MILLER REPORT: Reviewing the season so far

This is the bye week for Gator football. In many aspects, this is a great time for an off week. The season has made it through the first trimester. No abortion remarks please. There are clearly some issues that must be addressed before this team is ready to compete at the SEC level. An off week gives the coaching staff time to dissect the problems and make changes in both scheme and personnel. However, an off week after two poor weekends of Gator football will also give the wolves time to work up quite a lather at the door. Without a game this weekend, the Florida staff is unable to erase the stench and bad taste of the Tuscaloosa trip from the minds and palate of the Gator Nation. The fans are not happy and many feel Gator football is at its lowest state in decades. Just where is the Gator program at this point?

QUARTERBACK

I had high hopes for Jeff Driskel in new Offensive Coordinator Kurt Roper’s shotgun formation, up-tempo offense. I felt it suited Jeff’s talents much better than anything he had been asked to run so far at Florida. There is still time. The light could suddenly come on for Driskel and he could end up playing well for the rest of the season, but to this point it has not looked promising. Jeff looks confused and not very confident three games into his junior season. Receivers are upset that he has been unable at times to get the ball to them accurately when they were open. Personally, until they start actually catching the balls that do get to them I feel they should keep their dissatisfaction to themselves. Head Coach Will Muschamp claims that Jeff gives the team the best chance to win. If that is true, the Gators may be in for a very long season. I understand Muschamp’s reluctance to put a true freshmen in at quarterback in the SEC. it is almost always a recipe for disaster, but Roper needs better quarterback play than what he is getting to execute his offense. While I have reached the point where I feel that freshman Treon Harris needs to get a look in real game action, I am not one of those who believes Harris should start at Tennessee. I am skeptical that he will come in and excel. True freshmen quarterbacks usually do not fare too well in the SEC. That said, if I were the head coach, Treon would have a series or two in the first half against Tennessee just to find out what I had in case the light never comes on for Driskel. Then I would go with the hot hand.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Demarcus Robinson. I was tempted to stop right there in this category. I am confident the reader would have filled in the rest perfectly. Roper’s offense is not going to flourish with one viable receiver. To his credit, Roper has tried to get others involved in the passing game only to have them drop the ball when it actually made it to them. If your name is not Demarcus Robinson and you are a receiver for the Florida Gators, you do not need to be complaining about anyone else’s performance. The loss of Jake McGee to injury in game one has proven to be a much bigger blow than I had originally anticipated. Sometimes it is hard to tell if Clay Burton is trying to catch the pass or defend it. Andre Debose should be a huge weapon for Florida but just can’t seem to put it all together as a receiver. One or more additional playmakers must emerge in the passing game or it won’t matter who plays quarterback.

RUNNING BACK

This was supposed to be a huge strength for the Gators and so far it has been mostly positive. I don’t believe you can take much of anything from the first game against Eastern Michigan. EMU was just too outmatched. I guess it could be said that for any team to be so completely outmatched the Gators can’t be as bad as some think. The running game was superb against Kentucky but was not as effective against Alabama due to the above mentioned lack of a second receiver stepping up in the Florida passing game. Alabama went into the game committed to shutting down Robinson and stopping the run. They succeeded. Florida went into the game committed to shutting down Amari Cooper and stopping the run and failed miserably. For some reason, Kelvin Taylor only got four carries against Alabama. While I like the power running of Matt Jones and have been pleasantly surprised by his effectiveness this season, I believe Taylor gives the Gators their best chance of an explosive play in the running game and if healthy he needs more than four carries in a game. All in all, the running back unit looks solid and talented. If the defense was playing effectively Florida could actually win games just running the ball.

SECONDARY

I would love to begin this section by highlighting the good but I cannot really come up with anything. Other than Vernon Hargreaves, nobody looks like they belong on the field in the SEC to this point. Safety Keanu Neal has made some plays but also seems to be more interested in laying a Sportscenter hit than making the tackle at times. As is often the case with young inexperienced defensive backs, even when they are in good position they fail to make a play on the ball. Even more concerning is how often this season nobody has been in good position. I cannot remember the last time I have seen this many blown coverage plays by a Gator defense in just three games. Make no mistake about it, those secondary breakdowns have held the Gators back more than anything else this season. If Muschamp and defensive coordinator DJ Durkin cannot fix at least some of the issues in the secondary Florida may well end up needing that Idaho game to be bowl eligible.

