Maybe it’s time we got the hint and came to the realization that this is going to be one of those seasons when we really shouldn’t ask or expect much more of Florida’s offense than scoring a few more points than the other team. Nine games into this unbeaten season it seems quite obvious that it might be asking too much of this team to pile on the points because they just don’t seem to have any kind of offensive rhythm and we’re still waiting for that one playmaker who can send shivers up and down the spine of every defensive coordinator in the country. Piling on the points would certainly make this season somewhat less of a Maalox experience for the Gators but scoring early and often hasn’t been necessary the way the special teams and defense have been playing and as they proved Saturday night, two out of three ain’t bad.
Just a week ago the Gators (9-0, 7-0 SEC East) gave the appearance that they had turned the offensive corner with a hit-on-all-cylinders win over Georgia. Instead of following up on that win with another solid effort, the Gators came in with a 27-3 win over Vanderbilt that was downright boring. Missed assignments and a measure of predictability in the play calling had something to do with it but the biggest thing missing was a wow factor. It was blatantly obvious the Gators didn’t have a single playmaker capable of negating blitzes and forcing safeties to play 25 yards off the line of scrimmage.
Florida’s offense was pure pedestrian against the Commodores and fortunately, that’s all it had to be. The Gators scored three touchdowns but only one was the result of a sustained drive. The other two were set up by a Ryan Stamper interception that gave the Gators the ball at the Vandy 34 and a special teams mistake by Vanderbilt punter Brett Upson, who went to his knee to catch a punt snap, turning the ball over to the Gators at the Commodore 13.
The Gators didn’t turn the ball over and they managed 375 yards but 64 of those came on a single pass play in the fourth quarter when the game was all but another notch in Florida’s win column. The Gators netted only 148 rushing yards because the Vanderbilt pass rush got to Tim Tebow four times for 30 yards in losses. Other than the 64-yard pass play in which the ball actually traveled only 15 yards in the air, the longest pass play of the night was 17 yards.
“We just didn’t have the big play production,” said Florida coach Urban Meyer after the Gators ran their record to 9-0 and their nation’s best winning streak to 19 games.
The lack really matter against Vanderbilt because the special teams and defense were that dominant. The Gators didn’t get many big plays but they limited Vandy to even fewer.
The Gators needed a great game on kickoff coverage and they got it. Vanderbilt’s Warren Norman came into the game averaging 28.4 yards per return and he had taken three to the house. Against the Gators his five returns netted just 99 yards with a longest of 24 because the coverage unit took away all the running lanes.
“Our coverage units are playing at the highest level, probably the highest level I’ve ever had the privilege of being around,” Meyer said. “Those guys did a good job of containing their kickoff returner.”
Due to missed assignments, potential drives turned into punting situations. Fortunately, punting is a good thing because Chas Henry no longer has that tight hamstring that hampered him the first six games of the season and everything that comes off his foot lately has the look and sound of a bazooka. His four punts were launched for a 52.8-yard average and they yielded only 13 return yards for a net change of field position of 52 yards. Henry had a short punt of 44 yards but his other three sailed more than 50.
“This is the second game in a row we had complete domination by the coverage units,” Meyer said. “When you think about our punter and what he did … we talk about playing great defense and you see that all over the place in here, but the motivation to play great defense is also special teams and offense taking care of the ball. The coverage units are tied right directly to playing great defense.”
For the fifth time in nine games, the Gators held an opponent without an offensive touchdown. Through nine games the Gators have given up only 91 points and six offensive touchdowns.
Vanderbilt managed only 199 yards of offense against the Florida defense, 99 on the ground and 100 through the air. The Commodores only got into Florida territory twice the entire game, once on their opening drive when they got to the Florida 35 before meeting a stone wall and then on their opening drive of the third quarter when they got to the Florida 15 before settling for a field goal.
“When it came time to make a stop, they made it every time and held them to a field goal,” Meyer said.
That is what Meyer has come to expect from a defense that he says is “the number one defense in America and if not, we should be.” The defense definitely should be the number one defense in the country when Brandon Spikes returns from his one-game suspension and when tackles Lawrence Marsh and Jaye Howard get back into good football shape from injuries that kept the out of games.
With Spikes out of the lineup, Ryan Stamper moved over to the middle and Dustin Doe took over on the weakside. Stamper finished with six tackles, while Doe led the Gators with 11.
With the defense totally containing the Commodores — they averaged only 3.6 yards per play on their 56 snaps and just 3.4 on every pass — and special teams giving the Gators a distinct field position advantage, the offense really didn’t have to do much. Three of the four sacks were blown assignments, two on the line and one in the backfield. Tebow was forced to scramble several times and while he didn’t have adequate time to throw deep, he was an efficient 15-20 for 208 yards.
And it’s not like the Gators needed a lot of points, either. They actually produced enough points to win the game in the first half when they sandwiched 27 and 45-yard field goals by Caleb Sturgis around a 25-yard touchdown run by Jeff Demps off an option pitch on fourth and one gamble with 12:43 left in the second quarter.
On the touchdown, which was set up by Stamper’s interception, Vanderbilt expected Tebow to carry the ball between the tackles but instead of the usual power play, Tebow swung outside the containment and when the corner committed to him, pitched to Demps around the right side for a very easy touchdown.
“We took a gamble on fourth and one,” Meyer said. “He [offensive coordinator Steve Addazio] called the perfect play. It’s a little bit of a risky play because if they’re not pinching it’s not a great play. They were in a 6-0 blitz — we call it a 6-0 no deep blitz — and we knew if we got it executed it was a walk-in.”
The other two touchdowns came on a one-yard run by Tebow to end an 11-play, 64-yard drive in the third quarter and a Tebow to David Nelson pass for eight yards with 9:22 left in the game. The pass actually was meant for Riley Cooper but the ball skipped off his hands and Nelson picked it off in the end zone for the final touchdown of the night.
Florida managed only two plays of 20 yards or more the entire game, but that was adequate. Adequate is probably the best word to describe Florida’s offense most of the season. The Gators have left far too many points on the field and settled for far too many field goals instead of touchdowns, but they have gotten more points than the opponents nine out of nine times. With the defense and special teams there to pick up the slack, that’s all that has been necessary.
Florida’s offense may never find a groove and turn into the type that will scare anyone this season but they don’t need a lot of points. Defense and special teams have proven they can pick up the slack, just like they did Saturday against Vanderbilt. Through nine games, at least, two out of three ain’t bad.