Previewing Florida at South Carolina: Checking in on the Gators' Offense

by Gamecock Man on Nov 10, 2009 3:26 PM EST in Football Comment 2 comments

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is shown posing during NCAA college football media day in Gainesville, Fla. Despite working with prostyle quarterback coaches, Tebow is expected to show little changes on the field. Coach Urban Meyer said "the guy has a 60 plus percent completion rate. Enhanced, yes. It's not going to be like all of a sudden, 'Look at this guy.' It's going to be Tim Tebow." (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

5 months ago: In this photo taken on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is shown posing during NCAA college football media day in Gainesville, Fla. Despite working with prostyle quarterback coaches, Tebow is expected to show little changes on the field. Coach Urban Meyer said "the guy has a 60 plus percent completion rate. Enhanced, yes. It's not going to be like all of a sudden, 'Look at this guy.' It's going to be Tim Tebow." (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

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The media has made lots of noise about the Gators' offensive woes. However, the overall numbers aren't really all that ugly. Florida is 11th in scoring offense, 19th in total offense, 8th in rushing offense, and 83rd in passing offense. I think a lot of the media attention has overfocused on Tim Tebow's reduced production in the passing game while ignoring the fact that the Gators--including Tebow--run the ball quite well. Pundits need to remember that this is a team with a killer defense. With that defense, Urban Meyer and his coaching staff know that they don't need to take lots of risks to win, so they instead choose to control the ball and play it safe. Not a bad strategy if you ask me.
Needless to say, Florida's ability to run the ball doesn't play to our strengths. It's worth noting, though, that the Gators for the most part aren't a power running team, which has been the style that's given our depleted interior a lot of trouble. In fact, our smaller lineups would normally be considered an asset against the Gators, who want to get the ball outside and beat you in space. However, we're not tackling well right now at all, and that could spell disaster against a team that will kill you if you miss a single tackle.
FWIW, Tim Tebow claims he's back to 100%. Some have blamed the Gators' passing game woes on Tebow's concussion, which he suffered against Kentucky early in the season. I guess we'll see how much truth there was to that on Saturday.

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