By BRADY ACKERMAN
Florida Gators Football Sideline Reporter
Florida has officially entered "game week" mode and there has not been much news about the team and how it will play on New Year's Day.
Recent history shows us that Florida's offense will be ready to go and put up big numbers, no matter what scheme they choose to use. Florida has had some special circumstances the last two bowl games and both times the offense produced in terrific fashion.
With Urban Meyer somewhat removed from last year's preparations, the Gators under Steve Addazio went for 659 yards on Cincinnati. That game featured a pro style passing attack and a record setting pass day for Tim Tebow.
Two years ago in the BCS title game with Dan Mullen on staff, but already the Mississippi State head coach, the Gators had 480 yards against Oklahoma. The record for Urban Meyer with time to prepare no matter what the circumstances usually means big offensive results and big wins. Florida has not lost since the Cap One Bowl in 2007 with more than a week to prepare.
The offense will have to lean on its front line to attack Penn State. The Nittany Lions struggled to sack the quarterback and stop the run all season. This should bode well for Steve Addazio as he calls his final game before heading to take over the Temple football program. Coaches who are moving on or have jobs in hand tend to coach "looser" in bowl games, so expect Addazio to pull out all the stops.
I would expect this game to feature a full package of plays designed to get the ball to Andre Debose. Florida fans have been waiting for Debose to break out and this will be the kick start to 2011.
Addazio is the second coach this year to get a head coaching job (Dan McCarney North Texas) and this after a 7-5 season. It says a lot about Urban Meyer and how other schools view the Florida program for these guys to get head coaching jobs. That means he is the fifth former Florida assistant to get a head coaching position after working for Urban Meyer.
One reason Florida is such a desirable place to hire coaches from is the athletic department and the structure for which coaches work. Florida's athletic director Jeremy Foley is widely regarded as one of the best in the country and assistants can see the inner workings of a high budget, money making Athletic Department. Schools that hire coaches hope to get coaches who can share ideas and information that would help those football programs and athletic departments.
NEWS AND NOTES:
There are three things that impact a bowl game.
1. Injuries -- Florida is hoping to get some guys healthy and more should be known on game week from Tampa. Jeff Demps, Jordan Reed, Mike Gillislee, Lawrence Marsh head the list of guys coaches hope to get back healthy. Mike Pouncey was also injured against FSU with a bruised sternum, but I would expect him to be 100% come game time.
2. Academic casualties -- We have already seen the impact of this in several bowl games this December. There are many rumors that the Gators may have one starter out, but nothing has been confirmed by the team or University.
3. Motivation -- Most bowl games favor the underdog because they generally care more. However, the favorites held serve the first week of the bowl season and it will be interesting to see how it plays out the rest of the way. Florida shouldn't need added motivation for this game, because it is Urban Meyer's last game.
