The beauty of football is that there is more than one way to move the ball down the field. One can take the three yards and a cloud of dust approach, or one can let it rip down the field and pick it all up at once. Florida explored both of those options on Saturday night, and for at least one night in The Swamp, both options worked as advertised.
Whether or not Florida will ever admit which one is more effective remains a sore subject.
Florida Florida: Go Long
Florida's opening drive was led by Graham Mertz and went 15 plays, 75 yards, and consumed 7:58 off the clock.
The end result was a touchdown.
Florida's third drive was when DJ Lagway came into the game and went three plays, 43 yards, and consumed 1:11 off the clock.
The end result was also a touchdown.
One might question what is the matter with going 15 plays if the end result is a touchdown, and in a vacuum, there isn't. The problem is when you emerge from the vacuum and are asked to do it again.
Spoiler alert: Florida wasn't able to do it again.
On that opening drive of the game, it took nine plays to score from the time Florida reached the UCF 43. Lagway's touchdown drive started at the UCF 43 and took three plays after a deep shot to Chimere Dike.
Vertical passing matters because you just need one play to go correct to accomplish what otherwise requires nine plays going correct. And as the 2nd half showed, drives stall when just one play doesn't go correctly.
Part of the reason the second half got closer than it should have wasn't Billy Napier "becoming" conservative on offense. He called all the same plays he has been calling with Mertz for the last season and a half.
On Florida's opening drive in the 2nd half they stalled due to a holding penalty. The 2nd drive got to 3rd and 4 and stalled after an incomplete pass. A fumbled screen on the 3rd drive stalled it out.
If you are keeping score at home, Florida had 100 air yards on the day (AKA vertical distance from the line of scrimmage to where the ball is caught), and 37 of those came on the Lagway completion to Dike.
Much like we said after the Mississippi State game, the offense is what it is at this point. When matched against a weaker opponent like UCF, it has a pathway to be effective and grind out games like we saw last night.
Lagway gave Florida fans a fleeting glimpse of what this offense could be though, and that's the frustrating part, knowing stiffer challenges lie ahead.