I thought alot about this post. I decided instead of rehashing and examining the game, perhaps what is needed is a little reality check. A 31-24 loss to Vanderbilt stings. Mainly because after A&M our expectations, mine included were running high. This game I believe is a good example of where we are as a program. Inconsistent. With the excpetion of Kentucky we won and lost about where I thought we would but with Vandy we took a step back. We are as inconsistent as hot when we flash. Overall, I truly believe we are headed in the right direction. Facilities are better. Food and nutrition is better. Gameday is better. The culture is being rebuilt and problems are being addressed with the roster. Recruiting is undeniably better. The staff AND players dropped the ball with Vandy. Personally I think they were caught looking ahead to FSU. Maybe, maybe not. Again, again, it's year one. Losses and inconsistency were going to happen. Its painful. Believe me, I feel it too. Say what you want about the Sunbelt but Napier has been successful everywhere and at every postion and has earned high praise from everyone that matters, including Saban. He has and will make mistakes. So will our young team. We are, again in the middle of a very deep rebuild and its going to suck at times. I want to see year 3. For me, the litmus season. AR may or may not leave, we may or may not transition to different coordinators and an OC. Who knows. Total body of work, Billy is working, recruiting, building, installing. The players have bought in and the machine is starting to grind. Championship football is a ways off. Its easy to be a Gator when the confetti is flying. Much harder right now. Its ok to debate and disagree and even point out mistakes and trends. Napier is adjusting too. He's adjusting to the SEC. Think about that. I waited to think before I posted. Some need to do the same, respectfully. Go Gators. Always.
Sums it up for me. Rough ride this season. Nevertheless we are going bowling and on the cusp of a good top 10 to very good top 5 class. Buckle up, may get bumpy Friday but this loss may sting and motivate the boys to grab a W in Tally. I do expect them to go hard. We shall see. I see a good future ahead if Gator Nation continues to support the program.
BN was demoted by Clemson's coach after a stellar year being their OC. He has had great experiences in various roles with the offense. He was liked so much by Saban that he was invited back a few times which says a lot. He will/should be given a minimum of 3 years if not longer to turn this ship around. That will be plenty of time to see if he has it. A concern is that he has had plenty of experience as assistant coach and HC to have anyone claim he's learning on the job. That's why his time management and some play calling is so mystifying. Thankfully his recruiting is very good otherwise I think there would be greater noise. I am hoping he pans out, no one wants a revolving door of coaches. He should be given as members of the team full respect but that doesn't mean fans can't critique. It's what fans do. Personally, I really believe we will see a different team this Friday and I predict we will win. I think the team will come out inspired and highly motivated.
I work with a FSU fan. He is in agreement with you. I'm inclined to agree as well. A couple of things have helped to sell me on Napier. I was impressed with how we competed and fought to the end with Utah. That was a game that I expected us to lose. I also was really impressed at how we responded in Jacksonville. Mullen's team would have laid down in the second half, just like McElwain's did in 2017. I know that's a small sample, but in his first season, I think he's done a pretty good job at keeping guys that he had nothing to do with bringing here committed. Recruiting is very important to him and we haven't had a coach since Muschamp who valued it in this manner. Think we'll be okay going forward.
It's his first year in an advanced conference. There is a learning curve in addition to rebuilding our decimated program and culture. He needs to learn better clock management and adjust his play calling to a faster SEC level but to flat out say he is a failure as an OC is wrong. He has 6 wins his first year, some of which against top 25 teams. Vandy was embarrassing and Kentucky was disappointing. Other than that, it was in line with the expectations of a reasonable person. I knew an old R.I. when I was in the Army that used to say "In the face of adversity, there are only two types of people in this world. Problem solvers and problem surfacers." At the end of the day we must all choose who we want to be. As always Go Gators!
Losing to either UK and Vandy will always be “unacceptable”, I don’t even want to know the last time we lost to both in the same year. Obviously the guy gets a pass, everyone knew we were rebuilding. But year 1 was definitely underwhelming. Napier is going to need to show some recruiting chops and use the portal to bring in some difference makers. On offense it doesn’t feel we are miles away, we have an explosive backfield, just need a legit #1 WR and improve the overall speed of receivers. But our D (aside from the USCe game) has been a huge disappointment.
