Yes, we have big talent issue. That is not an excuse for losing to Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida State and needing a missed FG to beat *South Florida*. Despite our issues, we still could've/should've gone 9-3 this season. A combination of poor QB play, poor playcalling and poor defense prevented that. It's not one thing that caused this. Everyone is responsible, both players and coaches. Napier gets a pass because it's year 1 with 95% of guys he didn't recruit, but he has to know that 6-6 is unacceptable. If we don't show significant improvement next season (I'm talking about both on-field play and final record), he's heading into year 3 firmly on the hot seat, like it or not.
Play calling needs some help too. The two minute offense was much better tonight than it has been even though we didn’t score (ya can’t always score in those situations)
Yep. People are overusing the talent excuse. Sure we are behind UGA but we are on par or better than every other team If the multiple 5 stars flanked by 4 stars on defense aren’t enough talent then people are going to be really upset when we put out similar cumulative star numbers next year
Agree 100%. We will be patient, but Napier cannot tread water promising results by year 5. The record has to improve in a hurry. We have fired other coaches for better results.
Disagree here We ran 21 times for 65 yards The QB threw for over 400 yards how much more does he have to throw for? He didn’t muff a punt for a TD He doesn’t play defense
Fix #1 should be the QB position...what does he do? Absolute nonsense. Anyone who thinks Vandy has "enough talent" is delusional. How many potential first round draft picks does Florida have right now, and how many overall? How many for Vandy? How many of Vandy's starters would be 1st or 2nd string at Florida? Let's stop making excuses, the team went into that game completely flat and expected to win by simply showing up...throw in the turnovers, and that's how they lost the game. It wasn't talent, it was a lack of preparation and execution.
Several times he could have run in for TDs..but didn't instead he handed off to a RB that most times got stuffed
...but he did make a terrible decision while being sacked, and that INT led to 7pts. And there was that little issue of throwing the ball completely out of the end zone on the final play of the game.
Fair enough on that. I don’t recall those but believe you. Still he threw for 400+ yards and the D was not good to say the least.
Not sure about lack of prep..unless you mean not firing up the team so that don't come out flat Lack of execution and decision making yes
Shouldn’t have come down to the final play if the D plays average, we don’t try to field a punt inside the 5, and run for more than 60 yards. Facts are D1 QBs get balls picked off, DW had 3 in one game once and got benched. The great Shane Matthews threw one for a pick 6 that lost the SECCG vs Bama in 92. The vandy loss wasn’t all on AR
It doesn’t bode well for a coach’s future if after an entire season we do not know what to expect. I want Napier to succeed in the worst of ways. I want Gator football back to SOS/Urban levels. But Im asking myself other than a good recruiter and a guy that seems to care about people, what do we have in Billy Napier? I honestly don’t know. I think we may have another Ron Zook.
I’m with ya. Time will tell, I’m not in the camp that the program was in such total disarray as some here suggest. Many questionable in game decisions IMHO. Great recruiting can cover lots of flaws but to be consistently great like the mid 90’s and Urban’s 3 good years you need more than that. I hope we do, only time will tell.
I generally feel the same way. While 6-6 is pretty disappointing 5 of them were to ranked teams and 4 of those were decided by a couple of plays. While the offense hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like it has been productive. 90% of the problem is on defense, and I have to believe getting more talent and depth will make a difference. If we even have an average SEC defense we probably would be 11-1 this year.
This D has not stopped anybody in the last 3 years. Maybe the GameCocks a couple of weeks ago but that’s it
