Wisconsin transfer QB Graham Mertz made his first start for the Florida Gators on Thursday night against Utah inside Rice-Eccles Stadium. Despite an ugly offensive performance that led to Florida’s 24-11 loss, Mertz completed 31 of his 44 passes (70.5%) for a career-high 333 yards, one touchdown, and one interception for a 139.8 passing efficiency in his first start in Orange & Blue.
Mertz’s lone interception came on a miscommunication with veteran WR Ricky Pearsall. Utah sent a beautifully designed blitz that broke through the Gators’ offensive line, forcing Mertz to get the ball out quickly on a 3rd and 6 from Florida’s 11-yard line. Pearsall didn’t pick up the adjustment route and ran the route as designed, which led to an interception. The only other option Mertz had here was to take a sack, which would have put Florida in an uncomfortable Special Teams position as they would have had to punt from the two-yard line. This is an interception I can live with, as it was simply caused by a great defensive play call. Although the timing of the interception was unfortunate.
Outside of that interception, Mertz didn’t put Florida’s offense in any type of danger, posting a turnover worthy play rate of 3.92%. For comparison, Anthony Richardson’s turnover worthy play rate in 2022 was 6.40%. To be fair, Mertz was not asked to make many challenging throws as Billy Napier had to adjust to wide receiver and running back screens, which essentially took place of the non-existent running game.
In his Gators debut, Mertz became the fourth Florida quarterback in program history with 300 yards passing, 30 completions and a 70% completion percentage in a game, joining Rex Grossman (2002 vs. Georgia), Tim Tebow (2010 vs. Cincinnati) and Kyle Trask (three times).
“I was pleased with Graham,” Napier said on Mertz in the postgame press conference. “I think there was a handful of plays that he’d like to have back. A few early that were a little inaccurate at times, but he made a lot of plays, too. It’s the first game he’s ever tossed for 300-plus. And for the most part out there, the guy’s doing what we would want him to do. The ball is going where it’s supposed to go.”
So what went wrong with Florida’s offense? The big men up front. Florida’s offensive line allowed five sacks for 47 yards, posting a pass block grade of 68.9, according to Pro Football Focus. The run blocking wasn’t any better as the Gators’ running back duo of Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne combined for just 28 yards on 10 carries. Neither back had much room to work with as Etienne averaged 2.14 yards before contact and Johnson averaged .67, according to SEC Stat Cat. Florida’s offensive line created just 1.75 yards before contact against Utah. For comparison, Florida’s offensive line in 2022 led the Gator backfield to 2.48 yards before contact.
On top of the poor pass and run blocking, Florida’s offensive line suffered critical penalties that stalled Mertz and the Gators’ offense. Florida had five short yardage penalties, four of them on third down and one on fourth.
“Often times, the quarterback gets too much credit, too much blame,” Napier said postgame. “It’s about, when you really dig into it, it’s going to be about the players around him playing well.”
“We’ve got to give them an opportunity to impact the game,” Napier said on the running game. “And then when we did run it, I don’t necessarily think it was as effective as we would want it to be. I can tell you more after we watch the tape. In general, there’s no question, we have to run the ball effectively in the future.”
With Tennessee coming up in week three, Florida will need to figure out their offensive line before entering SEC play, in efforts to put points on the scoreboard.
“Execution. I think that’s the word, that’s the theme. That’s what I need to see from myself, I need to hold myself accountable to that, and I need to see that across the board. I am going to push the guys every day. We just have to execute.”
Florida will likely get starting center Kingsley Eguakun back by week three, which should help the offensive line play and overall communication on offense.