Muschamp is still the second youngest head coach in the SEC. Featured in the Gator Media Guide, Muschamp coached defenses over the period 2002-13 would have the following ranks in the NCAA: Total D #3, Pass D #2, Rush D #6, 3rd Down #2, Scoring D #4t.

Whatever you think of Muschamp, at this point I think you have to recognize that he can coach up a defense and recuit that side of the ball.

Florida is in its worse three year run (22-16) since the probation effected years of 1987-89.

What is Florida going to get out of Driskel? Although he played only two full games last year, Florida is touting the fact that when Driskel was in the shotgun formation- Florida ran for 6.8 yards per carry and Driskel completed 60% of his passes. Compared to Driskel under center- Florida ran for 4.0 yards per carry and he completed less than 50% of his passes. Driskel was really little more than a game manager in 2012 and when called upon to carry an offense it has not been pretty.

There is a stat- adjusted yards per attempt= (yards + (20* td passes)- (45 * INT)- sack yards )/ (pass att + sacks)

Brantley in 2011 had adjusted yds per att of 7.32. Driskel has had in 2012 4.93 and in 2013 5.40. Not good. Of course you can't put it all on Driskel, bad O-line, running a pro set with spread recruited players, multiple coordinators, bad game plans, lack of talent around him.

Will Driskel put it together? Will he be more accurate? Will he make better decisions? Will he stay healthy?

What is Driskel's upside? Can Roper make a difference in his development? At least they seem to be designing an offense around Driskel's assets. His athleticism, running ability, keeping him in the shotgun and cutting down on his reads. There is even talk of a package for the backup QB to save on wear and tear. No more Driskel under center, no more pre-snap motion on every play.

Is there a hope that Driskel can improve to the level of say a Conner Shaw, maybe by 2015?

UF will have to throw the ball, a good running game keeps a game close but that is all it does. At some point you have to throw the ball into the end zone and make a play.

Speaking of Roper, he has his work cut out for him. At least I would say he has more players to work with than at anytime in the past three years- even if those players are very inexperienced. Florida has better depth at almost every offensive position than in recent years, but again very young.

Some numbers that suggest Florida will be better (I mean really UF was 4-8 last year).

Point differential: UF was outscored only 226-253 last year. And that was with a truly horrible offense.

UF lost a disproportionate number of close games: UF was 0-4 last year in games decided by a touchdown or less. Those things tend to even up over the years.

Turnovers: UF was a -2 last year in turnover margin. Hopefully the pointy ball bounces the Gator's way this season.

Field goals: UF was a dreadful 12-22 last year. At the same time our opponents went 22-23 95.7%. UF opponents would have been the 2nd most efficient FG kicking team in the nation last year.

Some humen elements that suggest a better season:

New O coach. The early reports on Roper are posiive. It looks like his system will try to utilize what we have to work with instead of trying to fit things into a notion that we are a power running team- when we weren't. Hopefully we will be more creative on offense, hopefully we will be able to change tempo if needed.

QB play- it just has to be better doesn't it?

Injuries- According to Phil Steele's site UF lost 51 starts to injury last year which was the third most in the NCAA. UF lost 19.3% of its possible starts to injury. FSU lost 10 starts to injury a year ago. Also according to Steele teams that lost 32 or more starts improved their record 77% of the time the following year.

What to look for:

1-Field position. Win the field position battle and college teams win 72% of the time. Kicking, punting, returns, turnovers, 3 and outs all go into field position. As bad as UF was last year they ranked 36th in field posiiton. In 2012 they were a very good #17.

2-Turnover battle, teams win 73% of the time when they get more turnovers. UF was a -2 here last year so there is room to improve. UF was +15 in 2012.

3-Finish drives better. UF was dreadful last year. #119 in red zone offense. They scored a TD only 19 times out of 43 trips inside the 20. UF ran a "successful" play only 31.8% of the time when inside the opponents 25 yard line. Plus the spotty FG kicking. Remember the 0-4 in close games-the failure is all right here in the red zone.

4-offensive efficiency- 1st down gain 50% of the yards needed for a first down, 2nd down gain 70% of the yards needed for a first, 3rd-4th down- pick up the first down. UF's play efficiency was ranked #102 in 2013. It was #41 in 2012.

5-more explosive. UF ranked #111 in points per play in 2013, they were #55 in 2012. There is a lot of room for improvement here.

If Driskel plays reasonable well, the team stays healthy, and there is a regression to the mean on the offensive numbers UF is a borderline top 10 team. More likely they are somewhere between a ranking of 20 to 30. UF could be a lot better than a year ago and have it not show up in the record. Right now most of the rankings and Vegas consider five teams on our schedule as being better than the Gators.