Agree here and want to say that I just finished re-watching the Uk game. It was a really bad loss- and it was all on AR and CBN. The defense actually played great. (10 points allowed.) If we had won this game the whole season changes IMO as well as the whole vibe around CBN. But even though AR had a tough night- it was clear he did his best. UK put a spy on him so he never got loose. And (on re-watch) it's clear that the late 1st half int got in his head. But I never, not once, saw AR give up. And I was watching for it. He made some bad plays because he is raw and a project and still learning, but he clearly gave his all. Next up is USF game. I remember the refs being very kind to us...
Didn't he get hit low on the leg (knee area) going out of bounds in the first quarter? Thought I remembered he seemed a little rattled by that?
Spurrier & Urban had wayyyy more than Danny & Chris. Better talent on both sides of the ball, good ST play & coaching, and generally better & more experienced coaching around both QB’s. Also, both had better Offensive Coordinators. While a good to great QB can cover up the deficiencies of a team, it’s still a team game. As good as Trask was, we went , what, 8-3 that year? Last year’s team failures went way beyond Anthony. He’s an easy target & common scapegoat. I wish he’d been better & Anthony missing some easy throws drove me nuts. Some offensive opportunities were hard to find & if Anthony didn’t complete a pass or didn’t take a run option, the struggles were magnified. Now that CBN doesn’t have to manage around all of Anthony’s shortcomings, he’ll get a chance to show everyone what his offense is capable of.
But Mertz may not be the guy to show that so much. It’ll be a while until we have an elite qb running an offense stacked with seasoned talent.
Wanne15, from a couple of the film clips I’ve seen from Wisky, I agree he may not be. We’re all hoping with a “ change in scenery “, we get a better version of Mertz. That’s a TBD, once the season starts. I may be being somewhat of a contrarian about is the idea that all of our team failures last year sit squarely at Anthony’s feet. I’m calling BS on that “ finger-pointing/ blaming” narrative. I’m not trying to start another “ Anthony Richardson” discussion ( Lords knows there been plenty of those). Just pointing out that we were so average to just God-awful between all three phases of football. To put all of the failure & under-performances at the feet of a first year starter is short-sighted. There was plenty of bad decisions and poor performances to go around.
Yes , it’s a whole team failure. AR gets the most criticism because his position has the most influence and he was a top 4 pick. There’s a long road of fixing problems but an elite qb can hide slot of that. AR has elite upside but was far from elite.
He actually had some elite moments, but lacked consistency & sustainability. Everyone saw the plays & flashes, that’s what had everybody excited. Sadly, we lost most of the games he played well in.
I did it (the editing). We don't insult any players, present or former. Saying someone was never really a Gator, for example, would be very insulting to that player and not something we want to debate on Gator Country. It's a given. They're Gators.
Maybe, but I didn't notice that. There was a key play on our 2nd drive that I felt like rattled AR even more. We had a 3rd and 5 on the uk 23. AR went back to pass and then took off. The whole crowd, including AR, thought he would make the 5 yards easily. I know I did. Especially after all AR's heroics vs Utah. But the UK spy would have none of it- and hit AR hard for just a 1 yard gain. Then we kicked a FG. That spy was a thorn in AR's side all night. I'm not sure why we didn't scheme around him, but I don't think we did.
One better-than-average season and UcheaT vaults into Tier II? Regardless, if that dang graphic isn't stuck on the locker room wall for the kids to see every day, someone missed a good opportunity.
