Urban Meyer says "It's not a spread offense right now"

Meyer says he plans to use more misdirection & more option plays as Florida expects to see more teams using coverage schemes like Bama. Bama used a three-man front with eight dropping in pass coverage to take out the big pass plays for Florida. Not 1 TD in the Bama loss. So much for Meyer's Spread 'n' Shred that was gonna tear up the SEC. Meyer attributes the failure to the offensive line and poor execution with pass protection breakdowns and a poor running game. Florida offensive line struggles every play. They have given up an SEC high 18 sacks so far in 2005 and can't run the ball consistently.



Quote: "We have not done a great job of using 53 yards, the width of the field, Meyer said. I think what we've done is kind of squeezed it down because that's how we beat Tennessee, play great defense, play great field position.''



LSU beat MSU 37-7, a 30-point win. Now it's Florida's turn. The MSU/FLA tilt will be a good barometer for the LSU game the following week. Florida should kill the young MSU secondary as LSU did, UNLESS THAT FLA OFFENSIVE LINE gets whipped by MSU and doesn't have time to pass. I don't expect Fla to get more than 4 yards a carry rushing against MSU, but we'll see.



LSU will undoubtedly see both Vandy & Florida attack them with the short passing game. I expect to see both use a lot of underneath passes, screens, and scramble to make their plays. Leak will go to the reverses, lots of short stuff including screens and shovel passes to move the chains.



One consistent feature that Vandy & Florida share are struggling offensive lines that aren't producing, resulting in their QBs having to scramble more. Both QBs can run and will have to run if LSU puts any pressure on whatsoever. It'll be interesting to see what LSU defensive schemes are used this week to exploit/attack Vandy's O-line weaknesses, and those of Florida the following week.

 

Didnt Meyer say in another article he wanted to spread it even more?

Chris Leak must be in a corner crying right now

 

I just DARE leak to scramble with Mr. Hollis on the field....

I still have nightmares from watching that hit.

LIGHTS OUT

 

His kids don't know the offense, and the players there weren't recruited to play it. What he is running right now is not what was run at Utah last year, no doubt about that. I think in 3 years he'll be a force to reckon with, but he'll never light up the SEC like Utah did their conference.

 

Meyer came in and didn't take recruiting good defensive players seriously for this past signing day.

Unless he wakes up and realizes the differences in the conferences, he will be a bust at Florida.

 

Perhaps you are right... time will tell. However, Meyer inherited a Utah team that was 5-6 in 2002. They went 10-2 in 2003... with "kids that didn't know the offense and weren't recruited to play it".
Given that Meyer had similar results at BG, my guess is he expected more of the same at Florida. If "Kids" had no trouble learning his offense at his last two stops... why is it such a problem at Florida?

I ain't buying it. Now sell me on the fact that his offense may not work as well in conferences where they actually play defense... and I might buy a bottle.

 

That offense will never work with Leak. Drop back passer's and the Spread don't fit together. If Jay Cutler or D.J. Shockley was in this offense, They would roll.

 

Meyer's schemes will work against every team except those where mismatches cannot be found because the defending team is too talented/fast. That's most of the Top SEC Teams. Defenses are too fast, strong and sophisticated to be beaten nowadays by a gimmick offense like a Spread Option attack. Florida, Utah, Bowling Green, Oregon, West Virginia and UNLV have switched over to this attack. :dis: Now, given a great OL, good D, a decent running game, along with the speed and talent FLA has almost every year because they're state is the best for recruiting ... there's no doubt Fla will be able to compete for SEC East Championships every year under Meyer. Whether he wins those big games against superior defenses remains to be seen. The BAMA game wasn't a good OMEN for the spread option, but Meyer does have some legit excuses. FLA will NEVER DOMINATE the SEC with Meyer's spread option like Spurrier did with the "Fun & Gun". It requires a Ryan Perriloux type QB (run & throw). That's suicide in the SEC, pure and simple. No QB will be able to stand up to the ferocious hits. Thus, on this basic point alone (and there are others), the spread option attack is doomed against today's superior athletes on defense. Throwbacks to the time of the wishbone and other option attacks, this mutant offspring has little future in College FB, except in Little League, IMO.

 

They mentioned on Conference Call last night that the backup QB would be getting more playing time this week vs MSU. Meyer may be trying to find out if HE can run the spread....

I don't think I would replace Leak with a true freshman....

 

The LSU/Florida game is looking more interesting everyday.