Our Offense is an open wound

[NaffGutts]

The more football I watch, the more I hate our Offense and realize how shitty it is. Tonight I watched UCF put 324 yds of Offense on Louisville with still a quarter left to play. They put up 147 yds in a single quarter. I'm talking balanced run/pass/play action offense that seems to exist in almost every team but ours.
The biggest issue with our "philosophy" that puts just enough points on the board for our Defense to win the game, is you actually need an Offense that can put more points on the board than the other team.

I don't care how good our Defense is, no Defense can win every single battle on the field. An Offense just has to beat the Defense once to put points up. If our Offense can't answer back, we fall behind and we leave our Defense on the field longer ...which immediately puts our plan into backfire mode.

I think Muschamp is already "browsing" for new OC's. Not saying that Pease will be fired soon, but a few more loses, or even one ugly one like a blowout by FSU might be enough to drive an early nail in his coffin. This talk about "Muschamp holding back our Offense" is nonsense. I see Boise State bullshit every time we snap the ball, and what did Boise State do besides "almost" getting there? Sound familiar? I think Muschamp want's an OC he can put his 100% trust in while he focuses on Defense, that's his baby.

I think we'll see some staffing shake up post season, only ones not touchable right now are Muschamp and Travaris Robinson

 

[DRU2012]

I think your analysis is spot on, NG, your frustration is warranted (and shared by most of us here), and it is my fervent hope that you are right about Muschamp "browsing", soon maybe "quietly shopping" for a new OC--and btw, I don't think we got even the best of what I agree was a make-do/almost-got-there offense at Boise in Pease, but the "guy-who-came-in-and-tried to imitate what the most successful guys before him had been doing". I am REALLY hoping they (Muschamp, Foley, etc.) get bolder the next time, and see if they can't find someone young and outside the usual "media buzz" who is getting exciting results with original and forward thinking--maybe even at someone from one of the less high-profile teams or conferences, perhaps even from an FBS-level school. I can just see someone managing to get big play potential AND ball-control when needed absolutely salivating at what we already have and what he could get his share of in the future upon taking over OUR offense...I still say it takes amazing stubbornness and inability to get so little out of so much speed, talent and access to near endless supplies of more and better each spring.

 

[mjfan23]

I can hardly watch the offense.... Is it players? Is it calling? Its the worst I have seen in a while.

 

[miltongator]

All we need is a new: OC, O-Line Coach, receivers coach, and a whole new group of offensive linemen. 3 years of little to no offense is wearing me thin.

 

[Leakfan12]

All we need is a new: OC, O-Line Coach, receivers coach, and a whole new group of offensive linemen. 3 years of little to no offense is wearing me thin.

It's tolerable when your 11-1 in the regular season and a few plays away from 12-0 (and anyone think that Jeff Driskel fumbled the ball on the opening drive against UGA last year needs to be a bulldog fan) like last season but this like this it's bad. Then again, Bama would have ran the Gators over in the SEC title game if the Gators were 12-0 last regular season.

 

[Escambia94]

Well, we cannot hire a new OC and OL coach this week, not that it would help. This team has to find a way to win with the current players and coaches.
Offense:

LT: D.J. Humphries/Max Garcia. DJ is really struggling. Why not rotate Trenton Brown in?

LG: Max Garcia/Trip Thurman. Stop running these kids ragged with counters and just block the man in front.

C: Jonotthan Harrison/Kyle Koehne. No problems here.

RG: Jon Halapio/Kyle Koehne. Penalties from the veterans need to stop.

RT: Tyler Moore/Trenton Brown. These guys need to learn to block. Maybe get some help from the tight ends. Consider moving the pocket.

TE: Clay Burton/Tevin Westbrook/Colin Thompson. These guys need to step it up or get better coaching.

RB: Kelvin Taylor/Mack Brown. Fix the offensive line and tell these guys to hurry to the hole.

FB: Hunter Joyer/Gideon Ajagbe. WTH is going on with these guys? No lead blocking or help with the blitz pickup.

X: Quinton Dunbar/Demarcus Robinson. Stop dropping passes and falling down.

Z: Solomon Patton/Ahmad Fulwood/Chris Thompson. We need more Patton.

F: Trey Burton/Mike McNeely. The walk-on is challenging Burton. Trey needs to provide veteran leadership.

Defense:

DE: Jonathan Bullard/Bryan Cox. We need a star to emerge here and start hitting QBs.

