The Florida Gators’ offense has played in some ugly games this season, but arguably none uglier than the one that unfolded at EverBank Field in a 42-7 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday.
The first play from scrimmage perfectly summed up the performance Florida’s offense put on for the rest of the game. After having two weeks to prepare for the Bulldogs, the very first thing the Gators did on offense was false start.
That led to the first of three consecutive three-and-outs to start the game, while Georgia scored 21 points in the same timeframe.
It seemed like every time Florida got something positive going on offense, there was another silly penalty to set it back. The Gators finished with 14 penalties for 85 yards against the Bulldogs, and eight of those were false starts on the offense.
Some of those plays simply have to do with lack of discipline, but some have to do with lack of communication. Redshirt freshman quarterback Feleipe Franks took full responsibility for those issues following the game.
“They’d yell really loud ‘move’ and then their front would just move and kind of caught our guys off guard a little bit sometimes,” Franks said. “It’s just the communication piece. I can do a better job, like I was telling them on the sidelines, just communicate better and being louder, making sure they hear my voice and not the defenses voice. And then, we just gotta dial in as an offense. Like I said man I just put all that on my back. It all boils down to me and I’ve gotta do a better job and that just has to be contagious.”
Poor discipline and communication along the line was just a small part of Florida’s offensive struggles in the game. Once again, play calling was not great, and the offense couldn’t produce in many situations. That showed in some of the most important ones.
Head coach Jim McElwain opted to go for it on fourth down in field goal range two different times in the game.
The first came early in the second quarter after the Gators drove all the way from their own 14-yard line to Georgia’s 4-yard line. At that point, Florida needed points on the board, but McElwain felt a touchdown was the only hope for getting back in the game. Franks and the offense could not convert.
The same situation came about on Florida’s first drive of the second half. At fourth down on Georgia’s 24-yard line, Franks couldn’t connect with tight end DeAndre Goolsby in the end zone.
Instead of possibly being just two scores down at 21-6, the Gators remained scoreless with all life deflated from the offense.
“Well, we felt at that juncture, we felt we needed touchdowns, not Eddy’s leg at that time, and we’ve been pretty good on fourth down,” McElwain said. “It was something that on that we knew we had four downs going forward. They stopped us.”
Franks looked uncomfortable and made several poor decisions throughout the night. He finished with just 30 yards passing, one interception and a fumble near the end zone that the Bulldogs recovered for a touchdown.
When he felt the pressure from Georgia’s defense, he did not know when to hold onto the ball and when to let it go, and several of his decisions could’ve ended much worse than they did.
Despite not being able to move the offense most of the night, or much at all recently, Franks still feels confident in himself to turn things around.
“I’m not going to fold,” he said. “I’ve never been the type to lose confidence, because everybody’s going to have their opinion. It’s a part of me being in my position. That’s why I love it, so I’m definitely going to keep working man, and these guys are going to keep working and we’re going to come out next week ready to play.”
While Florida’s passing game was nearly non-existent with Franks, the running game still managed to produce. Lamical Perine quietly shined with a 93-yard night as Malik Davis went into the locker room with a knee injury early.
The Gators finished with 183 rushing yards, but it was not nearly enough to make up for the disaster that was the remainder of the offense.
Somehow, seven games into the 2017 season, Florida’s offense has managed to regress. In three years under McElwain, the offensive guru and his staff have not made much of a difference for a team desperately needing to bring back some firepower.
Someone needed to take responsibility for it. Finally, McElwain did on Saturday night, but with the way this week shaped out, he might not be there to help change it going forward.
“I know what I was brought here to do. Look, we haven’t been good on offense. I get it. We’ve won a few games, but we haven’t won enough, haven’t won a championship. That’s real. That’s life. That is this business, and I take full responsibility for all of it. There’s no doubt.”