Publishers Comments: We have gotten the same excuses all year. "EXECUTION". Sometime during the 3rd quarter, Florida had 41 yards of total offense. 41 YARDS. I could find almost any high school coach in Florida and give him the talent on the Florida team and he would have more yards than that.
Steve Addazio needs to be relieved of the Offensive Coordinator duties at the end of the year. There is no excuse that can be given other than COACHNG.
Courtesy of Orlando Sentinel
GAINESVILLE — Perhaps more troubling than a lack of offense, a run defense and the quarterback play for Florida should be this — no one had answers for what went wrong.
Reeling after a 36-14 loss to South Carolina on Saturday, the Gators (6-4, 4-4 SEC) had no explanation why.
A few things were clear. South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was unstoppable, at least against Florida's weak run defense. He finished with 243 all-purpose yards, outgaining the Florida offense.
On that side of the ball, the Gators were abysmal. Florida rushed for 35 yards, gave up three sacks and stuck by starter John Brantley even as he struggled throughout the game.
"If I had an answer for that, then we wouldn't have struggled," said coach Urban Meyer of the Gators' offense.
How did it look to him? "The same thing it looked like to you guys, very nonfunctional," he said.
That leaves Florida in a rather troubling spot 10 games into the season. With a home game left next week against Football Championship Series opponent Appalachian State and a trip to rival Florida State, the Gators offense must improve or the quality of its bowl game will continue to drop.
Instead of answers, the Gators gave their stock response for the season — execution. That was the fall guy for a three-game losing streak in October, the longest ever for Meyer. Not play calling, not the players (or a lack thereof), not a quarterback that doesn't fit the offense or coaches unwilling to adjust to the skill sets of the players.
Execution.
"These last two weeks, we had great games. We called the same plays this week," said Brantley, who finished with 130 yards passing, was sacked twice and had several balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. "It's tough to say. Things happen."
What has happened is this. The Gators are at their lowest point under Meyer. Coming into the year, Meyer had two losses in The Swamp. He's got three this season.
At 6-4, the best Florida could finish is 9-4. That would match their 2007 mark in terms of wins and losses but not in terms of optimism. Tim Tebow won a Heisman Trophy that year and the Gators had reason to hope for improvement. With the current players, that optimism seems to be missing.
Instead, Florida has little time to come up with an answer for what went wrong.
"I think it's just execution. Our guys were ready for this week," said Meyer. "They gave us everything they had in practice. Obviously, a severe letdown. Pretty good team we played out there.
"We're just not a great team right now."
Perhaps that is the only, and best, answer the Gators can give.
