As if three losses and a baffling offensive scheme weren’t enough, the Gators football team managed to bump itself off the road to the Southeastern Conference championship Saturday, losing against the South Carolina Gamecocks 36 to 14.
The Gamecocks, for the first time in history, defeated the Gators in The Swamp and crushed any hopes of a Gator SEC championship title.
A failure to plan is a plan to fail but apparently, Steve Addazio, UF offensive coordinator, didn’t get the memo.
The new offensive scheme, led with a quarterback and two pseudo-quarterbacks, proved to be a massive failure and left Gator fans wondering, “Who is our quarterback, and what are they doing?”
Apparently, variety is not a big enough factor to win football games. Neither is a fiery start. Andre Debose, a redshirt freshman wide receiver, returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but what happened next surprised everyone.
Ahmad Black and cornerback Janoris Jenkins picked up most of the slack for the defense in the second half of the game, but they alone were not enough to make a game-changing impact for the already struggling Gators on their way to failure.
What is obvious is that something needs to change.
The Gators need to use our offensive weapons more effectively and stop relying on a quarterback-running back scheme because we clearly don’t have it down.
The days of the Tebow-Harvin powerhouse are long gone, and the earlier the coaches and coordinators accept it, the better.
Use the advantages of the wide receivers’ and running backs’ speed and pair it with the versatility and size of the tight ends and we could be unstoppable.
Gators, we have to do better.
Embracing the new shape of the Gator offense and finding a way to use the recruiting class effectively are the next challenges for the team to overcome.
Of course, SEC title hopes are a thing of the past, but we can improve from here and regain some of that lost dignity, pride and respect for Gator Nation football.
