Should Florida’s struggles be a surprise?
Left guard Carl Johnson mulled that question over Monday. Finally, he said yes. UF’s recent losses should raise eyebrows. He’s heard how this years team is young, but these are still the Gators. And the Gators don’t lose, at least not often.
Inexperience should not be an excuse at Florida, Johnson said. And he’s right, but not for the correct reason.
Youth does in fact hinder a football team because, unlike in most sports, football players are not accustomed to performing against elite competition before college.
While some high schools become de facto basketball academies with national tournaments, the best football programs are limited to, at most, one out-of-state game. Case in point, last season’s state-champion Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer High (featuring now-UF freshmen Matt Elam, Gerald Christian and Robert Clark) only played in-state competition and won by an average of 43 points.
But Johnson is right. Youth is not an excuse, because the Gators aren’t a young team.
Against LSU on Saturday, Florida played 28 underclassmen, good for 46 percent of the Gators who saw the field. By comparison, the Tigers played 32 underclassmen, or 53 percent who saw action.
And Saturday was not an outlier. Actually, those percentages (46 and 53) perfectly reflect Florida’s average SEC game this season. In all four conference matchups, UF has played fewer underclassmen than its opponents.
But UF is perceived as a young team this season because it lost so much star power. The Gators lost 11 starters, including their quarterback (who?), three linebackers, both defensive ends and two best pass catchers. The University of Florida does not have an uncommonly young football team. It just has what we call a “college football team,” which often features a heavy turnover of starters from year to year.
Blaming losses on youth is inaccurate, and it’s not just Meyer’s fault. When I sat down to write this story, I actually did so with the intent of proving just how inexperienced Florida was.
But look at the boxscores. Florida was the veteran team in every game. Some might argue that age doesn’t matter as much as experience, that Florida losing so many starters from last year has held the team back.
Looking at the number of starters throughout the conference, though, Florida’s losses are common. The median number of lost starters in the SEC is 10, just one shy of Florida’s damages. Alabama lost 9 starters from its 2009 squad. LSU lost 12.
No matter how you look at it, the Gators aren’t particularly young. Productivity, specifically from Florida’s veterans, is a bigger issue.
The starting quarterback is a fourth-year junior, and he is averaging 6.2 yards per attempt. The offensive line features four seniors, and Florida is rushing for 81 fewer yards per game than it did last season. Nine of 11 defensive starters are upperclassmen, yet the unit is surrendering about 8 more points per game.
And the Gators have lost one more game than they did all of last season.
Blame whoever you want. Blame the players for not living up to their predecessor’s legacies. Blame the coaches for not preparing them to do so. And for those who blame play calling, there’s a Facebook group attacking a certain offensive coordinator just waiting for you.
But don’t blame the team’s youth.
