Gators Pull Off Victory Despite Very Sloppy Offensive Performance

The Florida Gators opened its football schedule at home playing Miami of Ohio. Although the Gators won 34-12, the offense played awful football.

Several commentators have rushed to blame Florida's offensive performance on the absence of Tim Tebow. Some of these same commentators, however, likely predicted that Tebow would fail in the NFL, and they probably harshly criticized him during his time at Florida.

Analysts who watched the game looking to understand what actually happened will resist the kneejerk "post-Tebow" script. Quarterback John Brantley actually did a decent job for his first start. Some of the veteran offensive players, however, had an inexcusably terrible performance. Mike Pouncey, for example, had over a dozen bad snaps, which made it hard for Brantley to utilize his powerful throwing arm. Also, several offensive players fumbled the ball, resulting in Gator turnovers.

The strongest element of the game was the defense. Despite numerous turnovers and mistakes by the offense, the Florida defense prevented Miami from going into the endzone.

Thankfully for the Gators, the team was able to escape this miserable performance with a victory. In addition, the Gators will have a week to correct mistakes and get ready for SEC play. Alabama is only two weeks away for Florida.

UPDATE: This analysis at Bleacher Report gets it right.