Gators lost 100 plays last season using the Zook Look delay before snapping the ball

New Florida Gator Coach Urban Meyer’s published red zone record of scoring 89.9% of the time is phenomenally high, unbelievably high. Utah won a lot of games under Meyer and his quarterback Alex Smith was a hell of a talent, better in my opinion than Chris Leak the Gators current QB. Coach Meyer is now playing in the SEC and he won’t be scoring 89.9% of the time he gets inside the other teams 20 yard line. After I saw Coach Meyer’s diagrams and pictures of his sideways offense published in the Gainesville Sun prior to Florida’s Orange and Blue spring game I was really discouraged about the Gators prospects. The quaint story was he and his assistant coach traveled all the way to Louisville to find that sideways offense, took it home and installed it at Utah.

To win in the SEC you have to move the ball North and South rushing and passing. SEC rushes and blitzes will disrupt any sideways featured offense. Fortunately for Gator fans a few weeks ago Coach Meyer changed his published sideways strategy and said he was tailoring his 2005 Gator offense to fit QB Chris Leak and now he will be in a drop back type passing offense. That was encouraging. If Coach Meyer can keep Leak studying opponent’s game films and then help him to recognize on the field, in the game, under fire what he has been looking at in the films, he will gain a 50% efficiency over last year. From years of experience I learned that a few people study film and get a lot out of it. But only a few can take it to the field and use it. Others just don’t have that ability. Leak throws the ball exceptionally well within his range. Leak has shown little ability to study film and use the information he should have gleaned to defeat his opponents. Although the Gators women’s basketball coach could win 7 games with any crop of University of Florida talent, Coach Meyer has his work cut out for him to win the other 3 or 4 games to make 2005 a successful season. Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, FSU, and Gator Pope Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina should give the Gators all they can handle.

Last season Chris Leak spent what seemed like hours staring at the sideline after he had broken the huddle and was at the line of scrimmage under center before he ran the next play. It seemed like his eyes may have glazed over while doing the Zook Look. I never saw any other team waste so much time off the play clock. I assumed Leak was getting visual signals from the coaching staff as to what plays to check off to. This eye game between plays must have cost the Gators 100 offensive plays over the course of the season. Obviously the more plays you can run in a season the more points you will score. The coach’s vantage point in the press box allows them to see the field and the personnel in the opponent’s defensive line up, but so should Leak be able to see them and recognize them from his vantage point. The defense moves around before and during plays to confuse the offensive strategist. The QB needs to be looking at the defense recognizing its personnel and characteristics from before he breaks the huddle, on the way to the line of scrimmage, and to the last second adjusting right up to the snap of the ball and for about four seconds afterwards. The offense should be giving the defense the recognition problems not the other way around.

From a distance Coach Meyer seems to have a certain toughness about him. So far I like his prospects of solving whatever problems he faces. His no nonsense approach to campus alcohol abuse is also encouraging. He seems to want a physical aggressive team. They need to improve their pass coverage and tackling to win those extra 3 to 4 games the extra 100 or so plays they should run under Coach Meyer will also be a big factor in the won lost column.