I thought Florida's offense was pretty good last Thursday, and pretty average last Friday, but it sounds as if that offense has come on a fair bit this week. Muschamp's frustrations with his defense have to do with allowing explosive plays to the offense, and there are legitimate concerns about the defense's ability to play assignment football consistently (scroll up two sections and re-read all that), but it bears repeating: Florida's offense is recording explosive plays, something that Florida's offense struggled to do against
any defense in 2013, against a loaded defense coached by some defensive whizzes.
Last week felt like the defense showing it is, as usual, ahead of the offense, and it's especially unsurprising that a defense that is reloading is ahead of an offense that is revamping. Driskel, though, has been quite impressive, to the point that I honestly don't think I've read or seen more than quibbles with his play so far, and he's surrounded by a lot of talent: Florida's got basically the same running backs it had last year, but healthier and better; its wide receiver corps is deeper and more athletic; there is a genuine tight end at tight end this year.
All of that talent is being put to good use by Roper, whose rep as a quarterback guru and a disciple of ultimate QB Svengali David Cutcliffe helps obscure how good he was at making once-marginal talents into playmakers at Duke. Few thought much of
Jamison Crowder or Conner Vernon as recruits, but they became probably Duke's two best wide receivers
ever under Roper ... and I'd argue that every single scholarship receiver on Florida's roster showed at least as much in high school as Crowder and Vernon did.
Sure, there's a great distance between high school production and collegiate production, and talent doesn't always translate. And I'm really optimistic about this offense, and still don't think there's more than a mallard's chance in the Robertson household that Florida's going to have an offense
better than its defense.
But it will not need one of those — just an offense better than it's had, and one that can be better than other defenses. The chances of this offense becoming that hypothetical one are quite strong.
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