Now with three SEC starts under his belt, where does Florida quarterback Treon Harris stand and can the Gators realistically expect to compete for the SEC title in Atlanta with him at the helm? GatorBait.net breaks down how the offense has changed since Harris took over, why there have been some problems and whether Florida can clean up some of the issues moving forward.

Look at Treon Harris' passing numbers and you'll come away underwhelmed. Watch him play and you might be equally underwhelmed.

Florida fans have certainly been pointed in their complaints about the sophomore quarterback since he took over for starting quarterback Will Grier, who was suspended for 12 months for a violation of the NCAA's policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Harris has completed just 54.9 percent of his passes this season and has now gone two SEC games in a row with as many incompletions as completions.

But is he really as bad as the numbers look? Are there signs he is improving?

Actually, we think there are. Maybe even significant ones. Harris himself admitted Saturday that he was a bit nervous after taking over the starting job again and that he's finally starting to settle in.

"Going on the road to LSU, it was my first game back," Harris said. "It just felt like my freshman year, everything was so fast and loud. Then we played a bye week, then we had Georgia. Everything calmed down. [Saturday], I just felt like I'm back regular now. I'm back used to it."

The problem for Florida, and the main reason the offense has come to a grinding halt, is relatively simple. The Gators don't have a particularly good offensive line. It's still very young and struggles run blocking consistently.

Moreover, some of the differences between Grier's game and Harris' game highlight those weaknesses. Namely, Grier's ability to open up the middle of the field with his arm kept opposing linebackers and safeties from creeping up into the box and cheating on the run.

Harris has had trouble making some of those same throws from the pocket. One, his vision seems obstructed at times due to his height. Two, he's more comfortable rolling out and making plays on the run.

If the Gators want to be successful, though, they'll need him to stand in the pocket and hit some of those throws to keep defenses from crowding the box and lining the edges to limit both the run game and his ability to make plays outside the pocket.

Two weeks ago, Georgia slanted its defensive line quite a bit to the strength of the formation while keeping a backside spy on Harris. That accomplished two things: It kept the run from doing much when Florida handed it off and ran behind its blockers, and it also allowed the spy to crash down on Harris on the naked bootlegs he'd been so effective on.

Without a passing threat to the middle, there wasn't any real danger to the Bulldogs in stretching the line and harassing Harris when he rolled out of the pocket.

The way to combat that?

You either slip up the middle on the scramble or hit some throws over the middle from the pocket to keep those defenders at bay. Vanderbilt went into Saturday's game seemingly ready for Harris to try to hit some runs up the middle on called passing plays.

Harris explained what the Commodores were doing.

"It was me stepping up into the pocket and trying to slide and everything, but those guys were coming in fast, squeezing down tight, blitzing the Mike (linebacker) through the A-gap quick," Harris said.

Rather than slant and spy, Vanderbilt lined up with a three- or four-down front then sent an extra rusher through the middle as the line fanned to contain the edges. That prevented any chance of Harris slipping through the middle for big gains with his feet and also limited his space on the edge, resulting in a five sacks.

But Harris did hit throws from the pocket. Enough to be an encouraging sign for Florida moving forward.

In fact, going back and watching the film, every single one of Harris' 12 completions came from the pocket. All of them.

And Harris was sharp early on, hitting Brandon Powell on a slant for a would-be touchdown. Powell dropped it, or at least the replay officials ruled it that way after it was initially called a touchdown. Harris made several other nice throws, including a couple crossing routes to both Demarcus Robinson and Antonio Callaway for big gains.

Florida's inability to convert some decent drives into points and its propensity for turnovers on Saturday made it a closer game than it could have been.

Once that happened, Vanderbilt began to exploit a Florida offensive line that was overmatched with players in new spots thanks to a hobbled David Sharpe. The Commodores actually forced Harris out of the pocket, where he was entirely ineffective on Saturday.

"I mean the guy didn't have a chance back there," coach Jim McElwain said. "I mean, let's call it the way it is."

Harris also turned it over twice, fumbling for the second straight week and throwing his first interception of the season.

And while most Florida fans will point to the interception as a mistake, both McElwain and Harris explained why it was a smart play. It's a situation the Gators practice all the time. On fourth down, McElwain coaches his quarterbacks to throw the ball in play to give a receiver a chance to make a play. At worst, it's an interception that actually gains field position. Sure enough, the pick gave Vanderbilt the ball at its own 26 instead of its own 43.

The bottom line is that, at a minimum, the criticism of Harris is misguided.

The big knock on Harris has been that he can't make plays from the pocket. Turns out that's not quite accurate. As he has gotten more comfortable he has proven he can do just that. He did it repeatedly Saturday.

Now, he still needs to hit some more intermediate throws over the middle to fully open the offense. Make no mistake about it, though, Saturday was a huge step in the right direction for Harris.

He took the one thing Florida's coaches said he needed to do better and showed marked improvement. That without much help from his offensive line.

"They took it to us," McElwain said. "We've got to get better up front and we've got to accept the challenge. I'm not sure we answered the challenge great ... I'm willing to bet they took it to us and we didn't take it to them. And we allowed them to do that. So was it about them or was it about us?"

On Saturday, it really wasn't about Harris.

The sophomore is growing in confidence. It's easy to pin blame on a quarterback when an offense isn't clicking. And Harris certainly missed a few throws, overthrowing a screen and dumping one low.

The majority of his misfires were on the run being chased out of the pocket, though, where he intentionally tried to stay more Saturday and make plays.

It's an element to Harris' game we hadn't really seen yet and a clear indication that McElwain and his staff are getting through and developing Harris.

Whether that development will be enough to cover his natural limitations and make Florida competitive enough to win in Atlanta in a month's time is anyone's guess.

Harris, at least, feels confident in the direction things are headed.

"Vandy got the credit [Saturday], but my O-line can get better," Harris said. "Everybody's got a scholarship. Everybody's going to work hard all week in practice."

---------------

For more news on Florida sports and recruiting, follow GatorBait247 on Twitter.

Contact Thomas Goldkamp by 247Sports' personal messaging system or on Twitter at @ThomasGoldkamp.