Once again, Florida’s offense has at times looked stale and predictable this season, but in recent games the Gators generally have experienced more success on opening drives than the remainder of their contests.

In the past three games, Florida has reached the red zone twice on opening drives and averaged 52.3 yards on roughly eight plays per opening drive. While the Florida offense has combined for 157 yards and a touchdown on its three opening drives during that stretch, it has amassed only 692 yards and 35 points over its 32 other drives (21.6 yards on roughly 4.7 plays per drive) in those three contests against South Carolina, LSU and FSU.

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In that regard, the discrepancy during Florida’s 31-13 road loss to Florida State this past weekend was certainly noticeable. Although the Gators came up with no points on their opening drive due to a risky fourth-down gamble by Jim McElwain, they racked up 73 yards on nine plays on that first drive, moving the chains three times with plays of 13, 24 and 25 yards.

During Florida’s 16-10 win over LSU, the Gators moved the chains on a combined six occasions and ran 20 plays on their first two drives. Excluding the one-play drive at the start of the third quarter where Austin Appleby connected with Tyrie Cleveland for a 98-yard touchdown pass, the Gators ran just 31 plays over six drives on their other possessions that contest.