Florida Gators: 3 keys to fixing the slumping offense

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Gators are the SEC East division champions but Jim McElwain’s team is struggling on offense without suspended quarterback Will Grier so here are three ways to fix the anemic offense.

The last time the SEC East won the conference championship game, Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow owned the SEC and a dynasty and Alabama was considered a bit of an upstart with second year coach Nick Saban. The Gators’ scored late to break open a tight affair 31-20 en route to a second national title in three years.

12 months later Saban’s program rebuild was complete in less than three years. Bama put the hammer down on Meyer and Tebow in the duet’s final SEC game, 32-13, as Bama not only took ownership of the SEC, but won its first of three national championships under Saban.

Fast forward six years and the old nemesis’ are on a collision course to play in the SEC Championship Game for a record 8th time (Florida leads 4-3). The Gators’ offense right now gives the SEC East little hope of breaking the Western Division’s six-game winning streak.

Florida’s 38-10 victory over Ole Miss is the lone bright spot for the East in this year’s season series. Gators’ starting quarterback Will Grier may have played his finest game against a high-caliber defense that night in The Swamp. The freshman, however, is now suspended and Florida’s production at the position has suffered as have Eastern Division teams in trying to solve the West.

In fact, the West’s 10-1 margin in head-to-head matchups even supersedes last season’s 12-4 West vs East dominance. Following Florida’s 9-7 struggle over Vanderbilt and Alabama’s annihilation of Leonard Fournette’s Heisman campaign eight hours later, the disparity between first place teams seems to be at an all-time high. Florida’s offense has three games to find some answers.

For more on the Gators’ click on my podcast with David Waters of Gator Sports Radio and slick through to get detailed information on how the Gators can improve its porous offense.

Next: Florida Offense: 3 Keys