Florida quarterback John Brantley spent the first few months this year explaining how he was not Tim Tebow, but not even he could have imagined suffering more losses in two months as a starter than Tebow experienced his final two years.
The Gators began the post-Tebow era with four straight wins, including a 48-14 rout of Kentucky, but they were walloped 31-6 at Alabama on Oct. 2 and followed that with home losses to LSU and Mississippi State. Florida enters this week's game against Georgia in Jacksonville with its first three-game losing streak during a regular season since 1988.
"I don't think anyone wants to lose three in a row, whether it's my first year or 10th year," Brantley said Monday. "We're facing some challenges, but I really think we're going to be able to rise from it. We're sticking together, and that's the biggest thing we want to see. We're going to keep getting better. It's going to turn around."
Florida had last week off, and coach Urban Meyer spent the extra time addressing the offensive woes. The Gators rank 89th nationally in yards per game (329), 92nd in tackles for loss allowed a game (6.71) and 106th in red-zone offense (scoring 73 percent of the time).
Meyer talked Monday about what he dissected but didn't offer any specifics about potential remedies, leaving Georgia coach Mark Richt a little unsure about what to expect.
"I think it's a little bit more of a mystery than if we'd played them without the open date," Richt said. "When you have an open date, you do have time to make changes and maybe a little bit more of a radical change if you choose to, but it's hard to change everything. We'll have a basic idea, but I'm sure Coach Meyer and his staff will have some interesting twists for us to deal with."
Said Meyer: "We have modified quite a bit. I'm not going to sit here and say what we're going to do, but things have been modified."
Florida already has more turnovers (14) than its 2008 BCS title team (13), and the Gators haven't had a rushing touchdown from top tailback Jeff Demps since Sept. 11 against South Florida. Yet if the Gators are going to perform a turnaround, it must begin with Brantley.
The 6-foot-3, 218-pound redshirt junior from Ocala was brilliant in two seasons of mop-up duty for Tebow, completing 71.1 percent of his passes for 645 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception.
Tebow set the NCAA career record for efficiency with a 170.79 rating, but Brantley has a 117.9 rating this season that ranks 84th nationally. He has thrown six touchdowns and five interceptions, and his rating the past three games is an abysmal 98.5.
"I think there is one game where it's really going to click and we're going to come on," Brantley said. "Hopefully after the bye week and a good week of practice, maybe it happens this Saturday."
Odds and ends
Georgia junior outside linebacker Justin Houston was named Monday as the SEC defensive player of the week after his five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks Saturday at Kentucky. Houston leads the league in sacks with nine. ... This is the first Georgia-Florida game since 1979 without a ranked team. ... Richt said Monday that cornerback Branden Smith, who has suffered two concussions this season, will play provided he doesn't have a setback in practice. ... Florida center Mike Pouncey on the 42-30 loss to Georgia in '07: "It was embarrassing." ... Meyer said he should know by Thursday if tailback/receiver Chris Rainey will play. Rainey has missed most of the season after being charged with aggravated stalking.