It looked like Jeff Driskel simply stayed out of the way during Florida’s 14-6 upset over LSU last week.
Gators coach Will Muschamp argued that perception by pointing out Driskel’s efficiency with the few passes he threw and smart decisions he made adjusting run plays at the line of scrimmage. But he acknowledged that his team needs to get more out of its passing attack.
“I thought he did his job,” Muschamp said. “We won the game. Now, we also need to realize that we need to make improvements — not just with Jeff, but everybody.”
This week will be another test for Driskel as he leads No. 4 Florida into a road game against Vanderbilt on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPNU). The Commodores (2-3, 1-2 in the SEC) are No. 3 in the conference in pass defense.
Almost everything is trending upward for the Gators, who now are being talked about as a contender to win the SEC. The passing deficiency is one of the few red flags.
Florida (5-0, 4-0) is last in the conference at 158.6 passing yards per game and tied for 12th with 17 sacks allowed. Driskel ranks 13th in the country with a 69.2 completion percentage, but has only attempted 91 passes. More than 100 quarterbacks have thrown more than that.
Perhaps Florida’s modest passing numbers should not be alarming. Of the top 10 teams in the current Associated Press poll, only West Virginia and Oregon State are among the top 50 in passing yardage. No. 1 Alabama is 79th and No. 6 Kansas State is 107th, four spots ahead of the Gators.
Driskel’s passing production against LSU was minimal: 8-for-12, 61 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions He also was sacked five times in the first half. As the team rallied in the second half, he threw just four passes and offensive coordinator Brent Pease ended the game by calling 25 straight run plays.
“They’re not the best stats, but the only stat that matters is the win,” said Driskel, a true sophomore. “When the run’s working as well as it was, there’s no need to go to a passing game.”
To Driskel’s point, the Gators ran for 176 yards on LSU with 146 of those coming from Mike Gillislee. Florida’s total was the second-highest any team has posted against the Tigers over the past two seasons.
Driskel was excellent for Florida in a 37-20 win at Tennessee in Week 3, completing 14 of 20 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He took no sacks and ran eight times for 81 yards.
Since then, though, he has been much less of a factor. He hit on 18 of 27 passes against Kentucky, but threw his first interception of the season and his throws were not as sharp as they were in the first three games.
“I don’t think I regressed,” Driskel said. “There were definitely times where I could have thrown the ball away or made a better throw here or there. But I made some big plays when I needed them and used my feet, and that’s a big part of my game.”
He ran well, which he has all season. He picked up 56 yards on eight rushes, including an important 6-yard gain to convert a third down on Florida’s final possession of the game. That play, on third-and-three from the Gators’ 19-yard line, prolonged the drive and enabled them to drain the clock to nine seconds before giving LSU one last shot to tie it.
This season, Driskel has thrown for 759 yards and is on pace for 1,973 if Florida plays 13 games. The Gators have had a 2,000-yard passer each of the past 11 seasons.
He also has four touchdown passes and only one interception.
Florida might keep winning without him putting up big numbers, but it will be easier if he regains the trajectory he has on earlier in the season, when each game showed clear improvement.
“We need to improve and create more balance offensively,” Muschamp said. “It’s a combination of things. There are a lot of things that go into that and we need to just continue to work on that.”
