GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After Florida's offense was shut out against in-state rival Florida State, many fans were left wondering why the Gators haven't made a change at quarterback.

Simply put, sophomore Treon Harris has been highly ineffective. He's been blasted by national analysts and fans alike for his performance the last month, but on Monday coach Jim McElwain shouldered some of the blame for that.

"And that’s too bad," McElwain said of the criticism his starter has faced. "Part of that, you need to look a little bit at me and what I’m asking him to do as well, and trying to push the envelope a little bit. That’s how we’re going to be offensively as we continue to grow."

McElwain hasn't tweaked his offense much for Harris to date. Installing the system early in his tenure is too important to make massive changes that would accommodate a shorter, dual-threat quarterback in the place of the typical pocket passer McElwain prefers.

The system itself works fine. The amount of open receivers Florida has had this season compared to years past is staggering.

The scheme McElwain is running has players constantly running open thanks to intelligent route design. Harris simply isn't seeing them or hitting them frequently enough.

"He’s probably handled and done as good a job with his skill set, as far as helping some of those things moving forward," McElwain said, indicating that Harris has made the best of a tough situation having to run an offense that doesn't suit him.

"Yet, he’s learning, he’s there, he engaged. He’s our quarterback, and I’m glad he’s our quarterback."

The Gators may very well look to play to Harris' strengths a little more now that there's nothing on the schedule past the Crimson Tide. There was only so much they could risk running Harris or rolling him into positions where he might get hit with no quality backups.

That changes this week as Florida enters the SEC Championship Game against Alabama a 17-point underdog, needing to do whatever it can to even have a chance at springing a massive upset.

"Quarterback run has hurt these guys if you look at it," McElwain said.

The first-year coach brought up the few losses Alabama has had in the past few years, noting that most of the teams that pulled off a win boasted an athletic quarterback.

"I guess when you look at what they did against them, those were all common denominator: running quarterbacks, Wildcat stuff," McElwain said. "We aren’t built that way. We’ll put something together to hopefully at least make them think.

"My biggest thing is I just hope they come away scratching their heads and say, 'That was cute.'"

What that will look like is anyone's guess. It'll almost certainly feature more running from Harris. After all, that's what he does best.

Florida can't afford to keep letting him sit in the pocket and miss open receivers.

Teammates and coaches alike realize that Harris is at his best when he's able to use his athleticism and running ability to stretch defenses.

"I just think that's a part of his game that makes him excel," tight end Jake McGee said. "You can use his feet to make plays, but he also has a heck of an arm and it's something that we need to be able to use this week."

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