Florida offensive line coach Steve Addazio sees no issues with the play of Mike Pouncey at center. Addazio stated that he counted only three bad snaps on film.
“I went through the film, and we had one low, one wide and one high out of 60-some plays,” Addazio said after practice Tuesday. “You never want any, but that’s no different than last year at any given point. I know there’s a lot of focus on that right now, but that’s just the truth. There was on opening day and we all know that, but for the last game?”
Addazio, also said the Florida coaches haven’t considered making a change at center. Addazio said that Pouncey grades out a champion “every week,” and there is no thought of moving him.
“Absolutely not,” Addazio said. “Are you kidding me? We’re talking about a first round pick, the best offensive lineman in America and a phenomenal football player.”
Another focus of the Florida offense has been the option. Many have criticized a conventional drop-back passer like John Brantley and his ability to run the option. He doesn’t scare the opposing defense, so they are starting to key in on the pitch more.
“We’re always going to operate a little differently based on who our guys are,” Addazio said. “So you know right now in the option game with John Brantley, we’re averaging five yards a carry. That’s a fact. You need to have an element of option in your game to keep the defense honest, and it’s a part of who we are. That won’t change.”
Head coach Urban Meyer mentioned Monday that they will look this week to see if it is being overused.
“How many calls?” Addazio said. “That’ll be dictated by what we’re seeing (from the defense). If you take that element out, they no longer have to line up their pressures or blitzes, and you’re in a whole different kind of ball game. It’s a part of who we are, and that won’t change.”
The key to improving the Florida offense comes in mixing things up. Addazio thinks they have done a good job of keeping defenses off balance and not becoming too dependent on either the run game or the pass game.
“We’re pretty diverse,” Addazio said. “We still maintain some option, some spread and an empty throw game. We’re very diverse. I don’t think diversity is our issue right now. It’s really just execution within that diversity.”
“Numbers on the day aren’t numbers we were striving for, but they were higher than our opponent, except twice inside their five and we don’t score,” Addazio said. “Then twice more inside the 25, that’s four touchdowns. That’s the tale right there in a nutshell.”
The challenge now comes in a response against undefeated LSU, who barely got by Tennessee. The Gators are using Saturday’s loss as a rallying point.
“It was great after the game in the locker room,” Addazio said. It’s a team that’s not happy about what happened. There’s a really good attitude on this team.”