Florida Gators
Southeastern Conference
If there is a better example of “being bowl eligible” meaning nothing, I haven’t seen it. The Florida Gators are, by any statistical or empirical measure, not very good. They do not have a quality win over a ranked opponent all year long. They certainly played a tough enough schedule. It just resulted in them losing every tough game they played. The Gators are everything that’s wrong with the claim that making a bowl game is somehow the measure of success. Why even count a coach’s record in bowl games if this is going to be an example of one? But, oh by the way, congratulations Florida!
2011 Record: 6-6, 3-5
Last Bowl Appearance: 2010 Outback Bowl vs. Penn State (W 37-24)
Big Wins: 9/17 Tennessee (33-23), 11/5 Vanderbilt (26-21)
Bad Losses: 10/15 at Auburn (6-17), 10/29 Georgia (20-24)
Coach: Will Muschamp (6-6 at Florida, 6-6 overall)
Bowl Record: 0-0 at Florida, 0-0 overall
Offensive Coordinator: Charlie Weis
Defensive Coordinator: Dan Quinn
Strengths:
Florida has talent on all sides of the ball. Their offense is littered with speed in the forms of Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps and some other contributors. Rainey and Demps, both senior backs, have been the biggest providers of offense to the Gators this season. They have combined for over 1,800 yards from scrimmage, adding to an already impressive yardage total both rushing and receiving for their careers. Florida’s defense can be stout too, especially against the pass. They rank, albeit relatively low in the loaded SEC, very well nationally in both pass defense and total defense. The dismissal of all-conference cornerback Janoris Jenkins before the season started has not hurt the Gators as much as everyone predicted it would. In addition, they have one of the best kicking games in the nation with placekicker Caleb Sturgis. Sturgis is third in the nation in made field goals, trailing the leader by only one. He ranks in the top 30 nationally in scoring. One thing Florida has been able to count on all year long is a reliable fallback option in the red zone if their offense cannot punch it in.
Weaknesses:
Florida is the epitome of a team caught between tiers. They obviously are not a bad team, as their record indicates. What they are, however, is a team bad at a lot of things. They have a poor turnover differential, turning the ball over more times than they’ve forced them; they do not sack opposing quarterbacks at a very high clip, leading to giving up more sacks than they’ve gotten themselves; their return game is not great for a team that has a lot of speed, and their passing game is putrid because of injuries, inconsistency and just a plain lack of talent at the position this season. Furthermore, their impressive pass defense ratings may not tell the whole story. With so many teams in 2011’s version of the SEC having question marks at quarterback, it may have directly led to an equally large number being rated as elite defensive units overall and against the pass. Although Florida played fine against all their out-of-conference foes, none of them were great teams so this is just something to keep in mind.
Statistical Leaders:
Rushing: Chris Rainey, RB, 790 yards
Passing: John Brantley, QB, 1,912 yards
Receiving: Chris Rainey, RB, 350 yards
Tackles: Jonathan Bostic, LB, 86
Sacks: Ronald Powell, DE, 5.0
Interceptions: Matt Elam, S, 2; DeAnte Saunders, CB, 2
2011 Team Stats:
Rushing Offense: 144.00 (75th in nation, 8th in conference)
Passing Offense: 190.17 (86, 5)
Total Offense: 334.17 (101, 8)
Scoring Offense: 25.58 (71, 7)
Rushing Defense: 132.33 (40, 5)
Pass Defense: 167.25 (9, 4)
Total Defense: 299.58 (10, 5)
Scoring Defense: 20.58 (26, 6)
Turnover Margin: -.92 (114, 12)
Sacks: 1.83 (66, 6)
Sacks Allowed: 1.92 (60, 4)
