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Gators Trying To Spread It Around

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

BATON ROUGE, La. - Brent Stephens e-mailed his latest masterpiece to a few friends earlier this week, and within hours he couldn't click on any of his favorite Web sites without seeing it.

Stephens, a Treasure Island-based University of Florida fan and Photoshop wiz who goes by the Internet handle Mr. 2 Cents, created 'The Official Florida Gators Offensive Decision Maker,' a board-game-style wheel that features six potential plays. Three plays are designed for Florida receiver Percy Harvin (reverse, screen pass and Hail Mary), and three are designed runs for quarterback Tim Tebow (Tebow left, Tebow right and Tebow middle).

The photo spread so quickly on the Internet because it taps into Florida fans' frustration at a perceived predictability in Florida's play-calling and ball distribution. It just so happens that the men who can do something about that frustration agree with Stephens' assessment - to a point.

'I probably worry about that too much,' Gators coach Urban Meyer said this week.

Injuries and poor blocking shrunk Florida's playbook the past two weeks, but the Gators will need every weapon in their arsenal when they face top-ranked LSU and its fast, stingy defense at 8:28 tonight at Tiger Stadium.

It's fitting that Florida enters Baton Rouge needing to diversify its offense. The Gators' last trip here in 2005 taught Meyer he needed to upgrade Florida's talent. After the Gators failed to cross their own 30-yard line on four fourth-quarter possessions, Meyer marveled that the Tigers' defensive backs had smothered his receivers in man-to-man coverage, freeing up everyone else to attack quarterback Chris Leak.

'You're not really supposed to be able to do that,' Meyer famously said after Florida's 21-17 loss.

So Meyer scoured the nation in search of athletes. Two top-ranked recruiting classes later, the Gators have fallen into the predictability trap again.

Injuries to receivers Andre Caldwell (knee) and Riley Cooper (ankle) and offensive tackle Phil Trautwein (foot) have forced the Gators to scale back their offensive ambitions. Still, playmakers such as Louis Murphy, tailback Kestahn Moore and tight end Cornelius Ingram have remained healthy.

But during tight games the past two weeks, those players haven't gotten the ball often. In a 30-24 win at Ole Miss and a 20-17 loss to Auburn, Tebow runs, Harvin runs and Harvin catches accounted for 63.7 percent of Florida's rushes and catches. In Florida's first three wins, such plays accounted for 39.9 percent of rushes and catches.

Moore, who carried only three times against Auburn, said coaches aren't forgetting players; they're only calling the plays they think will work best against a particular defense. Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen said a return to full-time action by Caldwell and Cooper should give the Gators more options.

They'll need them, because if the Tigers only have to defend the six plays on Stephens' Offensive Decision Maker, Florida could face a frustrating night.

'We've been pretty banged up,' Mullen said. 'All the different rotations, sometimes you lose track of where everybody is. The ideal way is when we're 100 percent healthy, you put the guys out there, and the defense dictates where it goes. Usually, the touches will get spread around equally.'

Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.

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