The Offense: Florida Gators 33 – Tennessee Volunteers 23
As with last week, the game recap comes in parts. Offense up first, defense next, special teams after that, and then some final thoughts.
The Florida offense isn’t on any sort of torrid pace with fireworks at every turn, but so far it has been consistently solid. In the 33-23 win over Tennessee, the Gators put up 347 total yards. That’s not overly impressive. Instead, it could be called average, but it was enough. Enough for Florida to not only win its third-straight game, but to jump out to 1-0 in SEC play. That puts the Gators a game clear of SEC East rivals Tennessee and Georgia early in the season. These are the wins that mean the most.
Although finishing them was tough, Florida put together a number of successful drives to get out to an early lead. The Gators scored on their first four drives to lead 16-0 in the second quarter. The Vols, on the other, hand, weren’t able to score until their fifth drive of the game. Florida would do some of the same in the second half, finding the end zone on their first two drives to go up 30-7. Although Tennessee made the score closer late, the Vols were out of it thanks to timely scoring by the Gators’ offense. If the red zone offense had clicked, the score could have gotten out of hand. That aspect to the offense definitely left something to be desired, but chances are it’ll be one of the things worked on most during the week.
In his second season as the starter, John Brantley has already looked much more comfortable as a quarterback. It’s still early in the season, but Brantley has raised his rating by more than 30 points over 2010. Against Tennessee, he registered his highest rating of the season at 167.4. With two touchdowns and no interceptions, Brantley appeared ready to run Charlie Weis’ offense against SEC opponents. His stats won’t awe you, but they don’t have to. Weis has turned Brantley into a game manager and so far so good. When he has to make throws he can. His touchdown pass that wasn’t a catch because Deonte Thompson’s right foot hit out of bounds just before his left foot came down was one of the better throws we’ve seen from Brantley. For now, he’s making the right decisions and helping the Gators’ offense move the ball. He – and the entire offense – will need to improve play in the red zone, but that can come. Let’s rephrase that, it needs to come. Less than two weeks from now, Brantley will face Alabama’s defense. Enough said.
The run game wasn’t as explosive as it had been, but it was nearly as efficient. Weis stuck with the starters against Tennessee and gave 35 carries to Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps and Trey Burton. Rainey led the way with 108 yards on 21 carries for a good, but modest for him, 5.1 yards per carry. Demps added 48 on 10. The long of the day was only 28 yards, but sometimes that’s alright. The offense moved the ball and did what it had to when it needed to. It was good to see tough yards gained and Rainey carry such a load. There was a point where exhaustion seemed to overtake no. 1, but he came back from it and pressed on. Rainey may have to get used to being the focal point of the offense; he’s suddenly one of the better offensive weapons in the nation. After three games, Rainey is only three rushes and 60 yards from matching last season’s totals and he’s nearly halfway to his career-best 652 rushing yards he posted in 2008. As a running back, Rainey is no longer a change-of-pace type. He’s become an every-down back in Weis’ offense.
As mentioned above, the passing game was efficient, but not dynamic. Unfortunately, a wide receiver hasn’t stepped up and that’s mostly because they still haven’t been used all that much. Brantley only completed 14 passes, but just three went to receivers. Thompson had two for 26 yards and Quinton Dunbar had one for one. Those aren’t great numbers. The backs are making up for the lack of a go-to receiver and look great doing so, but we still don’t know what we’ll see when Florida needs to stretch the field. Rainey broke the Vols’ back on his 83-yard touchdown scamper and Burton and Demps each had four receptions, but add in the tight ends and all non-backs had four total catches. That will need to change. The offense is working for now, but all dimensions of it will need to be running almost flawlessly for the rest of the schedule.
The offensive line continues to improve and seems to have its starting five set. Chaz Green, Jon Halapio, Jonotthan Harrison, Xavier Nixon and Dan Wenger have started every game and are beginning to come together as a cohesive unit. Tennessee only managed one sack and one other hit on Brantley. That’s a plus for the line and a definite step in the right direction. Facing a better defense, the line played well and opened holes for the running game. Short yardage can still be worked on and overall the line still has room to grow, but a step forward is not a step backward. That’s about as obvious as obvious can be, but it’s worth pointing out that this unit is improving.
Coming up next: the defense.