Yeah, blame it all on Zook. Just make sure you keep that offensive coordinator though. I'd like at least two good shots at you before you figure out that's your problem.
Seriously, Spurrier's gone and the Florida offense fell off. You can blame it only on Zook in the fact he's the one that brought Marshall's offensive coordinator in. That guy is the reason Florida isn't Florida this year. He's bringing in an incredibly complex system that's extremely different than the Fun N Gun. The Fun N Gun isn't that complex. It relies a lot on timing. The QB reads the defense as he takes the snap and can pretty much tell if the primary read will work. If it looks good he throws it and the receiver breaks to the ball. Usually results in a completion and some great yardage. If it doesn't look good he progresses to the second read (if there is one for the play) and then the safety valve. If it's not a timing route, Spurrier would put the reads on different depths of the field, but on the same side. It makes the progressions easier to go through, plus floods a zone. With all of that as a possibility, the real effectiveness of the Fun N Gun is being able to run the ball. If the RBs couldn't get it going, the defense could sit back on the pass and shut Florida down.
Now you've got these kids who were comfortable with a system that's fantastic for college football trying to learn a complex system that's tremendously different (and not all that effective.) They aren't going to execute it efficiently, nor will the look confident while on offense. Ol' Rexxie looks damn lost out there at times.
You want to fix the Gators this season? You need to get someone that can coordinate the Fun N Gun, or something similar. Otherwise you're going to have to wait until the offense learns the new system and is comfortable with it.
Fire Zook after this season and you'll have another year of growing pains to deal with. The reason Miami did so well after Butch left is because the rest of the staff stayed intact, and they run the same offense and defense. Miami just didn't change.
At FSU we lost our Heisman senior and our offensive coordinator (and our top recruiter as well.) The offense has been very inconsistent, lacks cohesion and confidence. Blame it on baby Bowden for the system and blame it on Papa Bowden for letting the team get divisive on who should be playing QB. the first half wasn't Rix's fault against ND. The second half was. He saw that no one was helping (not the playcalling and damn sure not Morgan at receiver) so in the second half he slipped back into the "I've got to do it all to win" mode and sure enough, the turnovers started happening.
Point is, you have system turnover (UF and FSU) and you'll have issues for a year, maybe two. You don't have system turnover (Miami) and you'll keep trucking along.
