Offensive Uncertainty Looming Over Florida Ahead of Ole Miss
Florida came into this season with high hopes of a breakout year on the offensive side of the football. The Gators were returning their preseason Heisman Trophy-nominated quarterback, a plethora of weapons on the outside and a stable of running backs to help balance the offense.
But those hopes have long since faded, entering Florida’s Week 11 matchup at No. 7 Ole Miss. (9-1, 5-1 SEC) The Gators (3-6, 2-4) have the second-worst offense in the SEC, ranked 114th in scoring offense (20.4 ppg) and are dealing with numerous injuries to key pieces, including receivers Dallas Wilson, Eugene Wilson III for the year, Vernell Brown III for a game and running back Ja’Kobi Jackson for most of the season.
Not to mention, the shocking regression shown by quarterback DJ Lagway in year two of the system has been one of the biggest stories in college football. After a stellar ending to last season, Lagway had expectations of leading Florida back to national relevance with a full offseason under his belt as the sure-fire starting quarterback. But injuries caused him to miss significant time through spring, all of summer and fall camp and have led to a brutal sophomore season.
Lagway’s mechanics have been sloppy, his decision-making is slow and he’s gained weight, which has many speculating if that is a cause of the frequent soft tissue injuries he is prone to having, along with not using him more in the running game, despite him being a dual-threat quarterback out of high school.
Lagway has thrown for 1,762 yards, is completing 64.5% of his throws and has thrown 11 touchdowns and a FBS-leading 12 interceptions. Three of the 12 turnovers all came in the first half of last week’s 38-7 loss to Kentucky, a game that saw Lagway benched for the first time due to poor performance.
After the game, interim coach Billy Gonzales did not confirm whether Lagway would be back as the starter for Ole Miss, but said during his Monday news conference that he would be back in as the starting play-caller. Whether or not Lagway has a long or short leash, one thing is for sure that he cannot start turning the football over against Ole Miss and expect good things.
“We’ve got to take better control of the ball, we’ve got to take care of it. Make sure we get our check downs, throw the ball out of bounds, or scramble with it, tuck the ball and run. and then offensively we got to do a better job just period,” Gonzales said. “When you’re a skilled guy, you have the ball in your hands, you’re protecting the ball for the team, you’re running the ball, you’re carrying the ball for the team, you’re not carrying the ball for yourself.”
Ole Miss does not force that many turnovers — only eight on the year (116th in FBS) — but those stats are off the table if Lagway gets trigger-happy with the ball again.
The best way to keep your quarterback from obvious passing situations and turning the ball over is running the ball with your best play-maker, Jadan Baugh, who must be a focal point in this game if Florida is to win.
Ole Miss is middle of the pack nationally at stopping the run (66th), allowing 150.9 yards per game. But against talented running games, the Rebels have shown holes in the run defense. Against Kentucky, they allowed 172 rushing yards; versus Arkansas and Georgia, 221 yards each on the ground. Baugh agrees that the running game is important, but did not shy away from the other critical factors.
“Yeah, a little bit, but it’s gonna take not just the run, the pass. It’s gonna take guys on defense. I feel like we can do it. We gotta communicate on the field, offensive and defensive side of the ball,” Baugh said. “So just us preparing the right way is going to be able to put us in a position to get a job done.”
Baugh has been one of the few Gators to carry consistent play and stay healthy the entire season. Baugh has carried the ball 149 times, nearly three times as much as the next two guys behind him, for 747 yards and five touchdowns.
As the season has progressed, Baugh’s pass-catching gives Florida an added weapon to a thin receiver room. Baugh hauled in a season-high five catches for 27 yards and a touchdown last week at Kentucky and on the season has 27 catches for 159 yards and the touchdown. Being able to help out in the passing game goes all the way back to high school for Baugh.
“I work very hard,” Baugh said. “Going into high school, I wanted to play receiver so being able to utilize my hands and help the team in different ways, I feel like it’s very good for me.”
However, Baugh cannot do this alone, which means guys in the receiver room need to step up and help out their running back, but more importantly, it’s the quarterback. A week ago, Florida did not have a single pass-catcher with more than 30 yards receiving. With a healthy Brown III, Aidan Mizell, J.Michael Sturdivant, Hayden Hansen and TJ Abrams, that cannot be the case in this game.
The most obvious choices would be Brown III or Sturdivant, but Abrams is a guy who has started to see more playing time with all the other injuries in the room. Abrams has 10 catches for 125 yards and made his first career start against Kentucky, where he racked up 28 yards on four catches.
“Yeah, it’s definitely the opportunity I’ve been looking for,” Abrams said. “I’m glad that it came, I’m not happy that it came the way it did, but I’m ready to step up to the plate and show them what I’m made of.”
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, SEC
