Somewhere between christening Mike DiFerdinando - our often overly optimistic friend and colleague - "Butters," and trying to fit our group dynamics into that of the wildly popular TV show South Park, it occurred to me.
Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio is Canada.
If you've seen the South Park movie, you're familiar with the parents' musical affront on our neighbors to the north titled "Blame Canada." They blame their children's foul mouths and general disrespect on Canada, the birth place of controversial TV stars Terrance and Phillip.
In this post-Arkansas scare scenario, we need to just replace Terrance and Phillip with Timmy and Riley.
No matter what seems to go wrong on the field, Addazio draws the ire of fans and media alike.
The only problem is: This 23-20 offensive debacle doesn't fall on Addazio's shoulders, not entirely anyway.
Yes, the play calling continues to be uncreative and predictable.
Yes, Emmanuel Moody and Jeff Demps need more touches.
And yes, Omarius Hines should get a chance to show that he can be better than the warm body that some of the other receivers have been all season.
But the real problem Saturday was poor execution, not game planning.
The Gators fumble four times and Riley Cooper drops a perfectly thrown deep ball that would have went for a touchdown.
Blame Addazio!
Tim Tebow holds the ball too long, gets sacked six times and tucks it and runs 27 times.
Blame Addazio!
The defense lets up uncharacteristically big plays at crucial moments in the game.
Blame Addazio!
There's plenty that should be blamed on Addazio, but it's important that his players' lack of execution doesn't fall on the offensive coordinator's shoulders.
Let's not forget there was a similar public outcry about the ineptitude of former UF offensive coordinator and current Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen around this time last season, right before the team went on a scary-good offensive tear.
I certainly don't believe that will happen again this year, but let's give Addazio a little more of a chance to make the necessary adjustments before calling for his head.
Hopefully, he'll be able to identify that Arkansas and coach Bobby Petrino really focused on taking away the dive play that Addazio has run about 1.2 X 10^8 times in the last few weeks.
Perhaps, he can identify that Demps and Chris Rainey's games are predicated on speed, and there's no reason the offense can't attack off-tackle and on the edges with some regularity in the run game. Bring back the sweep plays that made the running game so explosive last season, and maybe even work in a little misdirection if you really want to get crazy.
Addazio also needs to find a way to put his receivers in a situation to succeed and make plays, even if that means taking his Heisman Trophy winner by the ear and letting him know that 27 runs is an unacceptable number. Keep your eyes down field and manipulate the pocket, Tim.
The offensive X's and O's haven't been perfect - or even very good at times - but it was 100 times better against Arkansas than it was against LSU.
Sure, Addazio and the offense went back to a gimmicky end-around play on a third and 1 (though Riley Cooper was not suppose to throw on that play) just as they did the week before, but Florida could have scored upwards of 40 points without the aforementioned fumbles and drops.
Against the Tigers, the Gators were probably still looking at putting somewhere between 20 and 30 points on the board even if everything went according to plan because of an embarrassingly conservative scheme designed to control the clock and lean on the defense.
If the team executes better and Addazio can make a few small adjustments, then I see no reason why UF can't have a big day against Mullen's Bulldogs this weekend.
If not: Blame Addazio!