DT: Darious Cummings. Sorry, no more Easley. Darious needs to step it up. He has shown flashes of brilliance. We need more.

Nose: /Damien Jacobs. We need penetration from Damien. .. when he is healthy. Without him in the lineup we lack a true NT. Leon Orr may be undersized.

Buck: Dante Fowler/Alex McCalister. We definitely need production here for the defense to dominate.

Sam: Ronald Powell/Darrin Kitchens. RoPo is turning out to be a bust. How the heck does he keep getting injured? I like him and want him to succeed.

Mike: Antonio Morrison/Michael Taylor. Where is the scary Morrison from last year?

Will: Neiron Ball/Darrin Kitchens. No complaints here.

CB: Loucheiz Purifoy/Vernon Hargreaves. We need these guys to live up to the hype.

CB: Marcus Roberson/Vernon Hargreaves. See above.

S:Jaylen Watkins/Marcus Maye. Turn your head around! Our former CBs keep getting torched.

S: Cody Riggs/Jabari Gorman. See above.

Nickel: Brian Poole/Vernon Hargreaves. See above.

Dime: Marcus Maye/Cody Riggs. See above.

Special Teams:

KR: Solomon Patton/Loucheiz Purifoy. Okay. Need more 100-yard returns.

PR: Marcus Roberson/Trey Burton/Brian Poole. Meh.

K: Austin Hardin/Brad Phillips/Frankie Velez. Please practice. This is our only way of scoring.

P: Kyle Christy/Johnny Football. It looks like we have a new punter. Maybe Kyle can try kicking. His dad says he was a good kicker in high school.

 

[DRU2012]

Look, the real "travesty" is that "it", the offense, already WAS "an open wound"--in fact it was LAST year and hasn't moved an INCH in any way towards improving, which DAMNIT SHOULD ITSELF ALREADY HAVE BEEN GROUNDS FOR FIRING THE OC BEFORE NOW, especially given what has transpired since (and/or NOT transpired, like any sign of learning, thinking, adapting, improving, CHANGING IN ANY APPRECIABLE WAY that offense on the part of the guy who is supposedly in CHARGE of it!). The REASON Muschamp's ass HAS to be on the line by now as well is BECAUSE of all that, and that he hasn't shown any sign of recognizing, let alone acknowledging, this sad and deteriorating state of affairs.

PS @Escambia94, :
"...cannot hire a new OC and OL..."???
Of COURSE we can: Neither's doing his job...and we better do something soon. What we "CAN'T" do, can't AFFORD to do, is carry on as is--You fire Pease for CAUSE, for having presided over a complete cluster-f*ck since he got here, and even if you have no one to replace him with yet, you elevate someone in his place and continue your search--part of the "shock to the system" approach that this team needs right now even if it is to merely keep it from ACCEPTING that "loser's mentality" that we've agreed elsewhere is beginning to settle in and take hold throughout the whole team and program.

 

[DRU2012]

Have to say (and this too has affected my feelings, and hence opinion, as to how vulnerable Muschamp has become), that performance on his show was surprising and disappointing. If ever there was a time that required his angry defiance and clearly-stated determination to DO something about the various things that clearly needed addressing, this was it--and instead, he DID look "tired and whipped", a bit shell-shocked, even baffled and somewhat "resigned to his fate". I just have this feeling that Foley, seeing this, may have been reaching for HIS rolodeck once more.

 

[Escambia94]

Okay. Maybe we can hire an OC. I joked about it earlier, but Gator Great John Reaves stated the same thing in his article http://www.gatorcountry.com/feature/monday-morning-quarterback-4/

Bring on Lane Kiffin, son-in-law of former Gator QB and QB coach, John Reaves. Kiffin could use the job.

 

[miltongator]

Hiring that prick would be the last straw

 

[totenkopf13]

I would take mediocre, unfortunately we have inept. I can't believe this is where we are 3 years later. I've said it before, last years team had the worst 11-1 offense I have ever seen, and here we are stumbling along, tripping over our own feet, and throwing our hands up in the air expecting a different result once again.

 

[Leakfan12]

Maybe Muschamp should have recruited these guys

 

[Nighthawk]

One of the other problems is all the injuries. Where is our strength and conditioning at. I have watched these boys suck wind and fall out all season. Tyler Murphy might be able to complete a pass if the off. line would give him a pocket instead of a waterfall.

