It might sound ridiculous, but No. 2 UF has been defeating its opponents by too much lately.
The Gators have outscored their last seven foes 369-82, and the blowout victories have left them ill-prepared for potential close contests against No. 23 FSU on Saturday and No. 1 Alabama next week.
UF hasn't trailed in a game since the Sept. 27 loss to Mississippi, and quarterback Tim Tebow hasn't played deep into the fourth quarter since a 51-21 win against LSU on Oct. 11, leaving coach Urban Meyer worried about how his team would handle playing from behind late.
"I actually had a heart-to-heart with them (Sunday), and we talked about how we've not really had a two-minute drill," Meyer said. "So at the end of practice we did about 15 minutes of hard two-minute drills."
Meyer said the team will add no-huddle, game-winning-drive situations to practices this week, but he's hesitant to tinker with a formula that has produced such solid results.
"Honestly, I'm horrified," he said. "I'm horrified because I think every great team and every great player I've been around has a routine. The only thing that screws it up is coaches. What concerns me is the fact that we have to keep this thing going, and the way to keep it going is not by busting up a routine. That's what keeps me awake."
The Gators' recent performances may be causing some restless nights for Meyer's counterparts in Tallahassee as well, where the Seminoles are plotting ways to get around a UF squad that leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring offense (46.5 points per game) and scoring defense (12).
FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said his unit will have to excel where most teams fail miserably against the Gators: making open-field tackles on speedy playmakers like Percy Harvin, Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, who average more than 8.5 yards per carry combined.
"What they do is force you to show your hand with your coverages and alignments with linebackers and linemen to see what you're going to try and defend, and then they do a good job of getting the play to the area they think is the weakest," Andrews said. "It'll take the best effort of the year for us to even have a chance."
The key for the Seminoles will be keeping UF from a fast start. The Gators have notched a 122-0 advantage in the first quarter of their last seven matchups, and a reversal of that trend would leave them in unfamiliar territory.
As FSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is quick to point out, it will take contributions from all of the Seminoles' units - not just the defense - to accomplish that task.
"They're not just a great offense, they're a team-point team," Fisher said. "The defense is scoring, and the special teams are scoring and setting up scores. You don't score that many points by just being a great offense. You have to have the dynamics on both sides to average points like that."
