GAINESVILLE — Shortly after Florida hammered Florida Atlantic 41-3 in the Gators' season opener, Gators running back Chris Rainey was asked about offensive coordinator Charlie Weis' new pro-style offense.
"We only did like six plays - that's it," said Rainey, who was correct that Florida kept its approach basic but was a little off in his interpretation of the game plan.
"For Rainey to try to give you analysis of what we're doing - that's comical," Weis said. "For him, there was six plays that had No. 1 (Rainey) attached to it, so as far as he was concerned, they were the only six plays that existed. He forgot about all those other ones that No. 1 wasn't getting the ball.
"We obviously didn't throw out the kitchen sink there, but we did enough things ... There was enough for our first game to let them kind of get a feel for the different things that we would like to do."
But there is a secondary goal of keeping some aspects of the offense a secret. If Florida can survive on a limited playbook against Alabama-Birmingham Saturday (7 p.m., Fox Sports Florida), it will prevent Tennessee, its first SEC foe, from being able to fully prepare a week later.
The simplified approach was dominant against FAU. The Gators amassed 468 yards of total offense - a mark they surpassed only twice last season - and scored on six of their nine possessions.
Weis searched for criticism, but had trouble mustering much of it.
"You're always cynical as a coach ... but there were a lot of positives," he said.
Rainey and Demps took 23 of the 31 run plays and averaged eight yards per carry.
Weis kept quarterback Brantley's passes in the short-to-medium range, and Brantley turned in the second-highest completion percentage of his career. He was 21 of 30 for 229 yards, and had one touchdown pass against two interceptions.
Many of those were quick throws to Demps and Rainey out of the backfield. He targeted Rainey seven times, more than any other player.
One of the interceptions was tipped at the line of scrimmage, and Weis said he identified only one mental mistake by Brantley the entire night (probably the second pick, which was thrown into triple coverage in the end zone). In the first live run of the new pro-style offense, Brantley did "as well as ... you could possibly do."
Brantley felt confident, too. Freed from the ill-fitting spread-option offense he ran last year under former coach Urban Meyer, he thought the strong performance in the opener should be a positive indicator for the rest of the season.
"We've got some stuff to clean up, some blocking schemes and stuff like that, but for the most part we played pretty well," he said.
Procedural components of the game also seemed to run smoothly. The first-string offense committed one penalty - breaking the huddle with 12 men on the field in the second quarter - and Weis got play calls in quickly.
The rhythm from one play to the next and the speed with which Florida was able to line up and snap the ball was an improvement over last year.
"It was real fast," right guard Jon Halapio said. "By the time we got to the ball, there was already a play there. Coach Weis is really good with play-calling. There's no waiting."
Once Florida gets past UAB (a second straight lightweight), the schedule gets substantially more difficult. Coach Will Muschamp was pleased after beating FAU, but warned that "we've got to be realistic" regarding the talent level disparity.
Tennessee, which visits Ben Hill Griffin Stadium a week from Saturday, was within a touchdown against the Gators late in the fourth quarter last year, though Florida won 31-17. After a late-September trip to Kentucky, the Gators next month will face Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia, all of whom were in the top four in the SEC in total defense last season. Collectively, they return 23 of a possible 33 starters on defense.
