I am going to go against the grain here – and it may sound a bit like sacrilege to some of you – but I don't believe all is lost because Austin Appleby will be replacing Luke Del Rio for a few games.
Actually, not that I (or hopefully anyone else) would wish injury to any player, but I think that there is potentially some upside to the change at quarterback.
Reading over some of the comments here on the Alley, on Twitter, Facebook and sports radio, you would think that Florida should just mail it in until Del Rio returns to save the day – or season.
First and foremost, as long as the defense shows up and shows out, the Gators have an opportunity to win any game they play – against anyone in the nation.
It just not the defense though. I believe some have an elevated opinion of Del Rio for reasons other than his production.
After atrocious play at the position over the past five or six seasons, the Gator Nation is so love lorn for a capable quarterback that this looks like a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Yes, Del Rio has proven to be an upgrade over what Florida has trotted out at the position over the last half a decade, but this isn't exactly equal to New England being without Tom Brady.
To this point, against by far the weakest early season schedule in the SEC (Jeff Sagarin rates Florida's SOS as #157 in the nation), he has a passer efficiency rating of 140.0 – good for 50th best in the country.
That is without question better than what Gators fans are used to seeing recently from their signal callers. However, I would caution that isn't exactly elite and it came against three of the four worst defenses Florida will face this year.
Yes he has made some nice throws, but he has made a few bad ones as well.
Seeing the two in action on Saturday night, I am not convinced there is much of a drop off - if any - between the two
You can take solace in the fact that it took so long for Jim McElwain to name a starter. That leads me to believe that it is fair to make two assumptions:
Now that we are here, how do the two compare?
We'll assume that in the fourth game of the season, both now have equal knowledge of the Florida offense.
Del Rio definitely has more game experience with this offense – and that can't be replicated in practice – but Appleby has more overall game experience. Neither has ever been to an environment as hostile as Neyland Stadium.
Del Rio has the upper-hand in seemingly controlling a game (there are those who take offense to calling a quarterback a game manager, so we'll steer clear of that). For the most part he makes the right decisions and plays within his abilities. He has an okay arm, but definitely doesn't have a cannon.
Appleby on the other hand does have a bazooka. He has perhaps too much confidence in his arm strength, which in the past has led him to making some bad choices, trying to put passes into tight spots – which then ended up being picked off.
Another positive for the newcomer is his ability to scramble. After some first game struggles, the Gators offensive line has been solid in pass protection for the most part. However, in these first three games they haven't seen anything like they'll see on Saturday. Even an injury riddled Volunteers defense is a step up from what Florida has seen so far.
What does all this mean, if Appleby can play within the offense, and within himself by not trying to force things, there is no reason to believe that he can't lead Florida to victory on Saturday. He doesn't have to be the deciding factor for the Gators to win, he just can't be a negative one by throwing interceptions.
Actually, not that I (or hopefully anyone else) would wish injury to any player, but I think that there is potentially some upside to the change at quarterback.
Reading over some of the comments here on the Alley, on Twitter, Facebook and sports radio, you would think that Florida should just mail it in until Del Rio returns to save the day – or season.
First and foremost, as long as the defense shows up and shows out, the Gators have an opportunity to win any game they play – against anyone in the nation.
It just not the defense though. I believe some have an elevated opinion of Del Rio for reasons other than his production.
After atrocious play at the position over the past five or six seasons, the Gator Nation is so love lorn for a capable quarterback that this looks like a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Yes, Del Rio has proven to be an upgrade over what Florida has trotted out at the position over the last half a decade, but this isn't exactly equal to New England being without Tom Brady.
To this point, against by far the weakest early season schedule in the SEC (Jeff Sagarin rates Florida's SOS as #157 in the nation), he has a passer efficiency rating of 140.0 – good for 50th best in the country.
That is without question better than what Gators fans are used to seeing recently from their signal callers. However, I would caution that isn't exactly elite and it came against three of the four worst defenses Florida will face this year.
Yes he has made some nice throws, but he has made a few bad ones as well.
Seeing the two in action on Saturday night, I am not convinced there is much of a drop off - if any - between the two
You can take solace in the fact that it took so long for Jim McElwain to name a starter. That leads me to believe that it is fair to make two assumptions:
- Del Rio is an overall better fit for the offense. Whether it was because he is more familiar with it having spent last year in it while Appleby was at Purdue or because he is simply the better player – we don't know.
- The two aren't that far apart. If Del Rio were significantly better than Appleby it would make sense that the starting quarterback could have been announced at the end of spring or at the start of fall camp. That would have given the offense the opportunity to get the timing down between the quarterback and receivers. The fact that it took a couple of weeks into fall camp to name a starter leads me to believe it wasn't quite a slam-dunk or that Del Rio was heads and shoulders better than Appleby.
Now that we are here, how do the two compare?
We'll assume that in the fourth game of the season, both now have equal knowledge of the Florida offense.
Del Rio definitely has more game experience with this offense – and that can't be replicated in practice – but Appleby has more overall game experience. Neither has ever been to an environment as hostile as Neyland Stadium.
Del Rio has the upper-hand in seemingly controlling a game (there are those who take offense to calling a quarterback a game manager, so we'll steer clear of that). For the most part he makes the right decisions and plays within his abilities. He has an okay arm, but definitely doesn't have a cannon.
Appleby on the other hand does have a bazooka. He has perhaps too much confidence in his arm strength, which in the past has led him to making some bad choices, trying to put passes into tight spots – which then ended up being picked off.
Another positive for the newcomer is his ability to scramble. After some first game struggles, the Gators offensive line has been solid in pass protection for the most part. However, in these first three games they haven't seen anything like they'll see on Saturday. Even an injury riddled Volunteers defense is a step up from what Florida has seen so far.
What does all this mean, if Appleby can play within the offense, and within himself by not trying to force things, there is no reason to believe that he can't lead Florida to victory on Saturday. He doesn't have to be the deciding factor for the Gators to win, he just can't be a negative one by throwing interceptions.