Perfect post. Couldn’t have said it better myself. We are who we are and that’s a very inconsistent team lead by a new coach in year one of a rebuild. Things are trending up although many of us want to see more wins on the field.
A very rational assessment of where we are are currently. If you swapped the Vandy & KY losses for the Utah & TAM wins, that’s about where I had us as well. Each week I’m still amazed of how many don’t know what the term “rebuild” is. The new facilities, housing, strength & conditioning along with the added details in practice schedule, film study, NIL, nutrition and academics assistance has been impressive. More importantly he came in with a plan. He knows where he’s at and is keenly aware of what he has. Roughly 80% of the roster is what he inherited. And it’s hard to unwire what someone has learned the 3-4 years prior. I think as the roster scale tips more towards players that he has recruited we’ll start to see more of his vision.
Receivers were open like they have been most of the year to the tune of 400 yards passing vs Vandy. Did Billy make #2 drop a wide open pass near the goaline? Was that not a good play call? That cost us 4 points. Was it Billy’s fault Marshall backpedaled past the 10 yard line and muffed the punt giving Vandy 7 points? Our starting returner was out. I have no doubt Marshall was coached heavily that if the ball goes over his head at the 10 to just let it go. How about our QB’s refusal to keep the ball on the zone read? At least 10 times the proper read was for the QB to keep it. If he did that then maybe we have 550 total yards instead of 445. Was that coaching or was there some other reason AR didn’t want to keep it much when that would absolutely have been the correct read? I’m sorry but our players didn’t execute against Vandy. Period. We could have won by 14 (the spread) easily just by doing the simple stuff right. One last thing… someone here in another thread said it’s Billy’s fault the team came out flat. I hear you, ultimately it all falls on Billy. But if our players can’t get up on the road vs an SEC team that to me doesn’t fall on the coach. I played high school ball and I never needed my coach to get me pumped to play in a game. Maybe we are a reflection of the energy level our QB shows up with.
Great comments. Spot on. It definitely takes a season and then some for the culture and systems changes to become team habits. It's clear you DID put much thought into your comments. Thanks for posting.
Georgia Bulldogs : Should Fans Be Impatient with Kirby Smart? by Kit Anderson 306w ago f Georgia Bulldog's Head Coach Kirby Smart has already lost some fans who believe he should be fired based on this season, The Georgia Bulldogs had a bright finish to their season this year knocking off TCU more than a month after falling late to a resurgent Georgia Tech team Thanksgiving weekend. The win finished out the first season that Dawg's fans have had with a new coach to blame in quite some time. Even with a weak SEC this year the Dawgs struggled throughout the season falling to Vandy, Georgia Tech, and having a difficult time beating the likes of Nicholls State. The Bulldogs also lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Tennessee Vols failing to keep them out of the end zone when they were only seconds away from a big upset win that would have put them back in the SEC race. With the tough losses many fans have already begun to lose patience with first year Coach Kirby Smart. While the frustration is understandable it is misplaced to the put the blame on the shoulders of Smart. Kirby Smart is still in the process of rebuilding a Dawgs team that suffered from several seasons of poor recruiting. It is important to give Smart the benefit of a doubt this season considering that he is yet to have a full vear under his belt as a head coach focused on recruiting for Georgia and getting used to the rigors of coaching a SEC team.
Title recommendation Reality and regression Time will tell. We have been here before and hopefully we have a different ending. Go Gators Go CBN
Personally, I want my face to be a darker shade of blue. I tried HARD right after the Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU games and I thought Napier got the message, but apparently not. Billy, if you are reading this, I am SERIOUS! Look how dark my face is. Are you gonna let me die, or are you gonna do what I want?
The muffed punt was symptomatic of our baffling return game, and special teams play all year long. Special teams have cost us big time this year. Needs to addressed.
