Just saw the ESPN breakdown on QB efficiency and I need to talk about how badly the raw numbers mislead people on what actually happened at Florida last season. The completion percentage and yards per attempt looked fine on paper, but when you dig into the EPA per dropback on third and medium, it was a completely different story. Florida ranked 67th nationally in passing success rate on third downs between 4-7 yards. That is brutal. That number alone explains more about the offensive struggles than any box score stat ever could.
The thing is, the offensive line gave up pressure on 34% of dropbacks in those situations, which is bottom third in the SEC. You cannot evaluate quarterback efficiency without accounting for how much time the QB actually had. When the protection held up for 2.5 seconds or more, the passer rating jumped to 158.3. Under pressure it dropped to 68.4. That spread is massive. It tells you the scheme did not have enough quick game answers built in. The new staff has to install more RPO concepts and hot routes that give the QB a chance when the blitz comes.
The other number that jumps out is the adjusted yards per attempt when targeting the intermediate middle of the field. Florida was dead last in the conference on those throws. That is where the tight end and slot receiver have to be more involved. The running backs in the passing game only accounted for 12% of the targets, which is way too low for a modern offense that needs checkdowns to keep drives alive. Compare that to what the top offenses in the country are doing, and the gap is obvious.
People want to blame the quarterback room entirely, but the supporting cast and the play calling share the blame. The new offensive coordinator has to fix the third down passing game first. If Florida can get that EPA per play up to top 40 nationally, the whole offense opens up. The running game already has the personnel to be effective. It comes down to whether the staff can scheme guys open and give the QB clean looks on the money downs. That is the difference between 6 wins and 9 wins this fall.