Florida vs Auburn: Can the Tigers offense improve enough to beat the Gators?

Following the Arkansas loss, it appeared Auburn would enter practice this week with a quarterback controversy. Starting quarterback Barrett Trotter has steadily struggled more and more each week this season. Against the Hawgs, he only completed 6 of 19 passes (31.6 CMP%) for 81 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. However, Coach Gene Chizik squashed all innuendo about who will be starting this weekend by unequivocally supporting and stating he is sticking with Trotter and is not considering making the change to true freshman Khiel Frazier. 

Part of Trotter's struggles can be attributed to a lack of depth at the wide receiver position after two players, Shaun Kitchens and Antonio Goodwin, were kicked off the team in the off-season. Auburn's current top two wide receivers, Emory Blake and Travon Reed, were injured last week for the Arkansas game and it is uncertain whether they will play against the Gators or not. 

Trotter has also not received any help from the WR's filling in. They dropped five passes against Arkansas. There is no excuse for WR's at this level to drop balls that hit them between the numbers, but that is exactly what Auburn receivers have done the last few weeks. DeAngelo Benton and Travonte Stallworth really need to step it up this game to compliment the rushing game led by Michael Dyer and Ontario McCalebb. Dyer is fully capable of carrying this team, but it is impossible for him to do so if defenses have zero fears of Auburn's passing game. If this is the case against the Gators, they will load the box and are capable of stopping a one dimensional running offense. 

The Gators come into Jordan-Hare Stadium with the 11th ranked team in total defense, but are struggling even more than Auburn on the offensive side of the ball. The Gators starting quarterback, Jonathon Brantley, was injured two weeks ago against the Alabama Crimson Tide and will miss his second game in a row. To add insult to injury, the Gators backup quarterback, Jeff Driskel, is also injured. Coach Will Muschamp says it is a game time decision as to whether Driskel will be able to go or if 3rd string quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, will get the start. 

The Gators will most likely look to rely on their versatile running backs, Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey, to carry the load and take some of the pressure off either of the young quarterbacks. The two were wrecking havoc on defenses until they faced LSU and Alabama. Fortunately for them, while Auburn's defense has steadily been getting better, it is nowhere close to on par with those other two teams. However, the Tigers will try to make Florida beat them through the air like they did South Carolina two weeks ago. They were able to completely shut down Marcus Lattimore by loading the box, but Stephen Garcia was incapable of making them pay for it. 

Florida is favored by 1.5 points. For the Tigers to win this game, they must be able to stop the Gators rushing attack and get more offensive production from the passing game. Their special teams play, which has been stellar all season, will need to once again help the Tigers control field position. If they can do all these things and avoid turnovers and penalties, they should be in a position to win this game.