Florida’s offense has little bite in season opener

OK, so maybe Tim Tebow really was that good.

Florida, playing a Miami of Ohio team that was a five-touchdown underdog coming off a 1-11 2009 season, had 36 yards of offense Saturday until Jeffery Demps broke loose on a 72-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The Gators won comfortably, 34-12, but it wasn’t pretty.

Florida finished with 212 yards of offense — same as its opponent — and Coach Urban Meyer was blunt in his assessment.

“I didn’t imagine the offense’s incompetence that we experienced today,” he told reporters.

Tebow’s replacement at quarterback, John Brantley, completed 17 of 25 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns, but much of his production came late — and his second scoring pass was tipped before being brought in.

The most striking statistic for Gators fans to chomp on: Florida fumbled eight times, losing three.

Following up on Demps

When the Florida junior breaks into the clear, you can bet — heavily — he won’t get caught from behind.

He is, after all, the 2010 NCAA indoor champion in the 60-meter sprint (winning time: 6.56 seconds) and NCAA outdoor champion in the 100 (winning time: a wind-aided 9.96).

What controversy?

So much for the debate over who should be Michigan’s starting quarterback.

In what might be the best decision he’s made since he was coach at West Virginia, Coach Rich Rodriguez chose Denard Robinson over incumbent Tate Forcier and hot-shot freshman Devin Gardner.

Which means that for this week anyway, Rodriguez is back to being a genius.

In front of a record crowd of 113,090 in the now-bigger-than-ever Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich., Robinson completed 19 of 22 passes for 196 yards and ran 29 times — mostly by design, no less — for 197 yards. Michigan defeated Connecticut, 30-10.

Robinson’s rushing total is a school record for a quarterback.

Built-in excuse

Brigham Young honored its eight former All-American quarterbacks during a ceremony at halftime of its game against Washington.

Former Cougars greats Virgil Carter, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco and Ty Detmer were there to enjoy it.

Steve Sarkisian was also at the stadium, but he didn’t take part.

Something about being busy coaching Washington.

Perfect so far

Quarterback Dayne Crist and Coach Chip Kelly both enjoyed winning debuts as Notre Dame defeated Purdue, 23-12.

Crist, a junior who played in high school for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, completed 19 of 26 passes for 205 yards and a touchdown in his first start.

Kelly improved the record of debuting Notre Dame football coaches to 26-3, dating to 1896.

The three Fighting Irish coaches to lose their first games: Frank E. Hering, who suffered a 4-0 loss to the always-tough Chicago Physicians and Surgeons in 1896; Elmer Layden, who lost to Texas, 7-6, in 1934; and Lou Holtz, who dropped a 24-23 decision to Michigan in 1986, years before he became a blabbermouth studio analyst.

Another real McCoy

Texas just couldn’t go a game without playing a McCoy at quarterback.

Case McCoy, whose older brother Colt starred for the Longhorns in recent seasons, made his college debut in a 34-17 Texas win over Rice.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound freshman took over from starter Garrett Gilbert with about six minutes left in the game and…didn’t do much. He was 0 for 1 passing and didn’t try to run.

Gilbert, a sophomore who last year subbed for an injured Colt McCoy in the Bowl Championship Series title game against Alabama at the Rose Bowl, completed 14 of 23 passes for 172 yards in his first college start.

mike.hiserman@latimes.com