UF, UA can run, but then what?

Florida and Alabama boast the SEC’s two best rushing offenses. But with two of the nation’s best defenses to overcome, the crown may go to the team that doesn’t stumble if the passing game has to shoulder the load.

The Gators have the more balanced attack, boasting the only offense in the SEC that averages over 200 yards rushing and passing a game.

“I’d say that we’re more two-dimensional,” senior offensive tackle Jason Watkins said. “Most of the time you look at Alabama, it’s mostly just power-running the ball like all the time. It’s a different style of offense. They run more of a power offense, old school. We can run a lot of different plays. I think that’s a slight advantage for us.”

The Tide doesn’t run all the time, but they do run nearly twice as much as they pass. They don’t care if you know it’s coming either.

“When you look at Alabama, you know what you’re going to get,” defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said of the Alabama’s ground game. “There’s so many plays they run and so many formations, but you know what you’re going to get.”

Running is Alabama's identity, accounting for three times the touchdowns (30) of the passing game (10).

While it’s no secret what has carried the Crimson Tide to Atlanta, the Gator offense has more secrets than a diary.

“Our offense man, there’s so much stuff that we don’t run that y’all don’t see,” senior wide receiver Louis Murphy said. “We’re just going to run our basic offense.”

Murphy has many words to choose from, but “basic” isn’t one of them. Alabama telegraphs its game plan to its opponent: a relentless dose of the running game. Florida’s junior quarterback Tim Tebow couldn’t reveal his game plan if he wanted, because even most running plays in the team’s option-read offense have two and sometimes three options after the ball is snapped.

If Alabama is forced to deviate from Plan A and pass the ball, the Tide offense will be in danger of stalling out. If Florida’s offense has to do the same, it will simply shift gears.

“I feel like we have a lot of dimensions to our game,” Murphy said. “… If we have some hiccups in the running game, I’m sure our passing game will be just fine and vice versa.”

The Gators are 5th in the nation in passing efficiency, thanks to Tebow’s 25 touchdowns and two interceptions. The Crimson Tide are 52nd behind senior quarterback John Parker Wilson’s 9 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

That doesn’t mean Alabama’s offense isn’t efficient. It’s averaging over 32 points per game this season. Still, the offense is conservative and not built around Wilson’s arm.

“If you look at them on third down, there’s not many third-and-longs. There’s a ton of third-and-shorts,” Strong said. “So what they do is they stay on schedule. If they go to second-and-10, they’re going to try to get 5 yards to get it back to third-and-5.”

If the Gators need a big play in the passing game, they have confidence that Tebow will deliver, and with good reason. Tebow has thrown three touchdowns in three of the last four games, including the trio in the rain on the road last week.

“Imagine playing the football game the way that he did," UF coach Urban Meyer said. "We had over 500 yards of offense against who we played against. He managed a two-minute drill where on film you could barely see because of the rain. Heisman’s and Player of the Year awards are all fun, but as far as who managed that game in that moment, we have our guy and we have who we want.”