Florida coach Urban Meyer said it's his job to find answers for a struggling football team. But that doesn't mean the removal of Steve Addazio as offensive coordinator.
"Oh, I don't think that will happen," Meyer said during his Monday news conference. " I'm not into blame. I'm not into excuses. I'm into solutions.
"Well, the head coach will be back next year. I mean, I can't say that. I hope I am. I'm going to do the best I can to get this thing back to an elite level, which is what we all expect. I'm not sure that's appropriate to even talk about right now. At some point (I'll talk about it), absolutely."
Meyer said the task the rest of the season is to send the seniors out on a winning note.
"This is a great senior class, a great group of guys," he said. "We want to send them out winners. That's our whole intent this week."
Meyer's take on other subjects:
On John Brantley: "Once again, he'll start at quarterback for Florida this weekend. We have to do a better job in a lot of areas. To say it's all our quarterback, that's not fair. Our team wouldn't say that."
On the offensive line: "I would say that if they were better and they gave us the best chance to win they'd be in there. The Matt Patchan thing has been a tough go for us. I don't see an offense full of life, full of energy. I don't see that around our offense right now. We're trying to energize that group somehow. We thought the up-tempo would help and it did help. We're a staff that believes energy equals production."
On Jordan Reed playing an expanded role: "Perhaps. We're going to look at that this week in practice. He does provide some energy, you see the energy level, which is critical at the center of this offense."
On Dominique Easley: "He is back on the team and practicing. As of today I wouldn't say it's resolved but he's doing a good job in the classroom and working hard."
On what's wrong: "Special teams I think has been a positive. ... Defensively, when you keep a team on the field for 40 minutes they're going to give. You're going to see breaks, bends, and we did. We're not the dominant defense we have been in the last several years. Offensively is the area that's of prime concern right now. We're pushing every button possible to get that fixed.
"We were never able to get into the tempo of the game because of lost yardage, because of penalties, because of not being able to establish on first down. We started slow. South Carolina, we knew, when we got into third-and-long they would drop everybody. It's hard to complete a pass when there's eight or nine droppers. We were never able to get into a rhythm and utilize that up-tempo offense. They kind of took Trey Burton away early, and if we had to do it again we would not have taken it out. He's a play-maker that we need to keep involved. So, that's a little bit. There's a lot more but I've got to go work out here in a minute.
"Last week was devastating, but the resiliency, I like what they did yesterday (in practice). Not much was said. They all know what happened. ... There's a void in our team right now, somewhere. I'm trying to figure out what it is. Whether it be energy level, whether it be chemistry. We've experienced that. When you take five players of the quality of (the players who went to the NFL) and the energy level they brought. We've always been a high-energy, up-tempo, chest-bumping, flying-around team. I see the same thing you guys see. I don't see that. I see it from some. So there's a void somewhere in there that we've got to recruit to it, develop it and coach the mess out of it. Cause that's what we are. That's Florida football. It doesn't exist at the level that we expect right now.
"We're going to play all three. Johnny will start if he has a great week of practice, which I anticipate he will because yesterday he had an excellent practice."
On getting away from the quarterback shifting and no-huddle, up-tempo against South Carolina: "It was probably a mistake. We felt a little panicked when we really shouldn't have. I'm one of those guys who gets panicky. I've got to learn to shut my mouth sometimes and say we have a plan, go with the plan. I put that one on me. I'm used to plays around here. Let's make some plays. Let's get some hits. Let's do something. And that wasn't happening."
On recruiting running backs: "It's hard. I didn't realize how hard it is. We're going to try to develop what we've got."
On Xavier Nixon: "We miss him. He was back yesterday full speed."
