Handing out the grades for Florida’s 2014 season.
Offense: C-
Florida’s offense was improved in 2014. However, with the way college football is trending, it’s becoming to be more NFL-like, meaning it’s all about the quarterback. Looking at the numbers, the Gators’ offense improved nearly in every facet from their 4-8 2013 campaign. Kurt Roper was brought in to spread the offense out, hoping to put more playmakers in space. The problem at Florida is that they have no game-breakers. Demarcus Robinson is a nice player, but other than Robinson, no one strikes fear into defensive coordinators’ minds. Florida’s receivers just struggled to create any type of separation from good defensive backs. Jeff Driskel surely didn’t work out, and Treon Harris was very inexperienced and lacked polish. The offensive line played much better under Mike Summers. The sacks allowed declined from 27 to 16 in 2014. The scoring improved from 18 to 30 points per game. Overall, it wasn’t as ugly as 2013, but Driskel not working out set the program and the offense back.
Defense: B+
The staple of the Muschamp era was physical defense, but Florida’s defense wasn’t as good as recent history. The Gators gave up several big plays with defensive secondary breakdowns, namely to Kentucky, Alabama and LSU. The two defensive stars were obviously Dante Fowler and Vernon Hargreaves, and both are elite NFL prospects. The Gators were very good statistical-wise when compared against the SEC’s other top defenses. Florida didn’t rack up too many sacks, but the defense recorded 30 takeaways. Fowler was the catalyst for the defense, and he was the biggest reason the Gators won the Birmingham Bowl.
Special Teams: B+
Returner Andre Debose had an interesting career. On one hand, he was one of the most electric players in the SEC returning kicks, but he never seemed to pan out at wide receiver. Taking nothing away from his special teams ability, Debose averaged over 24 yards per kickoff return and was the biggest threat in open space. After being benched in 2013, punter Kyle Christy finished third in the SEC in punting, averaging over 44 yards per punt. Kicker Franky Velez also had a nice year, and he finished tied for second, averaging 85.7 percent on field goals. When Florida was winning championships, special teams were a massive asset, and Jim McElwain has to get back to that type of play.
Coaching: C+
I’m convinced that Will Muschamp will be a good head coach one day. It didn’t work out at Florida, but he’ll learn from his mistakes and get some nice experience under an offensive-minded head coach in Gus Malzahn. Kurt Roper improved the offense, the very reason he was hired at Florida, and defensive coordinator DJ Durkin is a future head coach. Muschamp’s staff wasn’t spectacular at anything, but they were very good on defense. Overall, the team improved in 2014 under the coaching staff, but it wasn’t enough for Muschamp to ultimately keep his job.
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.
