Midseason Report: Florida Faces Problems on Offense?

Hard as it might be to believe, we have reached the midpoint of the college football season for many of the SEC teams. We look at what's happened to each of them and where they might go from here.

They say you're never as good as you look when you're winning and you're never as bad as you look when you're losing. Is that really supposed to comfort Florida?

After all, this is a team that didn't look that good against its early-season cupcakes, even as it coasting to a 4-0 record and a Top 10 ranking. Then came the shellacking against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and the roof caved in. By halftime, Alabama had a 24-3 win and would end up defeating Florida 31-6. Suddenly, a season that once held the promise of another SEC East title had taken on a much different tenor.

But Florida still had a chance to run through the rest of the SEC undefeated and schedule a rematch with Alabama in the conference championship game. And here was a perfect opportunity to show that the Gators weren't really all that bad: LSU had just won at Tennessee based on the luck, the latest in a string of unimpressive victories that hadmany thinking the Bayou Bengals weren't nearly as good as their undefeated mark.

Of course, we all know what happened next: a fake field goal took the most improbable bounce in human history to send Florida to 2-2 in SEC games and 4-2 overall. The only truly impressive win of the lot was against Kentucky, and Florida always annihilates Kentucky. So what to make of the Gators now?

It's easy enough to trace the source of the concern for anyone who's actually watched the goings-on in Gainesville this year. Florida is below the SEC average in rushing and passing yardage per game and ranks 11th in total offense. The defense is doing relatively well given the departure of long-time coordinator Charlie Strong, but there's only so much a defense can do when the offense can barely move the ball.

All of which brings more heat to Steve Addazio than Urban Meyer. After all, Meyer isn't going anywhere as long as his esophagus doesn't start doing the polka in the near future. Florida's not going to go insane and fire a coach who's won two national championships and has another undefeated regular season to his name. But it might be time for Addazio to start updating his resume. Because Meyer can't afford to stand behind him for too much longer -- not for the program's health and not for his own.

That all assumes that the offensive problems are actual problems and not just the inevitable issues that will crop up any time you lose an All-World player like Tim Tebow. Sure, the signs aren't encouraging, but all of the Gators' important goals are still well within reach. Fix the offense, and the season can still be a success -- even by Florida's high standards.