LINEBACKERS

This unit has been adequate. Nothing more and nothing less. The only linebacker making big plays in Neiron Ball. The rest of the unit seems to be covering their assignments the vast majority of the time but not really dominating opposing offenses. That is really not a big problem. Solid play at linebacker is enough as long as the other units perform as well. However, as has already been mentioned, the secondary is not performing well. The front seven has been pretty good at forcing third down and something stoppable only to have the secondary give up the first down and keep everyone out on the field. If the secondary improves so will the linebacker play.

DEFENSIVE LINE

This is the unit that could help considerably. If the defensive line could become more disruptive it would improve the overall defensive play instantly. During the offseason I mentioned Jonathan Bullard as a player to watch this season. My logic was that if Bullard could become a serious threat on one end of the line it would prevent teams from loading up to control Dante Fowler. Like the linebackers, Bullard has been solid but not dominant. Florida needs the D-Line to have a bigger impact on the game than it is currently making. This may mean juggling the lineup a little. It might be time to move Bullard inside and find somebody that can provide a more disruptive pass rush at end opposite Fowler. It would appear that Alex McCalister will get the first shot at end. Bryan Cox JR could be another option there. Defensive tackle play has been more than adequate but moving Bullard inside should provide more of push up the middle. That would help Fowler as well. The bottom line is that the defensive line has played well but will need to be more disruptive for this defense to make up for the lack of experience in the secondary.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Placekicking seems to be better than last season but it does not instill a lot of confidence. Field goals are a hold-your-breath proposition. Missed field goals caused the Kentucky game to go to overtime. Francisco Velez has been good enough but by no means a sure thing. Kyle Christie has returned to the Ray Guy candidate form of 2012 and can be a real weapon in a close, field-position type game as long as the secondary doesn’t let the opposing offense out of the hole Christie puts them in. Kickoff and punt coverage has been pretty dependable.

COACHING

This is the area concerning most fans. Of course, there are numerous problems in numerous units of the football team but many believe that all of those shortcomings are the result of the man in charge of the football team, Head Coach Will Muschamp. I have been a supporter of Muschamp all along. Like many, I saw the mess he inherited at UF and the 11-2 season his second season with the Gators and believed I saw a team headed in the right direction. Then came the injury riddled 2013 season and the brutal 4-8 record. I came into 2014 expecting this to be a much better Florida Gator team that was ready to contend for the SEC East and that could still happen. While the Kentucky game was less than encouraging and the Alabama game was downright disheartening, the Gators only have one loss and it was expected to be a loss by most common sense folks. That doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.

Muschamp MUST get things corrected. Florida has a difficult schedule remaining and without team-wide improvement the record in 2014 may not be much better than 2013. That will not be acceptable. It is beginning to look as if the coach most responsible for the 11-2 2012 campaign might be in Seattle coaching on Sundays now. Will needs to prove that to not be the case. Meanwhile, with Driskel struggling at quarterback two former Gator quarterbacks are doing quite well at the schools they transferred to. This calls into question talent evaluation. Is it possible that Will and his staff are too concerned with seniority and attitude at practice and not doing a good enough job of putting the best players on the field when it counts? I do not pretend to know the answer to that question. Whatever it is, Muschamp needs to figure it out quickly or time may run out.

The 2014 season is by no means over nor is it a disaster. It is possible that the Gators can right the ship, win the vast majority of the games remaining and make it to Atlanta to represent the SEC East but it will take a lot of improvement by virtually every unit of the team (including the coaching staff) for that to happen. The schedule is not conducive to winning games with a mediocre team and at 2-8 over the last ten games calling this team mediocre may be generous. Mr. Muschamp it is time to make a difference while the season is still salvageable.