Florida Gators Football: Kurt Roper Notebook

Florida Gators offensive coordinator Kurt Roper met with the media Tuesday for his weekly press conference as the Gators being the second day of game week preparation for rival Tennessee. Florida is looking to bounce back from a poor offensive performance against Alabama. In the September 20 matchup, the Gators had 200 total yards on 55 plays, punting the ball seven times and turning the ball over once. The large amounts of yards to make up staggered the offense throughout the game. Florida faces a Tennessee defense that is seventh in the conference, giving up 11 touchdowns this season. The Volunteers have also allowed 366.2 yards per game.

Here is some of what Roper had to say Tuesday:

The offense against Alabama:

“Played too many bad down and distances. You know I don’t think we ever kept ourselves in good situations that way, which created a bunch of third-and-longs rather than obviously the third-and-shorts and third-and-mediums. So I don’t think we were very productive, really any down and distance. But I think because of our poor production on our early downs we really struggled on our third downs against a good defense.”

Changes going forward:

“We’ve got to be more productive in the passing game. I think that’s the biggest issue. Even in that game we had some production in the run game. We’ve got to get more productive in the pass game.”

The lack of production considering the offensive line play:

“Any time you don’t win a football game and you’re not productive, it’s a tough day. You get to the locker room and you go through all the things in your mind of what you could have done to maybe give yourself a better chance. So yeah, it’s not a good feeling.”

Keeping confidence up after a big loss:

“I think it’s through the practice field. What I mean by that is don’t change. Stay the course. Here’s who we are. Here’s what we do offensively. Let’s keep getting better at it. Let’s figure out where we need to improve or figure out if somebody else can help us in this situation there, but it’s really stay the course. It’s not come in and say ‘hey, we’ve got to change directions.'”

Importance of focus and effort in practice:

“I think the big thing is, I don’t want to put out the perception that when I’m on the practice field it’s all fun and games. I mean, there is a mentality, a toughness mentality, a focus mentality, and an effort mentality. And so, I don’t think that’s changed at all. I think when you get in the hallway, I’m still the same person. We’ve got guys, again my whole philosophy is if we’ve got guys trying and giving effort, then we’ll coach you. If we have to coach the effort and those things, that’s when we’re not fun to be around. And those are guys that are hard to count on. But we’ve got a bunch, we’ve got a group playing hard, practicing hard and giving us what they’ve got.”

Identity on offense:

“Yeah. I think what we do. We know the best personnel that we can put on the field. You know, I think you’re always growing and changing, but I think we’ve got a pretty good feel of who we are and what we are.”

How quarterback Treon Harris is handling media attention in light of criticism of Jeff Driskel:

“I think he is a grounded young man I think he is a guy that understands you know that he’s just trying to get better every week and I don’t think he’s really getting caught up in that. He is Jeff Driskel’s one of Jeff Driskel’s strongest supporters. He loves being in that room, loves being around Jeff supports Jeff and knows he’s working every day to get better and eventually be the quarterback. So I think Treon — I enjoy being around Treon and he’s just working is the best way I can say it.”

Tennessee being a barometer for Florida:

“You know, I haven’t even thought of it in those terms really at all. Hopefully we’re just improving every week getting better and guys are, you know, understanding maybe who we are, like I say, better and how it all functions. Those are my, I guess, my thought process. Really we go with a week-to-week mentality and who we’re playing next just happens to be Tennessee and hopefully we play better.”