge and he made a guy miss and just made a play."
Junior Buck linebacker Dante Fowler, Jr. adds the way Harris operates in game-type scenarios in practice isn’t necessarily conducive to a typical true freshman quarterback.
"Some freshman come in and they’re not able to read defenses and sometimes they get shook, but he’s always composed," Fowler said. "He knows that he’s good. He knows that he can do this. And he will."
While Florida may be unable to reach the goal they set at the start of the season —winning the SEC East — it shouldn’t be hard for the players to garner up motivation to beat its most hated rival that it has lost to for the past three straight years.
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Treon Harris looks downfield for a receiver during Florida's 42-13 loss to Missouri on Oct. 18 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
