After not speaking to the media twice on Sunday, head coach Urban Meyer opened up about his team's offensive struggles and revealed a very simple solution to the "woes".
Big plays.
Last season, the Gators had nine plays of 50-plus yards. This season? Just two. Meyer says if they can just get back that explosiveness, it can cure a lot of what ails the offense.
"What we're lacking, after really digesting this for a while, we're lacking the big hits," Meyer said.
"We need to look at last year. We had those hits. It's either sustaining blocks a little longer, it's taking more chances down the field."
All across the statistical board, the Gators are down this season. They are averaging 17 less points per game, and 50 fewer yards in total offense. Tim Tebow has been sacked eight more times in SEC games than he was at this point a season ago, although the quarterback says he feels "the best physically that I've felt in any season this late in the season."
Meyer seemed to indicate that no changes are in the offing -- either in base scheme or staff -- but did return once again to his Big-Hit Theory.
"I'm very pleased with our coaching staff. I'm very pleased with the development of our players. I'm pleased with our record," Meyer said.
"I'm not pleased with the fact we don't have enough big plays. That's something we're continually addressing."
It is hard to be explosive when in SEC games the QB averages 20 rush attempts at only 3.6 yards per clip. 140 rush attempts in 7 conference games. Mark Ingram has 131 rush attempts in 6 SEC games with a 6.5 yard average. The point I am making here is if a guy can average over 6 yards a clip he should be getting the ball 20 times a game. If a guy averages 3.6 yards then he should carry 8 to 10 times a game. Relying on the Tebow crutch limits the explosiveness of the offense because your least explosive offensive player is hogging all the touches.
If you exclude sacks (which, after all, aren't really runs), Tebow's gained 691 yards on 134 rushes, which is better than 5.1 yards per rush. The biggest problems on the offense right now are the offensive line and the receivers.