Gators’ Offense Gets Hype and Criticism

It is not all praise for the No. 13 ranked Florida Gators’ offense in Gainesville. Head coach Dan Mullen and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson are aware that there are improvements that need to be made.

The Criticism

Florida may be 2-0, but there is a concern. The Gators scored a combined 89 points against SEC opponents Ole Miss and South Carolina. Florida’s offense has been on fire.

However, the Gamecocks got off 30 more offensive snaps than the Gators on Saturday.

Why is that? Florida’s defense is receiving a lot of criticism, but Mullen is not putting all the blame on them.

Yes, Florida’s defense gave up 24 points to the 56th ranked offense in the country, but Mullen believes this was not all defensive coordinator Todd Grantham or his squad’s fault.

“I know you guys want to know if it’s this or that,” Mullen told reporters per Thomas Goldkamp of 247Sports.”Every little aspect of the game concerns me. Offense going three-and-out concerns me. That’s really bad defense. Our offense is extremely responsible for playing defense. Twice we give them the ball at midfield and in the fourth quarter we come out with two three-and-outs offensively, so that’s really bad defense played by the offense.”

Finish Strong

Florida’s offense needs to finish. According to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson. finishing games is a weakness for the Gators right now.

With a stacked SEC schedule, Florida’s competition is only going to get tougher. After Texas A&M, LSU and Missouri will come to town before the Gators have to fave big-time rival Georgia.

The Hype

Kyle to Kyle Connection

Standing at  6-foot-6 and 240 pounds tight end Kyle Pitts has been the go-to target for quarterback Kyle Trask. Despite what one would think, Pitts moves as well as a receiver.

Rewind to fall of 2019. Florida was playing Tennessee at home and Trask was making his first-ever start for the Gators.

Kyle Trask found Kyle Pitts for a 19-yard touchdown for the Gators’ first TD of the game.

Flashforward. Here we are in 2020.

Florida has played two games. Pitts has already accounted for six touchdowns. He is tied for second-most touchdowns over the span of two games by an SEC player in the past 25 seasons.

https://twitter.com/GatorsFB/status/1309918390052478976?s=20

Social media has gone crazy over what is now known as the “K2K” connection. Twitter, especially, has shown Pitts a lot of love.

Kyle Pitts is the best tight end in college football and if he keeps playing like this he might be a candidate for Club Heisman next week

— Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush) October 3, 2020

Trask himself is also setting records. Saturday he became only the third player in conference history to have 10 passing touchdowns through his team’s first two games, joining Kentucky Heisman Trophy finalist Tim Couch.

Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts will play at Kyle Field Saturday at noon ET as the Gators face the No. 21 ranked Texas A&M Aggies on the road.