NASHVILLE, Tenn — The Florida offense made a 180-degree turn in just a week’s time — at least philosophically speaking.
Roughly one week ago facing Georgia — the 10th-ranked rush defense in the country — Florida’s offense ran for 418 rushing yards, led by tailbacks Matt Jones and Kelvin Taylor who both had more than 190 yards rushing.
The 418 rushing yards was the second highest yardage given up on the ground in Georgia’s football program history.
Starting quarterback Treon Harris didn’t do much quarterbacking at all, unless you count attempting just six passes in the entire game as effective quarterbacking.
He did have a fumble on a handoff exchange early in the first quarter, but that was his only blemish on the day.
Following a performance in which the offense didn’t need to sling it around to put up points on the board, the Gators went into Vanderbilt Stadium on Saturday facing the 82nd-ranked rush defense in the country.
So the game plan could’ve easily been the same as the one against Georgia to attain success, right?
Florida’s offensive staff had a different plan to cut through the Commodore’s defense, and it can be described in one word — balance.
The offense was as balanced from running to passing as possible — rushing for 214 yards and passing for 215.
The numbers were good enough to stave off Vanderbilt handedly, winning in Nashville 34-10.
Harris, who was recruited to Florida as a dual-threat quarterback, was impressive in the second start of his young career.
He completed 13 of 21 of his passes, and kept Vanderbilt’s defense on its toes, rushing for another 49 yards to add two touchdowns on the night.
He did not have a single turnover in the game.
Following the win, coach Will Muschamp said Harris, although a true freshman, carries himself like a veteran quarterback every week in practice and has the ability to keep that maturity level in game situations.
"I think the thing that strikes me is the maturity," Muschamp said.
"He does not get fazed. He’s been accurate in practice. That doesn’t shock me there. But just the maturity of carrying that to the game has been outstanding."
The fourth-year coach added that although the maturity level of Harris is surprising, he adds the intangibles to his game that pushes a quarterback to the next level in game time situations.
"Yeah. At that position, absolutely," Muschamp said. "But he’s got a competitive edge about him. That’s a talent. It’s hard to measure competitive edge until you get into the situations and he has the competitive edge about him."
Harris wasn’t afraid to take shots downfield either, and wide receivers Quinton Dunbar and Ahmad Fulwood came through as targets — Dunbar had four receptions for 97 yards including a long reception for 60 yards in the third quarter. Fulwood added a long catch for 48 yards on the right sideline in the second quarter.
"Catching the deep ball is important," Muschamp said. "So much goes into the lull that we went into as an offense is confidence.
"When you lose confidence a little bit, you don’t play as fast, you’re not as sure of yourself, you’re not as assertive in what you’re doing all the time."
Harris had to adjust to personnel changes along the offensive line as well, as offensive linemen Tyler Moore and Chaz Green both were injured, causing shifts along the line, but it didn’t affect the execution level on offense.
"We had to move some guys around, but hats off to our offensive staff," Muschamp said.
"We were able to stay productive."
Next up for Florida is Southeastern Conference Eastern division foe South Carolina, which is a must-win for Florida to stay alive in the SEC East race.
"We need to play South Carolina," Muschamp said. "We need to take care of Florida and South Carolina and let the chips fall where they may."
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Treon Harris attempts a pass during Florida's 34-10 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.
