Most of that hype was unwarranted from the get go. People expected UF's offense to pick up where it left off in 2008 without consdering the magnitude of the personnel losses this team suffered the past 2 years, aside from the QB position. We have lost Murphy, Ingram, Harvin, Cooper, Nelson, and Hernandez to the NFL, no teams can lose that much talent at WR and TE and not miss a beat.
Brantley looked rough in the opener, as did the entire team. But the last 2 weeks he's done a solid job IMO considering he's making his 2nd and 3rd start. He was okay versus USF, we had several dropped passes in that game. And versus Tennessee he looked good, especially in the 2nd half.
I think he'll continue to get better as the season goes on and we get more WRs on the field. The targets Brantley would be most effective with right now IMO are Thompson, Moore, Hammond, Hines, and Reed. I thought he did an excellent job versus Tennessee, especially on 3rd down and long, UF converted at least 4 3rd and longs. I think the play calling could help out some, playaction passing on 1st down and throwing the ball from under cented could really expand the offense.
And some of those high passes are where you want them to be, especially the out pass to Moore in the 4th quarter, he's a big target and the DB was in good coverage. He did miss some throws but he made some impressive throws, his overthrow of Reed was perfect because UT had a DB cut underneath that would've picked the ball off. The offense is still a work in progess though, but his checking down to the backs have been nice, at least he's getting rid of the ball.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Brantley was 11 of 12 on 3rd down for 88 yards and a TD. He threw for 1st downs on 3rd and 15, 11, 9, 8, 8, 7, 6, 3. That's an excellent job for a QB making his first road start.
