Apparently explaining the lack of production from Florida's wide receivers is harder than anyone thought.
When the media had the opportunity to speak with senior receiver David Nelson and wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales after practice Sunday, we were expecting them to help us figure out what went wrong against Tennessee.
No wideout caught more than three passes, gained more than 26 yards or made a single play longer than 14 yards as Tim Tebow threw for a mere 115 yards on the day.
Anyone watching the game could tell UF had no way of stretching the field with Deonte Thompson sidelined, and the receivers that were on the field often failed to get open or even catch the ball.
UT defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin masterfully put together a zone coverage scheme that took away the very principles the spread offense is founded on: get your playmakers in one-on-one situations in space.
Still, the Gators are one of the most talented teams - if not the most talented team - in the nation, and the Volunteers aren't exactly a national powerhouse at the moment.
There has to be some sort of explanation for what happened on the Gators' side of the ball.
Yet, what we got from Nelson and Gonzales was an eventual dismissal of all the plausible explanations.
Somehow all three starting wide receivers graded out as champions, which means that Nelson, Riley Cooper and Brandon James did what was asked of them on almost every play, according to Gonzales.
Good to know, because this whole time I mistakenly thought a receiver's primary function was to catch passes, not block for running backs.
Either way, it wasn't the receivers fault. They did what was asked of them according to the coaches.
Perhaps it was more a matter of the personnel that wasn't on the field, as explosive Andre Debose and Thompson watched from the sideline.
"We've got playmakers now," Gonzales said. "We just have to make sure we put them in the right spots to make plays."
OK, so not a lack of playmakers.
Maybe the coaches didn't put them in the right places at the right times.
"Players make the play, it's not the plays that make the players," Gonzales added no more than two minutes later.
Now I'm confused.
On the one hand, it's the coaches responsibility to put them in a position to succeed, but on the other hand, it's ultimately the players' responsibility to make plays regardless of the what is drawn up.
But we already know the receivers must have taken care of that responsibility, they graded out as champions, remember?
Alright, maybe it was that underachiever Tim Tebow. Or that offensive line.
They had to be the ones messing things up. After all, you can't get the ball to the receivers without blocking and throwing.
"It's never the quarterback and it's never the offensive line, so it's got to fall on our shoulders," Nelson said. "I put the blame solely on us, and we watched film today. There were some plays where we could've been open. There were some plays where some guys were in the wrong spot at the wrong time at the wrong situation."
Wait a minute, I thought you guys all graded out as champions?!
But how do you grade out as champions if you're not getting open?
"We were open," Nelson added. "We were open this weekend. We were making plays. We made some plays this weekend that we were really excited to see."
Didn't you just tell us that the blame fell solely on the receivers?
And that there were plays when you could've done a better job getting open?
But now you were actually open the whole time?
After talking to Gonzales and Nelson, we can eliminate the coaching, the lack of personnel, the quarterback, the offensive line and the receivers themselves as reasons for the poor performance.
Either Eric Berry and Co. were better than we thought, or the definition of "champion" has significantly slipped in Gainesville.
