For once can fans circle the wagon & remain positive?

LMFAO! Love this sarcasm. But can we fix our defense? Then all will be back on course. However, fixing the defense is hard. That requires a rail, some tar, and possibly some feathers... Lol... just kidding people. Relax people, if you can't have fun with this then the alternative would be to burn $hi! to the ground.

 

We have a good running game and a decent passing game at times. We have a horrible defense. It is too early to tell if coaching is a problem. These are the facts.

 

Rippers:

- butthurt ranting during, and in the hours after a game, often inebriated.

- venting for a few days, trying to make sense of it all, pointing fingers.

- persistent, miserable SOBs who you should ignore.

 

It’s a talent issue. I think we’re seeing the results of the mistake Billy made of not paying enough early in the transfer portal (because he chose to focus on current players). Whiffing on those DLinemen and not replacing departing LBs and not adding enough talent to the secondary (only Kimber) in hindsight is hurting us right now.

 

TBH, I think the complaining isn't too bad considering we're 4-3 and 1-3 in the SEC. I think most people here are smart enough to realize that the foundation is being laid, and that there is a lot of promise in the next few years. Obviously, the criticism will increase if we don't see positives as we get further from year 1, but that is still up in the air. That being said, it really is hard to not be negative about our 3rd down defense.

 

Again I ask, what do we mean by “talent” ? Do we we mean lack of athleticism or does that incorporate intangibles such as “nose for the ball” etc ?

 

UF missed a total of 21 tackles against LSU according to Pro Football Focus, which marked the most by the program since missing 26 tackles against Tennessee in 2015.

 

If everyone who ripped Mullen had kept their mouth shut, Mullen would still be here. If we didn't care how the team performs, why are we even watching the games?

 

I had the same mindset, but c'mon man our talent cannot be worse than 100+ other teams across the country. I don't think we're even mediocre at any defensive metric. I prefer to keep energy around the program as positive as possible, but it's tough to watch for sure.

 

It is tough to watch. To take things in perspective, here are some teams ranked where we are in Total Defense:

103. Michigan State - defensive minded head coach just inked a 10-year $95M extension
104. Tennessee - undefeated and just beat Bama so who cares about defense
106. Florida - fire the DC, he can’t make a wife out of a hoe
110. Oklahoma State - DC Derek Mason who some here wanted
112. Kansas - everyone talking about how great Lance Leipold is and how he’s the next big splash hire for a blue blood program.
115. Oklahoma - defensive mastermind Brent Venables was supposed to be the next Kirby Smart at OU
120. Arkansas - everybody thought the Barry Odom for DC hire was a great one
125. North Carolina - our boy Gene Chizik paired with his fellow talking head and NC winning head coach Mack Brown, what could go wrong?

Some points:

1. Winning cures all
2. All these defensive gurus can’t guru without personnel

 

If you are saying all those teams have defensively problems because of the quality of their players, I’m going to have to disagree.

 

I would love to be more positive, but I am still unsure that we will get rid of Toney as our DC... wish a were positive about it, though.

 

I guess my definition of talent is more than physical skills. It’s a combo of knowing what to do and having the ability to do it. We get caught up with physical attributes, but that’s what are team is right now. Our highest rated defensive player was rated based on his potential. He only started playing football in 10th grade. Let that sink in.

 

lol - taking credit for Mullen's firing is beyond the pale. The majority of fans are sad when we lose but still enjoy games and aren't insufferable idiots like a vocal minority of critics who know nothing.

 

I think the difference is that even when we sucked under Mullen, the offense was watchable. We have no idea what Napier's offense and defense will look like once all their recruits are the starters, and perhaps we are spoiled by Mullen's watchable offense in sucky games.

 

What I see is a combination of too many tweeners, some folks who don't have good football IQ and lastly, a few positions to where we just don't have any depth.

 

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shite. You just can't. Gotta recruit some chickens, some mayonnaise, some relish, and some celery.

 

That such a vague statement though. Now you're saying all our players are too dumb to play defense correctly?
Let's compare stuff that has measurables. We have close to the same personnel here as last year. Last year up until the LSU game where Mullen checked out, this is how many points our defense gave up each game respectively: 14, 20, 31, 12, 20, 0. The 31 points was to Bama.
This year our defense gave up: 26, 26, 28, 38, 17, 17. The 17 point games were Missouri and Eastern Washington. Anyone else with a pulse is putting up 4 TDs on us.
There is an obvious downtrend here. What's more likely the reason for the downtrend? All the players got worse? Or the coaching needs improvement?
There's nothing wrong with saying the coaching needs to get better, because it does.

 

Sorry if this post is in error due to getting into a discussion that has moved from the original intent. There is a fundamental difference between what transpired with Mullen last year and Napier this year. Mullen was in Year 4 and was supposed to show us what Mullenball was going to look like with his chosen QB to run it, as well as giving Hev the chance to finally grow the O-line like he is used to. It failed miserably. And recall that Grantham should have been fired after the 2020 season but Mullen did not. And so, Mullen was on secret probation.

Napier is in Game 7 of Year 1. And after he has had to clean up the Mullen and Associates mess, better known as "We don't need no stinking talent, we is SMART!"

How about keeping things in perspective, if again I am correct and not getting the message wrong. It makes folks who do this look petulant.

 

Who's taking credit for Mullen's firing. You can bet your ass the boosters didn't shut their mouths and "stayed positive".