Making snide remarks or questioning the coaches about the Florida Gator offense these days is doing what my grandmother used to call “looking a gift horse in the mouth.”
Actually, I was never exactly sure what grandma meant by that, except that it had to do with being ungrateful.
A few Gator fans are always going to grouse, of course, but perhaps they are confusing versatility with a change in philosophy. Somehow they just don’t trust that Urban Meyer isn’t going to turn into Woody Hayes after the tractor-pull in Baton Rouge which featured a conservative ground attack.
The Gator offense is just fine, thank you. And the team is on track to make it back to Atlanta and beyond. So why complain? Which is to say, if somebody gives you a million bucks, would you complain about whether it came in a paper or plastic bag?
On the other hand, Meyer’s O did morph into a something a little different in Baton Rouge. Astute observers of what Meyer has dubbed the spread/option offense noticed that one of his “options” is also to lock it down, stay in a low-risk mode and defer to the special teams and D. That was also born out by the fact that Florida punted in two situations that normally a Meyer-coached team wouldn’t.
Urban calls that “game management.” Because he believed Brandon Spikes and the defensive unit were playing at such a high level, Meyer felt confident LSU wasn’t going to be able to drive the ball the length of the field.
Lost in all of this is that the offensive brain trusts — Urban, Steve Addazio, Billy Gonzales and Scot Loeffler — are astute enough to adapt to whatever the game situation might call for. Using what ostensibly was a Johnny Brantley game plan, they decided their best chance was to play low maintenance football with Tim Tebow taking the snaps.
I asked Urban how he got into that mode — not just the conservative offense, but also the special teams.
“You always go into the game with a plan,” he said. “We had two fourth downs where I don’t think we have ever punted in those situations before. It’s called ‘game management’ …”
Which is to say, Urban didn’t think LSU could beat him unless he beat himself.
It will be different Saturday because of the high potency of the Arkansas offense. If the Razorbacks can, as Bobby Petrino claims, move the ball on Florida, then you are not going to see a constant dose of dive plays — which you wouldn’t anyway.
Ryan Mallett has blossomed into maybe the second best quarterback in the SEC after his big show against previously unbeaten Auburn and has run up some impressive season passing stats: 1,422 yards with 13 touchdowns. He has five receivers with double-digit receptions, which means he knows how to check down on Petrino’s offense.
Once again, however, it’s not about the Florida offense, because Mallett has never been challenged by a defense like the Gators. And he’s going to find out quickly that he’s not throwing against Auburn or Texas A&M (47 and 44 points respectively). What he’ll be seeing is more like what he saw against Alabama (7-35).
Charlie Strong’s brilliant defensive maneuver in the second half against LSU flatly challenged the Tigers to run the ball against the Gators’ Joker package, but Les Miles and Gary Crowton steadfastly eschewed Charles Scott and chose to pass. Jordan Jefferson never had a chance to launch.
My guess is that Petrino will attack the middle of the Joker with tailback Michael Smith and maybe even use Mallet on the quarterback draw, trying to force Strong’s hand.
The real “Joker,” however, is Florida’s secondary. Meyer is extremely confident in his “back seven” of corners, safeties and nicklebacks and they way they cover react to the thrown ball. Rarely do you see a team with two shutdown corners like Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins. No doubt they, as well as safeties Major Wright, Ahmad Black and Will Hill and nickel Markihe Anderson have been double-challenged this week by Chuck Heater and Vance Bedford.
There’s one key stat that Petrino and Mallett should not overlook: The Gators have intercepted at least one pass in 17 straight games. There’s a reason that has happened. Actually two: The heat generated by the speed rusher in the Joker and the ball-hawking back seven.
I expect the Gators to pick at least two, maybe three, Mallett passes on Saturday and return one for a touchdown, making the final score Florida 38, Arkansas 10.