Gator Country

Florida redshirt junior running back Emmanuel Moody runs through the line during the second quarter of the Gators' 13-3 win against LSU on Saturday at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

There’s an old joke about a quarterback not having enough footballs to go around in order satisfy all the egos. That could be the truth about Urban Meyer, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. Because out of this conundrum was born the spread.

It was after that Saturday when Notre Dame had lost a close game to Nebraska that Meyer was trying to console David Givens, telling his devastated star Fighting Irish receiver not to take the defeat so badly.

“It’s not that, coach,” said Givens. “I didn’t touch the ball today!”

The shock of that reality hit Meyer so hard that he said to himself, “If I ever let that happen again I should be fired!”

From that day forward, Meyer designed an offense to get the ball in hands of his playmakers. So, you see, the spread sort of has a double meaning.

Players like Chris Rainey, Emmanuel Moody, David Nelson and Deonte Thompson should take heart: because says the ball may be coming your way soon.

Of course Urban often says things like that a lot and later seems to develop sideline amnesia during the games. He means well, but the pressure is winning is so great and the competition so intense that he tends to micromanage.

With a 49-9 record, two SEC titles and two national championships under his belt and with possibly one more of each coming this year, who’s to say Meyer is wrong?

Well, Urban, kind of. He expressed concern at his Monday press conference about “opening up the offense” starting this weekend against Arkansas.

There’s a groundswell of those who want to see more of Emmanuel Moody.

After the impressive inside power running by Moody against LSU, he appears to be ready to pop. Moody had 42 yards on six carries, much of it on second and third efforts. So does that mean we’ll be seeing his role enlarge?

I asked if Urban felt Moody was becoming a “full-fledged North-South runner” and whether he might be a bigger part of the offense.

“Yes, yes, and yes,” Meyer said, providing three answers to only two questions.

“He (Moody) had about a four-week late start this year because of injuries. His demeanor, his approach --- everything --- he has earned a little bit more time.”

Of course there is the matter of where he’s going to get that time and out of whose touches. Moody has only 24 carries for 230 yards, a 9.6-yard average. And already Rainey is getting somewhat shorted, with just 35 carries for 279 yards (7.8 ypc). Rainey, himself, has shown flashes of breakaway potential and Meyer has lamented several times that he needs more touches.

Certainly Meyer doesn’t want to cut the carries and production of Jeffrey Demps, whose speed stretches the field horizontally as the pitchman for Tim Tebow. He’s the team’s leading rusher with 390 yards on 44 carries (8.9 ypc).

Yet of the three, Moody is the better downhill runner and it clearly showed against LSU.

Who gives up the carries? That leaves Tebow. The plan was not to run him as much this season, but his 72 carries are by far the most on the team this year and he is on target to equal his 2008 carries (176).

Tebow, in fact, is among those Moody backers who thinks the red-shirt junior running back has earned more touches. I asked Tebow to evaluate him.

“I think he’s really stepped up and he’s taken a bigger role,” Tebow answered. “I told him I was very proud of him this game because that’s the hardest I’ve seen him play and the hardest I’ve seen run. He just needs to go out there every week and do that in practice and keep that intensity. And he’ll get more balls and get more carries. Because you could see how hard he ran the first chance he got --- the coaches will believe in him if he continues to perform like that.”

Then there is the matter of Nelson and Thompson, who have just 11 catches between them. Nelson proved himself last season as a money receiver in big games, but so far has only seen the ball seven times --- rarely in a key situation. He runs the medium routes and curls efficiently.

Thompson started slow with a couple of drops and an injury which caused him to miss two-and-a-half games. As the so-called primary receiver in this offense, he is expected to get open and make deep catches. In his return to action Saturday, he saw a lot of zone coverage and didn’t appear to be finding the creases although Tebow exactly find him, either. When he can finally be established as another deep threat, Florida’s offense will become much more productive.

The bulk of the throws have been to tight end Aaron Hernandez, who leads the team with 24 catches for 268 yards (albeit a good portion of those shovel passes), and wide receiver Riley Cooper, with 21 for 275. We certainly can’t lobby for taking any touches away from those two, who have been nothing short of brilliant.

What brings all this to light is the conservative approach Meyer took to the lockdown-and-grind-it-out attack he used against LSU, which is no way diminishes the performance or the importance of finding a way to win. It does mean a shorter game and fewer offensive plays, however.

The question now is whether we saw the true personality of the Florida offense at Tiger Stadium or if we’ll be seeing a more wide open attack that embraces the talents of these other players. We know what Urban says he wants to do. Now we’ll just have to wait and see whether he remembers to do it.

About the author

Buddy Martin

Buddy Martin is Executive Editor/CEO of GatorCountry.com, Gator Country Magazine and Gator Country TV. He has won more than 165 state and national awards for writing and editing, is the author of seven books and was a recipient of an Emmy while working for CBS Sports on "The NFL Today." The native son of Ocala and Florida-educated journalist is the former sports editor of the New York Daily News, Denver Post, St. Petersburg Times and Florida Today. His authorized biography of "Urban's Way" (St. Martin's Press) was scheduled for its paperback release in October 2009. It can be purchased at he Gator Country Store and all major book stores. Buddy can be contacted at buddy@gatorcountry.com.

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