Diagnosing the problem is easy.
Addressing it and improving is the challenge facing Florida, LSU and South Carolina.
Those three Southeastern Conference football teams lost by double digits on Labor Day weekend, and all three looked in disarray up front, especially the Gators and Gamecocks. The trio combined to rush for a scant 124 yards and combined to allow a staggering 18 sacks.
Florida had just 13 combined starts among its five offensive linemen before losing 24-11 at Utah, which tallied five sacks and held Gators running back Trevor Etienne to 25 yards on seven carries.
“I think there were a number of factors that contributed to our situation, in particular penalties and negative plays,” Florida coach Billy Napier said Wednesday on the weekly SEC teleconference. “Those are the enemy, right? Football is a game of efficiency, and you want to stay on schedule. We had a number of things that contributed, and we got knocked off track to where we were playing behind the sticks a lot, which affected our ability to stick with the running game.