JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -Florida doesn’t get to Starkville often. When the Gators do, though, bad things usually happen.
They’ve lost their last four trips to Mississippi State. The last time the Gators fell here, 38-31 in 2004, their coach was fired two days later.
Think it can’t happen again on Saturday? That this Florida squad, the defending national champion, is invincible? Take a closer look.
The Gators are ranked No. 2 in the Top 25 and No. 1 in the BCS standings, and are clearly an elite team. But they are struggling like never before in Tim Tebow’s three-year run as starter, and have a lot of questions to answer on this tricky trip.
he field this week is former offensive coordinator Dan Mullen. He knows more about what makes Florida’s offense work than most, and he’s using that knowledge to help his Bulldogs clog up the works as they prepare for the possibility of a milestone win.
“It’s going to be a game that we need every single player on our team to play great,” Mullen said. “We need every single fan to give everything we have. We need the whole state of Mississippi to show up and make it the most hostile environment we can. That’s what we need.”
Some of Florida’s offensive struggles can be linked to Mullen’s departure to Mississippi State (3-4, 1-2 SEC). That’s just one piece of a larger mosaic, though.
Since scoring 31 points in the first quarter at Kentucky on Sept. 26, the Gators (6-0, 4-0) have scored 46 points in 11 quarters.
Players and coaches believe there are several factors contributing to the offensive slump, including turnovers, dropped passes and sacks. The blame has been spread among receivers, offensive linemen, offensive coordinator Steve Addazio and even Tebow.
But coach Urban Meyer insists the problems are mostly red-zone related.
The Gators scored 92 percent of the time when they moved inside the 20 in 2008. This year, they’re scoring just 80 percent of the time, and only 50 percent of them produced touchdowns.
f all: The Gators have scored only six touchdowns in 20 red-zone trips in Southeastern Conference play.
“Two areas where we’re usually very good is turnover margin and scoring in the red zone,” Meyer said. “Those are our biggest issues right now. We’re leading the league in offense, but turnovers and the red zone – they are critical.”
The problems were evident last Saturday against Arkansas. The Gators misfired on three of their six trips inside the 20, and had to eke out a 23-20 victory.
Caleb Sturgis missed a 37-yard field goal on Florida’s opening drive, and Tebow and tight end Aaron Hernandez each fumbled inside the 10-yard line in the second quarter.
Tebow has four fumbles this season, more than he had the last two years combined. Two of his came near the goal line and the others came on sacks.
Although turnovers are Florida’s main concern, players and coaches agree that the offensive issues go beyond the red-zone woes. There are plenty of theories beyond Mullen’s departure, too.
Maybe it has to do with the absence of do-it-all receiver Percy Harvin, who jumped to the NFL. Maybe it has to do with an ineffective offensive line or defenses figuring out a way to stop Tebow in short-yardage situations.
Regardless, the Gators want to get it fixed, and soon. They realize it could be the key to getting back to Atlanta for the SEC title game and keeping their perfect season intact.
“We’ve got to execute better,” Tebow said. “We’ve got to put ourselves in better situations. We’re getting ourselves in situations like that third-and-10 (on the opening drive against Arkansas). We need to be in third-and-4 and convert and get a first-and-goal, then run and put it in (the end zone). We have to stay on schedule a little bit more, and we’ll be OK.”
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