Charting the Gators: Mullen's Magical Numbers Tell Story

UF coach Dan Mullen orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in college football in 2018, with no improvement as glaring as what the Gators did on offense, especially late in the season.

Charting the Gators: Mullen's Magical Numbers Tell Story

Tuesday, November 27, 2018 | Football, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Raise a hand if, over the course of the last few Florida football seasons, you mumbled (or railed) to a fellow friend in orange and blue something to the effect of, "If only the Gators could manage to be average on offense … ."

Go ahead. Get 'em up.

A review of UF's 2018 offensive statistics in Coach Dan Mullen's first season will not overwhelm anyone when compared to the digits, say, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Clemson or Alabama have amassed to date, but in the spirit of the above premise they don't have to, either. They just needed to be competitive as opposed to abysmal, which has been the case the last few years on the way to undermining consistently some, sometimes dominant play by the Florida defense.

We could go on and on about the struggles on offense and the program's search for a quarterback since Tim Tebow left after the 2009 season. UF's pregame notes packages (take a bow, communications assistant director Zach Dirlam) are chock full of 2018 stats that are firsts for the program since those days; an era, by the way, when Mullen called Florida's plays and coached Gators quarterbacks.

I see a pattern developing here.

Third-year sophomore Feleipe Franks, who last season passed for nine touchdowns and eight interceptions, finished the regular season with 2,284 yards, 23 touchdowns and just six interceptions, and also rushed for another six scores. (Photo: Allison Curry/UAA Communications)

We don't have to cycle through the previous, frustrating eight years of offensive futility for the numbers; that would be running up the score. After the Gators and quarterback Feleipe Franks just posted a third straight game with 500 or more yards for the first time in nine seasons (on the road in a blowout victory at Florida State, no less), we just need to go back one season to make the point.

Check out the below "Tale of the Tape" between Florida's 2017 offense under Coach Jim McElwain versus the 2018 offense under Mullen. It's a sample that can be made comparing units of basically the same personnel — same quarterback, same offensive line, very similar receiving corps — with the splashy addition of tailback Jordan Scarlett and wideouts Van Jefferson and Trevon Grimes.

Worth noting: Most of the numbers in the right-hand column are better than just average.

Prediction: They're going to get better in the years to come.

CHARTING THE GATORS
A comparison of some key Florida offensive statistics in 2017 under Coach Jim McElwain vs. the same numbers posted by Coach Dan Mullen's unit in 2018, using mostly the same personnel. Note: Remember, the FBS stats reflect the place among 129 teams, while the SEC reflects (obviously) the place among 14.

2017	Jim McElwain	Tale of the Tape	2018	Dan Mullen
STATS	RANK (FBS / SEC)	CATEGORIES	STATS	RANK (FBS / SEC)
335.9	109th / 13th	Total Offense	426.7	48th / 7th
22.1	108th / 13th	Scoring Offense	34.5	31st / 5th
156.4	75th / 9th	Rushing Offense	209.5	26th / 3rd
179.5	101st / 11th	Pass Offense	217.2	77th / 8th
113.1	112th / 14th	Pass Efficiency	146.7	35th / 5th
1.00	117th / 13th	TD-INT Ratio	4.50	T-12th / 3rd
32.5	117th / 13th	3rd-Down Percentage	40.8	56th / 7th
37	118th /14th	Sacks Allowed	15	T-19th / 3rd