HARD realities and decisions

tough to place too much blame on DC as V Miller might be our best defender but he was exposed in pass defense last night. I imagine uga is licking their chops at the prospect of our LBs covering their TEs. They might have finally learned what a liability Trey Dean is and went with youth. Maybe they can scheme up some changes to protect Miller in passing D. CBN did mention several times in his PC schematic changes.

 

Spurrier last hurrah?

 

Check back in 2-4 weeks. The measure of a great staff is to show a team improvement during a bye week. We're going to get smoked by UGA, but if we force them to punt a bit and maybe see a 3-and-out here and there....then that's progress. LSU was total regression, from an already bad D

 

How about (for a possibility and not a fact):

Toney: We need to get some more players on the field beyond the ones we have already. Those are wearing out like we thought.

Napier: Are they doing exactly what we asked them to do to get on the field?

Toney: Not really, they are still hard-wired to their old regime.

Napier: Sorry, but no.

 

Meh, that hardwired angle is an excuse.

Now, I've been saying on other threads that we really aren't that talented...We're playing 4 true freshmen starter-level snaps on D....and some more 2nd year players, some of which redshirted last year. The upperclassmen that are playing, are not elite. We don't have a bonafide All-SEC player.

But 131'st on 3rd downs and tied for 3rd worst in the SEC in scoring D (behind Vandy and Ark) is 100% due to coaching. It's the coaches freakin' job to maximize the talent (or at least have the results match the talent level), and they have failed in astonishing fashion on D.

 

"Hard-wired" is another name for "stubborn". That is NOT an excuse. I am not plainly saying any particular player IS that way, just that if they were, I don't see Napier bending his principles because we just HAVE to ...(fill in your own blank here).

 

Give 'em Hell Pell!

 

This is my take. I don’t live and die by how the gators do however. If you accept that this is a rebuilding year, and it is going to take a guy like Napier a bit longer, on balance I’m seeing more good than bad.

- I was pretty concerned after the KY game with Anthony. Began to worry that his upside was overstated and perhaps he just didn’t see the field, which is hard to develop. Subsequent games and especially last night he showed some bursts of greatness, generally better decision making, and continued improving consistency. He’s not there yet, but he is well on his way.

- we finally have a running attack for the first time in how long?

- the offensive line is certainly better

Overall the offense is generally productive with some ups and down.

The defense is still pretty sketchy. Run defense and pass pursuit seems respectable, the pass defense terrible. 3rd down still horrible. This seems to be primarily a carryover from prior years. I have to have some confidence that income recruiting talent and coaching will eventually fix this.

All 3 losses were to respectable or good teams and they were close. Just a little bit better and we are undefeated.

Maybe things get better down the road. Maybe they don’t. But overall most things are heading in the right direction.

 

Why do we have to play it out now? Get rid of the DC. Promote someone from within or bring someone else in. This isn’t personal. It’s not working so if you don’t believe that the current coaches can make a miraculous turnaround then move on now.

 

It seems like the rushing attack is much better, but comparing stats it looks like we are 5 yds per game better. Unless I was looking at the stats wrong. Or cupcakes vs non. 208 vs 213

 

Agree.

Good coaches get more from less, great coaches get great from less.

Identify the strengths of the defensive unit and adjust to get more out of them.

By the 7th game (baring wholesale injuries) they should be better, not worse.

Mind you this LsU team could barley score on UT,
USF went up and down the field on us with at the time the 107th passing game in the country.

Maybe it’s a super complex system? . Scrap it and play man with two high safeties, it can’t be a worse product than we have seen the last 3 weeks.

 

We are #2 in yds per rush through 7 games. Number of attempts matters.

 

Some givens,
LSU and us have new coaches but LSU had better athletes left. Lsu has assistant coaches who are from the NFL and Major colleges not mid major coaches like we have. We need to give Napier time but he won't do what the Tenn. coach has done in two years.

 

My understanding of Napier and why we wanted him is he is a program builder. He wasn’t known to be the most elite play caller at the college level. Bring in talent, both players and coaches, build a sustaining organizational structure, and the rest eventually follows.

From what I’ve seen that is the path we are on.

If we are at the exact same place in a couple of years then I will likely feel differently.

 

Agreed.

We were expected to have a 7 win season this year, maybe 8 if we win a bowl game. We can still be on track for that. Execution might be lacking but the players aren't giving up in games. What you want to see in a transition year is buy-in and effort, with recruiting success.

It's one thing to talk about that kind of season, it's another thing to sit through it. I wrote this transition season off before it started. If we're not seeing improvement next year, then it's time to complain.

 

If we are #131 next year in 3rd down Toney won’t see year 3

 

I typically don't. I did want Jim Mcelwain fired before he coached a game though. The moment he hired Nussmeier I knew how that era would turn out.

 

You cannot be dead last in the country in 3rd down defense at the University of Florida and it be anything other than coaching. Just not possible.

 

That’s the thing. People say abstractly they can accept a 4 loss regular season on a rebuilding path, but in reality that is almost half of your SEC games, likely losing to all of your rivals, some ugly play at times and dissatisfaction. Nobody ever says yeah we lost 4 games but we looked great!