Meyer On Gators' Up-Tempo Offense: 'It Could Be Lethal'

[Escambia94]

That's right. Urban Meyer thinks this offense could be lethal based on a couple tweaks he borrowed from Oregon and Oklahoma.

Meyer On Gators' Up-Tempo Offense: 'It Could Be Lethal' - GatorZone.com

Urban Meyer?s spread-option offense at Florida has produced two national titles and a Heisman winner, earning Meyer a reputation as one of college football?s most innovative offensive minds.

Does this mean he is bailing out on the spread-option? Hopefully he will just add the Oregon spread plays to the library of plays in his own spread-option.

The Ducks? high-powered attack caught the Gators? attention earlier this season when Florida was preparing to play at Tennessee. The previous week, Oregon scored 45 unanswered points in a 48-13 win at Tennessee after falling behind 13-3.

To be honest, when you look at the Ducks, they run some similar plays.

The tweaks produced 450 yards and what Meyer called his most important victory, snapping a three-game losing streak and keeping the Gators? quest for a third consecutive trip to the SEC Championship Game alive.

?I just see the evolution of the game right now,?? Meyer said. ?Florida has got as good athletes as anybody in America. What?s our edge? We have to find that edge.

Want to know the edge? It's the QB. We need to switch between two QBs to get the effect of one Oregon QB. What is our passing QB doing when the running QB is under center? Not contributing to the play, that what he is doing.

--

I don't think this offense will compete with an Oregon offense. Heck, we gained 450 yards to Georgia's 439. The 2nd quarter offense was the only quarter where I would characterize the offense as lethal. 4th quarter offense I would characterize Trey Burton as lethal.

What does everyone else think?

 

[The Zooker]

I'm glad Meyer is doing something to help Brantley. I've said over and over again that Brantley is a rhythm quarterback. You have to get him in the zone with tempo and good play calling. Then he actually looks like the player we all thought he would be. And now that he isn't forced to run the option he can actually stay healthy enough to throw without pain. Now the only missing factor Brantley needs is an offensive line that can block for him.

 

[Escambia94]

...or a fullback. In a pro-style I-Formation they could stick a fullback in to block for JB. Heck, a TE can block for Brantley out of the spread-option. The Urban Attack probably has plays to get JB some pass protection, but it's up to JB to know the playbook and let the coaches know what he needs.

 

[DRU2012]

I don't know...while everything y'all present in breaking down the offense makes sense to me, I'm still left with the gut feeling that even with the "tweaks", if we're going to run anything LIKE Meyer's Spread-Option we'll need to run it with a QB that can do both jobs. Not only does it run smoother, but the defense HAS to believe that either is a threat on every play, no matter the formation OR other personnel.
It's NOT that we need another Tebow; THIS is where "adapting the offense" comes in. A good passer, who can run and knows when to do so (even if it's not his first choice, a la TT), could lead a very effective version of this offense, with the right recievers AND some imaginative play calling. Maybe JB doesn't have enough of the other kinds of skills to pull it off, even if they HAD made those changes--sure doesn't appear the coaches think he does. The idea is to "learn and adapt"; in this case, I think you have to start working on NEXT year's offense, find out who you've got right now who can best run it, and let him be "the guy"--until someone better comes in and takes it away from HIM.
I know that's not gonna happen, that it's JB this and next year no matter what, THEN (maybe) Driskoll, as Zooker says. But if they don't adapt the system OR the personnel, we're done for.

 

[DRU2012]

Oh yeah--the poll...
Man, that thing just isn't FAIR. In this case I really AM an "All of the above..."-guy!

 

[Escambia94]

Oh yeah--the poll...
Man, that thing just isn't FAIR. In this case I really AM an "All of the above..."-guy!

Yeah, I did that on purpose. I am happy that the offense looked good but we have to remember that it was Georgia, not LSU, Alabama, South Carolina or any ranked SEC opponent. Cautious optimism. It's hard to say if this team would do well against a ranked SEC team today to illustrate that the new wrinkles are working as well as the coaches and players think.

