Exodus of all these coaches?

That 09 game up in Starkville was tough. We pulled it out.

 

2008: 611 - 181 (43.6 - 12.9)
2009: 502 - 174 (35.9 - 12.4)

Pretty big disparity. That's a full TD + 2 pt conversion difference in every game while the defense was slightly better. But, that 502 also includes the 3 highest scores against Charleston Southern, Troy, and FL International. We did finish on a high note scoring 51 (the only other 50+ score) in the NY6 bowl. I think the lower scoring was due to Percy not playing and it's one reason why Bama beat us in the SECCG (although they exposed our defense as a fraud with almost a perfect offensive scheme passing and rushing). If you look at the tail of the tape, no Percy, so we decided to give Demps, James and Rainey and combined 4 carries for a pretty good 26 yards. We just put too much on Tim to win a game he couldn't beat on his best day; this was the game that ended one program and created a dynasty.

 

“We”?
Emperor Meyer’s clothes came off in 2009 when he didn’t have Mullen running his offense anymore.

 

First-some good analysis. But just to point out a few things...
Per our own eyeballs but also Tebow's book, Meyer was wound tighter than a drum in 09. As Tebow said, we were the defending champ, we were undefeated, #1, yet Meyer was absolutely miserable and he coached very tightly. What everyone blamed on Addazio was actually Meyer playing ball control offense because he was so scared to death.
Let's look at some big games instead of the season as a whole.
2008 2009
LSU 51 13
UGA 49 41
USCe 56 24
FSU 45 37
Arky 38 23
Tennessee 30 23
Bama SECCG 31 13

But was the decreased production due to Percy's absence or Mullen's?

People forget that Percy didn't play vs Bama in 08.
So if Percy was the reason for the great offense in 08, then how did we beat Bama?
I would say, like so many things, it is multi-faceted.
Of course Percy helped in 08- he's Percy!

But if Mullen was the OC in 09, AND Meyer doesn't handcuff him, then IMO 09 is just as good as 08.
We had incredible talent all over the field. There was no reason to barely beat Arky or to only score 24 at USCe.
(Tebow was coming off a concussion vs LSU, so that's a good reason to play conservatively.)

 

I've said many times that the '09 team was held back from its full potential by coaching too close to the vest and not developing an effective passing game with the new WR's. We were just beating teams by continually handing the ball off, so no need to pass. Bama saw that, loaded the line up against us and when we really needed an effective passing game to win a game, it was absent. Sad too because that team could have easily repeated had they gotten past Bama in the SEC Champ game.

 

Meyer put everything on Tebow. Zero imagination
Bama's primary game plan on defense was contain Tebow and don't let him get past you. I've never taken Meyer's coaching ability seriously since that game.

 

The decline in 09 was …D) All of the above. Meyer was definitely playing tight and feeling tons of pressure. It was obvious not only on the field but also in his health. There was no imagination with Daz’s play calling. Mullen knew how to get the ball in the hands of his best playmakers and create space. And I don’t think there has been a more dangerous player, offensively, in a Gator uniform than Percy. Whether we had him coming out of the backfield, or as the wildcat, or lined up in the X, Y or Z spot he was money. It was hard to replace that kind of production, regardless of who was coaching.

 

Chandler did much of the same on a much worse team and did it at the highest level in the nfl. Highest yards per game for a season in nfl history still stands and not from a league where 4K yards for a qb were the norm.

 

Agree. I figured someone would throw that out there. Maybe I could have said modern era. I was in the 4th grade when Wes graduated. How about 1A & 1B?

 

You’re my age. I saw him in Jax as a youngster

 

Meh

 

Addazio definitely caught heat from fans in the stands in 2009, but, Meyer was absolutely checked out that year. I remember watching Meyer on the sidelines through my binoculars. There were long periods of time during each game where he was not interacting with anyone at all. Not through the headset, not with coaches or players on the sidelines, and, definitely not with players on the field. He seemed like a half-interested VIP sideline spectator for much of that year.

 

Your comments about the 2009 are pretty good input to what Meyer was going through mentally. It also explains some of what was going to transpire in the 2010 season.

in January 2010 Meyer took a personal/medical leave of absence. During this time we was basically out of then current recruit season. Meyer returned a few months later to supposedly coach fulltime at Spring Practice.

The "supposedly" comment is me talking. What led me to say this is the elevation of Addazio to associate head coach. This tells me that Meyer either did not want to or was able to take full control of the team. It is clear as the 2010 season wore on Meyer was checking out of the job, leaving his assistant coaches to pick up his slack. In my opinion, it was this slack that caused a lot of issues for the 2010 season.

Another thing that is overlooked is how Meyer handled his star players. He looked the other way when they went astray, and did not inspire the lesser Gator players. This item was a preview or a hint of Meyers screwing up with the Jaguars.

For a good read on this subject, read this link: Inside the rise and fall of Urban Meyer's Florida Gators

 

Been shown the door is the only thing that makes sense.

Not ideal but what some were hoping to see from Grande Cajones Billy Napier.

 

Great read, thanks for posting

 

fwiw, both of Bama’s new coordinators will make a base salary of $1.9m. The entire assistant pool was increased by $1m over last season.

https://footballscoop.com/news/salary-details-for-nick-sabans-new-coordinators-at-alabama

 

You can’t be on top any other way.

 

Yeah, well that and the fact that his chosen quarterback was kicked off the team and eventually won the Heisman at Auburn...

 

Yep, he was kicked off the team for good reason. Stealing a laptop, hiding it from police, getting caught cheating on exams twice. Good riddance. Glad his dad sold his services to Auburn.

 

I don't disagree. It was all on Cam, not Florida. That said, his absence forced Meyer to have to revert to a hybrid spread option as he did in 2005-6. Sadly, John Brantley wasn't Chris Leak...