I was surprised by the film breakdown. Our eyes showed us that Florida revamped its offense for the game against South Carolina, but in reality it was the exact same offense! A Gator PhD broke down the play calls and compared it to the most popular film breakdowns and determined that the only difference is that Mertz took the deep option. To clarify: in Napier's offense there is always a deep option and the QB is expected to read the safeties and determine whether to take the deep, intermediate or check-down options. Last week Mertz had 120 attempted vs 28 completed air yards (254 total air yards + YAC). This week Mertz had nearly 500 attempted air yards vs 400 completed air yards (423 total air yards + YAC).
You know, on some gut level I too was struck by the same dichotomy: A more surface, cursory impression was that they'd "updated" the offense--but NO: Underlying that was exactly the reality you note here, E--...
Those "shots" downfield have been there all along. Now, I don't know if Graham was "encouraged" to more aggressively identify and GO FOR those, if he took it upon himself, or if the circumstances and game situations simply demanded he rise to the occasion--but he DID, and it WORKED, especially in that 4th quarter.
It remains to be seen how this carries forward, and to what extent our Offense is even able to find and/or exploit similar opportunities against the quality of opponent we'll be facing in weeks ahead. Indeed, can our Defense recover its consistent balance and toughness to a degree that even keeps us CLOSE?
Most realistic Gator fans have to be more or less "holding their breath" as we head to Jacksonville in a week and a half. We DO get to enjoy a relatively "stress-free bye-week" during which we can view and judge the rest of the CFB landscape with a certain relaxed objectivity.
My advice: Hold onto as much of that as you are able going into The Cocktail Party: Like most, I personally will be "hoping for the best, but ready for GOD-KNOWS-WHAT!"
It's been that kind of year.