After listening to some player interviews, I have to assume that it is working...at least for them compared to the past few weeks.

 

[The Zooker]

Yeah, I did that on purpose. I am happy that the offense looked good but we have to remember that it was Georgia, not LSU, Alabama, South Carolina or any ranked SEC opponent. Cautious optimism. It's hard to say if this team would do well against a ranked SEC team today to illustrate that the new wrinkles are working as well as the coaches and players think.

After listening to some player interviews, I have to assume that it is working...at least for them compared to the past few weeks.

But at the same time we have to remember that Georgia gave everything they had. They played their 100% best because they were backed against a wall and had nowhere to go but forward. I firmly believe Georgia played us twice as hard as they did their opponents they lost to.

 

[DRU2012]

(sigh) Man, I hope y'all are right. I know you have a point, and if they can keep ADDING to that Offense's complexity (AND tighten up execution--fewer false starts and better O-line play, OBVIOUSLY) maybe we CAN keep scoring. We'll HAVE to, with the way the D has deteriorated over the last few games! As many have already discussed, we have GOT to get pressure from the D-line (we saw how Richt exploited our secondary when we brought them on blitz; can you imagine what SS will cook up?!!). Are they trying to redshirt some of those '10 "Defensive Recruiting Haul"-guys? Seems like there were some studs there we're just not seeing yet. Or is this more of that "freshmen just not ready to play" thing? (OK, I'm gonna hold my tongue, for now.)

 

[The Zooker]

I think a lot of good is going to come from Meyer finally sitting down and evaluating his team over the bye week. He hasn't lost his knowledge of football. The problem with the first part of the season was him trusting his assistants too much. He's now taking a more hands on approach to everything. It appears he has "demoted" Addazio for all intents and purposes. He had other people on the staff step up and give much more input on the offense. Hopefully this trend progresses. Now we need to hope that the next issue of favoritism among players gets addressed. My biggest issue with the defense is the defensive line. Meyer will not allow McCarney and/or Austin use less Lemmens and Trattou. Hopefully Austin steps up on the matter and tells Meyer that he can't reasonably expect the defense to be elite if Meyer won't let him use the right personnel for the job. I have faith in our defensive tackle rotation but we are hurting badly at defensive end. Lemmens and Trattou aren't putting pressure on the quarterback so they have time to pick apart our secondary. They aren't doing their part to plug holes in the line on running plays so our linebackers have to get sucked forward to compensate in plugging holes. Everything boils down to us having weak defensive ends. Something has to be done about it but I don't think Meyer will because hey, Lemmens and Trattou grade out as "champions" every week.

 

[DRU2012]

I may regret this, but what the hell does "They grade out as champions" MEAN? I know what it SOUNDS like it means, but it must mean something in particular to Meyer and the coaches, something I'm just not seeing each week. What exactly are they looking at that has them arriving at that conclusion after EVERY GAME for players I watch fail to do their jobs consistently, let alone rise above everyone around them--which is MY idea of a "champion".

 

[Escambia94]

I may regret this, but what the hell does "They grade out as champions" MEAN? I know what it SOUNDS like it means, but it must mean something in particular to Meyer and the coaches, something I'm just not seeing each week. What exactly are they looking at that has them arriving at that conclusion after EVERY GAME for players I watch fail to do their jobs consistently, let alone rise above everyone around them--which is MY idea of a "champion".

I thought we all agreed that "they graded out as champions" == "we just aren't that good" == "we need to execute better" == "you're kicked off the team" == "there are no weapons of mass destruction here in Iraq".

 

[DRU2012]

...="you're either with us or against us".

Oh yeah. My bad.

 

[The Zooker]

Yup. Grading out as a champion is something that I just don't understand. I can see serious flaws on folks who grade out as champions week to week. I can see an offensive lineman blow his coverage and grade out as a champion. I can see a defensive lineman apply no real pressure and grade out as a champion. My biggest beef is always with linemen since the offense and defense begins with those units. Other units can blame them for shortcomings. But linemen have nobody but themselves to blame for their failures.