Although Florida fans were expecting to get its first look at Kurt Roper’s new offense, they would have to wait another week to do so as the season opener versus Idaho was suspended last weekend due to unsafe weather in the area.
The original 7 p.m. kickoff time was delayed for two hours and 48 minutes, and the game kicked off at 9:50 p.m. Valdez Showers returned the opening kick for 64 yards down to the Idaho 14 yard line before both teams were escorted off the field after more lightning was reported in the area.
The game was suspended shortly thereafter due to weather as well as unsafe field conditions. Roper said that the field conditions were a bit of a concern in terms of play-calling if the game were to be played.
“You just wondered how hard it was going to be to exchange the football, whether it was between the quarterback and center, center and running backs,” Roper said. “And you start wondering how wet it is when you’re going to throw it. One of the advantages offenses get when it’s really wet is you know where you’re going and those DBs don’t.”
The long delay didn’t have too much of an effect on quarterback Jeff Driskel while he waited in the locker room for the game to start.
“He's a real even-keeled guy,” Roper said. “He handles things really well. And that's what I like about him; he doesn't ride the wave of emotions like I like to talk about quarterbacks doing. He's pretty steady.”
Added Driskel: “I think it’s good that guys were let down. We just have a bunch of competitors on the team that just want to get out and start the year off right.”
Driskel, fully recovered from a season-ending broken right fibula during last year’s Tennessee game, has appeared more comfortable and confident in Roper’s new offensive scheme in spring practice and the offseason.
Through the entirety of fall camp, he didn’t throw a single interception.
For Driskel to have a successful outing, Roper expects a high completion percentage.
“When I first started putting goals together — Coach Cut (David Cutcliffe from Duke) started teaching me to put goals together — at the end of the game, 60 percent was our goal,” the first-year UF offensive coordinator said. “Really, it’s higher now because of all the things that happen behind the line of scrimmage and things like that.”
Like a multitude of offenses throughout the Southeastern Conference, Florida’s up-tempo scheme will allow the offense to run a high number of plays in a single game.
But Roper is focusing more on production than how many plays the offense can grind out each week.
“We’ve never just put a number on it and said, ‘here is exactly how many plays we want to run,’” Roper said. “If you get up around the 80 range, you are running a lot of plays. If you get above 75, you’ve had pretty good tempo. It all really is determined by how successful you have been on third downs in a lot of instances.”
Florida’s next chance to get out on the field comes Saturday against Eastern Michigan, which hails from the Mid-American conference. Roper says the Eagles’ defense presents some different challenges than Idaho’s unit from last week.
“They play more with a 3-down front than a 4-down front,” he said. “I think they don’t mind playing a little bit more man coverage than what Idaho had shown in the past. And so they’ve got the ability to be aggressive, but those are the main changes.”
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Offensive coordinator Kurt Roper addresses the media during his introductory press conference on Jan. 13.
