On a cool Tuesday night in November, the most memorable speech this side of “The Promise” was issued in The Swamp.
UF offensive coordinator Steve Addazio talked reporters — and by proxy, fans — off the proverbial ledge after Florida’s offense sputtered to a 27-point output against Vanderbilt in the ninth game of the season.
Plenty of Gators fans are again finding themselves dangerously close to jumping after watching John Brantley take infield practice from center Mike Pouncey in UF’s 34-12 win against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
Despite Florida’s offense only mustering 212 yards — 25 heading into the fourth quarter — I’m going to try to talk fans down from that ledge, with a little help from the master.
“I know where the warts are, and like every year, you’re trying to fix warts, right?”
Right, Steve. No wart was as offensively ugly as Pouncey’s 13 mishandled or bad snaps, and the coaches know that. Urban Meyer couldn’t keep the team from looking like the “Bad News Bears” out there, despite his best efforts, because Pouncey failed to keep a stiff wrist or keep a good grip on the ball, and Brantley took his focus off the snap, according to Meyer. Pouncey and Brantley met at the football facilities Sunday morning to work on the problem, and it would be shocking to see something like that happen again.
“If you try to be something you’re not, sometimes that fails.”
Besides being great life advice, that statement speaks to how the coaching staff is trying to distribute the touches. There was a lot of talk about how Brantley was a good runner and there would still be plenty of opportunities for him to move like Tebow in 2010, but we saw none of that against the RedHawks. And that’s a good thing because Brantley is not Tebow. Could there have been more down-field throws? Absolutely. But the receiving corps is inexperienced and, at times, unreliable (see: Thompson, Deonte), so the best game plan is to get the ball to the stable of running backs. That didn’t go well because the offensive line was shuffled like a deck of cards due to injuries to Matt Patchan and Xavier Nixon. Both are expected to be back for USF, meaning the linemen don’t have to try to be something they’re not for a second straight week.
“We didn’t just fall off the pickle boat and all of a sudden we showed up 9-0.”
Not sure exactly what this means. And this time around, we’re only one game into the season, not nine. But one can assume Addazio was saying the Gators had the record they did because they were doing something right. And though there were plenty of new faces starting on offense Saturday, they’re on that field for a reason. By garnering significant playing time at, perhaps, the nation’s top football school, it’s safe to assume those guys are pretty darn talented. Brantley hadn’t started a game before this weekend, Chris Rainey had never played wide receiver, Omarius Hines had never played tight end and Maurice Hurt had never played tackle. But give this group a little time to play together as a unit. They can only go up from here. Some of them may not have shown it against Miami, but most of those guys were big-time recruits for a reason.
“At the end of the day, you’re fighting to make sure you have the best play that you can have within your structure. But at the end of the day, what do you want to do? Win. Win. You want to win, and that’s the goal.”
It’s unclear as to exactly which thing is more important once the clock strikes 12:01 a.m., but once again let’s take a leap of faith. Vince Lombardi, a far less talented orator than Steve Addazio, once said (or didn’t say, depending on who you believe), “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” As poor as UF’s offense played against Miami, the team still came away with a victory. There is no doubt that if the Gators have a similar showing against a more formidable foe, they should expect to lose. But for now, cheer up, Gators fans. At least your team (Ole Miss) didn’t give up 49 points to Jacksonville State or score three points (Kansas) against North Dakota State.
As Addazio succinctly said with South Carolina looming, “I’m just saying, so let’s – we gotta go, man, we gotta have a great week this week.” The same is true for the impending matchup with the Bulls. If the offense sputters again, I don’t have enough hands to catch all the fans who will be ready to jump.
