Gators look to run back into contention

By Joe Mayes  |   Friday, October 03, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

Florida Gators
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It has long been held as traditional wisdom in the Southeastern Conference that to win, you have to run the ball effectively. Many coaches and pundits alike have insisted that a team needs to be able to rush for more than 200 yards per game against some of the best defensive units in the nation, a feat the Florida Gators managed to pull off in 2007, if it wants to win consistently.

Unfortunately, the Gators have not been nearly as successful running the ball this season. As the Gators travel to Fayetteville on Saturday to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-2, 0-1 in SEC), head coach Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen are going to look to turn Florida's running game around.

The Razorbacks are riding a two-game losing streak while Florida looks to rebound from a disappointing 31-30 loss to Ole Miss in Gainesville last weekend. Florida has lost consecutive games just once in Meyer's four years, falling to Auburn and LSU in back-to-back Saturdays last season.

If there's any doubt that running the ball is key to success in the rough-and-tumble SEC, take a look at this year’s rushing leaders and conference standings. The top three rushing teams in the SEC are Alabama (215.2 yards per game), LSU (206.5) and Vanderbilt (202).

Not surprisingly, these same three teams sit atop the SEC standings, with Alabama and LSU tied in the conference’s West division and Vanderbilt in sole possession of first place in the East. With the exception of Kentucky, which has yet to play a conference game, Alabama, LSU and Vanderbilt are the only SEC teams that remain undefeated in conference play and are a combined 13-0 overall.

The Gators are ranked ninth (out of 12 teams) in the conference in rushing, averaging just 153.8 yards per contest. By comparison, the team in 2007 averaged more than 200 yards rushing per game (222 in its nine wins). So far in 2008, the team is averaging 46.4 fewer yards per game than it did in its moderately successful (9-4) '07 season.

As unimpressive as the Gators' rushing numbers are, they still overstate the team’s effectiveness running the ball. Forty-two percent of the Gators' rushing yards (255 of 615) came against Western Athletic Conference foe Hawaii in the season opener. In the three games since, against the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Miami (89 yards) and SEC opponents Tennessee (147) and Mississippi (124), Florida has averaged just 120 yards per tilt.

And it’s awfully tough to win in the SEC if you can’t rush for more than 120 yards per game.

The good news is that Gators look to get well against a weak Arkansas defensive unit. The Razorbacks are dead last in rush defense in the SEC, allowing 191 yards per game and nearly 5 yards per carry (4.87) in their four games. In their two most recent games (losses to Alabama, 49-14, and Texas, 52-10), the Hogs have surrendered 536 rushing yards. SEC West leader Alabama rushed for 328 yards against Arkansas, 112.8 more than its conference-leading season average of 215.2, and Texas carried for 208, just about its '08 mean.

The Gators are getting 4.4 yards per carry, though their two leading rushers are wide receiver/running back hybrid Percy Harvin and quarterback Tim Tebow. In fact, aside from Harvin and Tebow, only Chris Rainey (21), Emmanuel Moody (14) and Kestahn Moore (11) have more than 10 carries for the year.

Further hampering the Gators’ attempt at getting the running game on track, Meyer announced Wednesday that Moody (ankle), starting left guard Jim Tartt (shoulder) and backup left guard Marcus Gilbert (ankle) will all be out against the Razorbacks. As a result, Meyer and Mullen will likely look for creative ways for Tebow to get the ball into the hands of speedsters Harvin, Rainey, Jeffrey Demps and Brandon James.

Of course, you should also look for Tebow to do all he can to make up for last week’s third-quarter fumble and failed attempt on fourth-and-1 that cost Florida against Ole Miss.

“You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season,” Tebow said after last week's loss. “You'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.”

Unfortunately for Arkansas, the Razorbacks will be the first stop as the Gators attempt to run back to the top of the SEC standings.
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About Joe Mayes

Joe Mayes is a Northwest Florida-based freelance writer with credits ranging from national sports columns to local newspapers and commercial and technical writing. Joe covers the Miami Dolphins with an informed, yet irreverently witty style. He also alternates coverage of the Florida State ...
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