GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No one will mistake the first Gators game with Charlie Weis as offensive coordinator for one of Brady Quinn’s outbursts at Notre Dame or Tom Brady and New England’s humming offense that won three Super Bowls with Weis calling the plays.
The term “vanilla’’ has even been used to describe Weis’ play-calling in Florida’s 41-3 win over Florida Atlantic in the season opener. For the most part, the offense was the two-man show of running backs Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey with some of quarterback John Brantley’s right arm mixed in.
Demps rushed for a game-high 105 yards and Rainey scored on a reception and a run – he also added a touchdown on a blocked punt return – but by his tally, Rainey said it seemed the Gators ran only about “six plays” the whole game.
“What do you think?’’ was Gators coach Will Muschamp’s response when asked about Rainey’s assessment of the variety on offense.
Weis had a little more fun breaking down Rainey’s breakdown of the offense.
“For Rainey to try to give you an analysis of what we’re doing – that’s comical in its own right,’’ Weis chuckled. “For him, there were six plays that had No. 1 attached to it, so as far as he’s concerned, those were the only six plays that existed.
“He forgot about all those other ones that [No.] 1 wasn’t getting the ball.’’
The Gators face what is expected to be a stiffer test on Saturday when UAB and first-year defensive coordinator Tommy West come to town. A longtime defensive coordinator and former head coach at Memphis and Clemson, West is in his first season with the Blazers.
UAB did not play a week ago so Weis and the Gators are taking looks at West’s defense with Memphis in 2009 to get an idea of what they might face.
While Weis didn’t throw the entire playbook at FAU as the Gators unloaded for 468 yards of total offense – that’s more yards than the Gators had in all but two games a season ago – he prefers another flavor other than vanilla to describe the play-calling.
“We obviously didn’t throw out the kitchen sink there, but we did enough things,’’ Weis said. “We upped the tempo, we went in and out of modes right there, we went in and out of personnel groupings. There was enough for our first game right there to let them kind of get a feel for the different things that we would like to do.”
The Gators had 30 first downs to FAU’s 11 – at one time owning an 18-0 advantage – and had a slight edge in time of possession (31 minutes, 21 seconds to 28:39). The Gators showed the kind of balance Weis is known for in his play-calling, throwing 36 passes and running 33 times.
Perhaps most importantly to Florida fans, Brantley appeared as advertised – much more comfortable in Weis’ pro-style offense than he looked a season ago in former coach Urban Meyer’s spread-option attack.
Weis praised Brantley for his poise and accuracy and said he managed the team “as well for an opener as you can possibly do.” Brantley finished 21 of 30 for 229 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He let Demps and Rainey do much of the heavy lifting.
“It was fun just giving the ball to our playmakers and seeing what they could do with it,’’ Brantley said. “We played well. We’ve just got to go out there and fix the things we messed up on this past weekend and just keep getting better.’’
The most alarming aspect of Florida’s season opener – for both Muschamp and Weis – was losing the turnover battle. The Gators failed to force a turnover, which didn’t sit well with the defensive-minded Muschamp, and threw three interceptions, which Weis did not enjoy seeing.
“When you have a minus-three turnover ratio for a game, usually you’re going to lose,’’ Weis said. “That’s one of our points of emphasis.’’
As the Gators move forward, Demps and Rainey will continue to play a major role. Both are fast and catch the ball out of the backfield. The tight end combination of Jordan Reed and Gerald Christian looked good in the first game according to Weis.
The next step will be opening up the vertical passing game and get receivers Deonte Thompson, Quinton Dunbar and Frankie Hammond more involved. Andre Debose is expected to factor in as well.
But to Weis, who said he scripts usually between 12 to 24 plays at the start of each game, there are no mysteries on getting an offense revved up to full speed.
“Everything starts with the run game. It’s obvious we’ve got a couple of dynamic guys with the ball in their hands,” Weis said. “Our job is to make sure that we utilize them enough and not too much, and I think that’s important.’’
