It appears Florida's offense will be awful again in 2017
Stop me if you've heard this before, but Florida's offense was an unmitigated disaster on Saturday.
A fully-loaded Gators offense has been tough to watch the last two seasons under Jim McElwain, but the one without its top receiver and top running back was downright dreadful against Michigan.
The news of Antonio Callaway and Jordan Scarlett's suspensions certainly didn't help the Gators chances against the Wolverines, but it's doubtful their inclusion would have changed the outcome.
Related: Scarlett, Wells make it 10 Florida players suspended vs. Michigan
The final numbers are downright laughable, as the Gators finished with only 182 total yards on offense and were a pitiful 2-for-13 on 3rd-down. Without Scarlett in the backfield, Florida mustered just 11 yards rushing for the entire game.
The final score of 33-17 was incredibly flattering to the SEC club, as 14 of those points came on back-to-back pick-6s from Wolverines quarterback Wilton Speight.
Outside of a brilliant six-game stretch by Will Grier, it seems Florida has struggled at the quarterback position since the legendary Tim Tebow left town in 2009.
A quarterback-battle between Feleipe Franks, Malik Zaire, and Luke Del Rio ended with the redshirt freshman Franks named starter. While he looked okay at times against the Wolverines, he failed to move the offense with any sort of success and finished with just 75 yards passing.
Zaire, the grad transfer from Notre Dame, could do no better when he entered the game in the second half, completing 9-of-17 passes for only 106 yards.
A historically-good defense somehow overcame the offensive struggles to deliver two straight SEC East titles in McElwain's first two years on campus, but that outstanding unit was hit hard by players leaving for the NFL.
The Gators were ranked 99th in the country in scoring offense for his first year with the program, and dropped to 108th last year. Two top-10 defenses picked up the slack and kept the team rolling in the SEC East.
With the defense left exposed, the Gators need a much-improved showing from the offense this year. Through one game, it appears that won't be happening in 2017.