I was a big Mullen fan as many know, but this statement along with what Bully has done on the trail so quickly have changed my mind. The results look similar. Lots of points, but no stops on D. But Grantham didnt build a defense. It had no identity. They didnt recruit a certain type of guy. There are no Alphas in our secondary. All the stars in the world dont make you THAT guy.we always got THAT tupe of talent. Billy is way more organized and focused on building blocks that fit. Grantham was lazy and just thought throwing a bunch of star ratings into a pot would work. Talent is more than just a 247 composite.
Crazy year for sure. Best running game the gatas have had for a long, long time and both backs are young. Seemingly shot ourselves in the foot more this year than usual. Beginning of the season hope always springs eternal...6-6 but were in most all of our games just couldn't get over the hump. Who knows, Kitna may turn out to be OK. Recruiting is hopefully the huge missing piece of the puzzle going forward...should be a hell of a ride!
Blowout? I was talking about simply winning. Composite score has us as 12 highest "talented" roster. Argument doesn't hold water. Pretty sure Dan Mullen (who I didn't like) beat Vandy 42-0 last year. Same team also beat FSU with no head coach experience (Knox), or a DC.
An improved roster, stability of staff and consistency of message is bound to help. If the head coach and athletic department start listening to fans, this era is DOA
Not that I'm arguing for ANY staff to listen to fans but the fans saw Muschamps shortcomings on offense, mac's overall program issues and Mullen's issues with recruiting and lack of defense pretty early. Again, coaches live and breathe football. Their livelihoods literally depend on it so no, fans don't know better than coaches but you don't have to be a coach to see issues with things like clock/timeout management and repetitive situational scheme/play calling issues. Thise things can be fixed with a coordinator. I love everything else about the program changes Napier is making.
Perhaps....but what did Spurrier do when he realized his D was holding him back (but not Nebraska )? He went out and got Bobby Stoops who made a tremendous difference with a lot of the same players. I hope BN realizes his D staff, for one reason or another, isn't getting the job done. There are some quality D coordinators out there right now that he could try to get if he acts quickly. They won't be unemployed long.
YAHTZEEEE!!! Noles better Party Like it's 1999, because last night is the high water mark for their program against us after BN gets our talent level on track. Their one game winning streak over us crashes to earth next season.
Fans just want the team to win. If the coach doesn't listen to that and begin to produce them, then this staff is DOA.
I think he knows. He tried to lock down one when he was first hired and Toney was always going to be the co-DC to start. He ended up giving that title to Spencer.
It’s BOTH. I think our brains want things to be either/or. But it’s talent AND in game feel, play calling, middle 8, aggression, knowing when to call what and clock management ALL have to improve. They just do. And here’s the thing- Billy isn’t out 5 starring anyone. He’s got a really good class not a great one. So he still will have to be better on the sidelines to overcome that. My fear is- BILLY thinks it’s talent, penalties, gap control and setting the edge and that play calling isn’t a factor. He better understand he’s got to outcoach people too. Billy got flat out coached in 3 games this year- one of those being Vandy. They knew what we were doing on every play and sold out- it’s in those moments he has to rise to the occasion. Blaming that on a muffed punt and penalties is inaccurate and reductive. Billy is trying to do something that very few people have accomplished and that has really never been done at Florida - out talent you. Spurrier and Meyer and Mullen all won with superior schemes. The guys who tried the talent /doesn’t matter what I call thing - have failed. And really- it’s needs to be both. You need to get talent and then call a great game. This year, analytics got in the way, coaching close to the vest got in the way, no feel for the game got in the way- as well as talent, inconsistent QB. Yes- a better D wins us a few but so does calling a better game. I’m concerned moving forward.
Not many better at X’s and O’s Than mullen. Where did that get us. It is a blend of talent and coaching but there is a reason the teams winning trophy’s right now are also recruiting at a high level.
There is still too much Todd identity in this Defense. Our LB have no instinct for the position, outside of Miller. But a zillion Edge rushers. No 1 tech guys on DL except for maybe Dez. I give Marshall a pass for yesterday since he spent most of the night guarding a power forward. He was all over him, but when you give up 7 inches and the QB is placing it perfectly, it happens. I was ok with the BN play calling. The 3Q aside, 38 points would be enough to win this game any other year. This was a pretty good mole defense that hasn’t allowed >35 all year. I don’t think Shorter or X make much of a difference in this game. Better recruiting on D would. AR needs to get out Gville IMO. Whether that’s the draft or the portal it would be what’s best for him and the program. Love the kid but he is just not an Alpha dog and seems reluctant to embrace the leadership role that is needed for the position. If there was a miss when BN arrived it was not aggressively hitting the portal. And I’m sure he realizes this. But in his defense, when he got here we had a full roster (unlike LSU & USC) …and had no idea where the upgrades were needed prior to Spring. I would expect it to be different this off season.
Different situations. They didn’t have the numbers when they got there. We had a full squad. BN had no way of knowing where the upgrades were needed until after Spring. I’m sure we’ll see be more aggressive this off season. Truth does not equal “cop out”
Thank you for this post. If any other pro-Napes boardee posted this, they would be disagree bacon’ed into next week. It’s the truth. The defensive talent and their experience was not SEC level & 6 of our games were against ranked teams. If Napes can pull in consecutive top 5 recruiting classes, that gap is filled. We can all prod and pick apart the mistakes in coaching/play calling, which there were, but if we are honest, we were in every game except Georgia, shouldn’t have lost to Vandy but probably shouldn’t have beat Utah. Good and bad this year which expected with a rebuild. Go Gators!!!
