The Sunday Blog comes at you after another late night of watching college football games go down to the wire. It never gets old.
1. It has been hard to watch the way the Florida offense has regressed since the Georgia game. Some of it is an offensive line that seems to have hit a wall. Some of it is a quarterback who refuses to throw the ball to open receivers. Some of it has been play-calling. Whatever it is, the mighty Gators have slid back to the Muschamp Line — 100th in total offense. Against FAU, the Gators only had 61 offensive snaps because they were 2-of-13 on third down conversions. And the coaches were so leery of letting Harris throw they got away from their balance with 43 runs and 18 passes (although to be fair I counted nine plays that were called passes that ended up either with sacks or scrambles that count as runs).
2. It’s not just Florida struggling on offense. There are seven teams from the SEC — or half the league — ranked 83rd or lower in total offense.
83. Georgia.
84. Kentucky.
87. Auburn.
100. Florida.
101. South Carolina.
120. Vanderbilt.
125. Missouri.
Those teams all have one thing in common and that’s quarterback issues. Of course, there are eight SEC teams in the top 50 in defense. The league has reverted back to the days of defense and the running game.
3. I have been arguing with people for several weeks that South Carolina is a better job than Miami. They win. After watching good portions of the game against The Citadel (I can multi-task) and being in Columbia, S.C., for last week’s game, I can tell the next coach who comes in there that you are starting from scratch. There’s no quick fix. The Gamecocks just don’t have the players. And even though he is an ambassador and not a coach, some of that’s on Steve Spurrier. He probably should have left after his third straight 11-win season.
4. And speaking of former UF coaches it appears that there s a mess at Ohio State. Urban Meyer has always treated his best players a little differently. Some would call it enabling. They get to feel entitled. And after the loss to Michigan State, they fired back. “Honestly, this is my last game in the Shoe,” Ezekiel Elliott said. “I mean, there’s no chance of me coming back next year. What happened today, it was kind of like a bad, bad dream. Offense had a rough day, and I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed in the play calling, I’m disappointed in the situations we were put in.” Cardale Jones also tweeted that he’s going pro. And the fans were booing a coach who had won 23 straight games. Only in college football.