 

[Escambia94]

Let's just assume the offensive line is going to be a turnstile. There are ways to scheme with this unfortunate problem. The OC can call quick slants, move the pocket, stop calling counters, make Trey Burton throw, add tight ends to block, add extra linemen, or call a quick kick on first down.

 

[DRU2012]

Yes yes yes...we have had MORE than our share of serious injury (altho' that TOO may be a point-of-contention regarding "how we do things" to some, as we've seen here)--but John Reeves has well-made the various answers to that point here, and widened the discussion to include our many other concerns here as well--those that together create this pattern of "downward spiral", "loser's mentality", and so on. And there are probably as many possible directions to head in reaction/response to these as, well, either number of commenters or number of potential candidates for replacing the guys now in charge of the areas that have been falling apart--take your pick! Personally, I'd be careful 'bout certain drastic "react just to make a big change"-type changes (for eg., I find the idea of running out and getting the loathesome "Kifiekins" absurd, ridiculous and suicidal to whatever hope we have of "righting-the-ship"!)...But I do think our Head Coach MUST make a change at OC, at the very least--and that that OC be given the latitude to bring in some of "his guys" to get it done on offense, maybe make him (whether officially, "in name", or not) the "Assistant Head Coach" as Spurrier did w/Stoops in a mirror version of the same situation (which in turn resulted the following season in Spurrier's one National Championship here, if you'll recall)...We're going to be FINE on Defense, especially with continuity with our defensive-mined Head Coach; THE PROBLEM IS ON OFFENSE ("Duuuhhhh!!!).
NOW--
Here is where I admit something that has always bothered me, right from the start of Muschamp's arrival here--something I feel a bit sheepish, even foolish for not having more forcefully argued at the time: That is with my impression, from the very start, of his discussing changes in what HAD been a VERY effective offense, one which our personnel at the time was assembled for, to some vague idea of a "pro-set offense, a ball-control-type approach", etc etc that seemed to deny the value of "scoring as many points as you possibly can", in favor of some stubbornly determined "slow and relentless clock-burning score-enough-to-win" philosophy. It wasn't that a change over time from Urban's "spread" seemed a bad idea, but the sudden shift to a specifically and diametrically opposite form and philosophy concerned me: It struck me as unrealistic, boring and no fun then--we aren't "the '60 Green Bay Packers", after all, no college team is or WILL EVER BE, and meant it seemed to me FAR too many plodding plays that offer fewer opportunities to score, and many more to screw UP-- and it has turned out to be all of that "IN SPADES" ever since!
Never mind if Will Muschamp has learned why this isn't gonna work at this level...Has he learned yet that he needs to just turn the offense over to someone who can build one to do ITS job--score lots of points, AND be able to control the line-of-scrimmage and the clock, as he demands, when needed--the way HE has overseen accomplished with his DEFENSE? So far there is no sign that this has happened.

 

[Escambia94]

No use complaining about Brent Pease's offensive offense for the UGA game. If Muschamp wanted to fire him he would have done it by now. Expect a crappy game next week, so relax this week knowing we will not lose this Saturday.

 

[awebbf5]

No use complaining about Brent Pease's offensive offense for the UGA game. If Muschamp wanted to fire him he would have done it by now. Expect a crappy game next week, so relax this week knowing we will not lose this Saturday.

Yep be the same old shit

 

[DRU2012]

No use complaining about Brent Pease's offensive offense for the UGA game. If Muschamp wanted to fire him he would have done it by now. Expect a crappy game next week, so relax this week knowing we will not lose this Saturday.

Ain't it both sad AND completely frustrating? 'Cause you're right of course, E-...If it was gonna happen it would have happened by now--and the various possible reasons are ALL bogus. Put that sign of frozen indecision with the "whipped puppy" performance that our Head Coach gave on his weekly show this time and my own impression is of a man who is already resigned to his own pessimistic fate, and essentially placing whatever meager "hope" he has left of remaining the Coach resting on "letting it ride" with the players that are left rising to the occasion and carrying out the plan he came into the season with. Period--and if that IS all he's got left to offer now, it won't be just the OC that'll be changing after the FSU loss--more's the pity, for all of us, 'cause it doesn't HAVE to be that way, if only he would get angry, get tough, and look to the future in the way he fired this team up and made changes for the better when he first got here.