Dan Mullen needs to reverse his typical philosophy

Florida can't run the ball effectively right now, at all.

Four games, 285 yards. 

That's all Florida's running backs have on the ground so far in 2019. The pride of the 2018 Gators is the achilles' heel of the 2019 Gators. 

Without the success of UF's passing game, which has accumulated 1,157 yards in those same four games, this is a 2-2 football team. There is absolutely no way Florida would have beaten Miami or Kentucky without throwing the ball effectively. 

I say that to make this point, as much as it may go against the Dan Mullen philosophy, UF has to reverse its strategy from a year ago. In 2018, a Jordan Scarlett and Lamical Perine-led backfield always got heavy action early in games. Later on, when they started facing 8-man fronts, Franks would hit big plays over the top to one of his many weapons at wide receiver. 

This team is not built that way anymore. Jawaan Taylor is gone. Martez Ivey is gone. Tyler Jordan is gone. I'll excuse the Miami game, it was the first game of the season with a young offensive line against a stout front-seven, but we're four games in now. 

We have seen enough. 

I don't think the Gators need to abandon the running game. I simply think that instead of trying to establish a run early, and then a passing game later, they need to do the opposite. Again, this is not typically the Mullen way. But if there is one thing that I have learned about Mullen since he has taken over this team, it is that he is one of the best coaches in the entire country at adapting to what he's given.

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In his time back in Gainesville, he transformed a nine touchdown, eight interception-Feleipe Franks into a 24 touchdown, six interception-Franks over the course of one season. He has found a real tight end for Florida for the first time in a decade in Kyle Pitts. He and offensive line coach John Hevesy made Jawaan Taylor a second-round draft pick and now NFL starter. He has turned the 27th-ranked WR in Florida in the 2016 class, Josh Hammond, into the most reliable pass catcher in the state and maybe the country, as he hasn't dropped a pass since he has played for Mullen. 

I say all of that to make the point that it is not like Mullen is ignorant. It is not like he is so prideful about his own coaching that he can't change things around to cater to his own personnel (yes, I'm throwing a jab at Jim McElwain). 

There's no way that Mullen can't see that these young offensive lineman are giving him everything he needs in pass protection, but not moving bodies enough to create real holes for running backs Lamical Perine, Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis. I believe that the commitment to running the ball this much so far, as the three main backs have carried the ball 81 times already this season, is practice.

Mullen knows that while Kentucky and Miami were real scares, UT Martin and Tennessee were not. As ugly as it may look, why not let the young offensive line and the struggling backs get more reps? Why not allow them to make the mistakes now instead of against Auburn, LSU or Georgia? I expect more of the same against Towson this Saturday. 

However, October and two days into November is an absolutely insane stretch for Florida, playing its three best opponents by far in that stretch: Auburn, LSU and Georgia. All of those teams are top-10 teams, and LSU and Georgia are top-5 teams. 

When UF gets to those games, I expect the Gators to sling it all over the yard early in the game. Perhaps if Trask gets rolling then you can start to pound the ball later when you're facing looks with more defensive backs on the field. But early on? Forget it.