Trying a trick play on fourth down is the worst time to try a trick play... Unless you're passing the ball from the punter or running it from a fake field goal. Napier has to either believe he can get an inch or two of he has to punt the ball from our 29 freaking yard line. One more thing to remember. We have the youngest team in the SEC, and we will only get better.
The NCAA has made a mess out of teams with the policies that do NOT allow for tackling drills in practice. That has to be rectified and now. This is a collision sport and only the toughest players and team can endure. The NCAA is trying to make college football into an all inclusive group of teams that like to run the ball and gently bring down players with the ball in their hands... So that it becomes a "sport" that everyone can play. The NCAA has to be sued by conferences to take back what make tackle football, the sport it's always been in the past. NOT all people are made to play football. Weed out the softies. Now I'm not saying we should bring back all the bad things like targeting and horse-collar tackling. But we need to practice tackling in practice. We are a very young team and we will get better...
Most of our 'trick' plays take too long to develop. Against a quality D with great athletes, we can't expect a slow developing play to be successful.
I re-read my original post here, which has pasted elements from the game thread, which I did not post to except twice. It made sense at the time in my (the author's) head but looks too convoluted in isolation here. Let me try to tackle it in a less emotional and quite frankly less inebriated state. Hey, it was a 3:30 game. I started early. So sue me! This game had much to do about the USCe game, in that we found a way to win against a "decent" team in a hostile environment. What we all saw was that "something" changed in the program. Something good and profound. And it set up some damn big optimism for the future. And for many of us (and it sort of creeped into me) that meant THIS GAME. I was STOKED with the idea that we may actually beat them when they didn't have their best team. Not that I expected to win, but I was definitely stoked. UGa does that to you and I (and we to them). Can we at least acknowledge that USCe is not a very good team this year? Yes, they can play well at home and our win WAS a good one. How about Kentucky? They are good and yet they lost against Tennessee at home. And against us, their QB did nothing much but he did quite well in that game. What I am saying is that Kentucky is an upper-echelon wannabe and they are not there. They have probably hit their ceiling with Stoops. Unless the highs from their good wins (see our game) makes them grouse too much when they lose (see Tennessee game), he is a right-sized coach for them. Tennessee is Tennessee, who knows what to expect on any given week. That makes them middling also. All of this points to one salient "fact" and it is that we ARE middling until further notice. Now, are we "content" to be, like a Kentucky should be with Stoops? Nope. Not this fan base. Ain't gonna happen. Ever. Tennessee seems to have FINALLY gotten a "right-sized" coach in Heupel. Are the losses to a UF going to make them pine too much for "the good old days of Fulmer and Manning"? That is quite eloquently called "Volsheimers" and is quite an addiction. Or delusion. Guys and gals, this mess is NOT going to go away by the end of the year. Optimism is going to come in spades beginning next year with the addition of some wonderful pieces. But please, PLEASE recognize that you plainly do NOT expect to win championships at this level with freshmen and sophomores. Can you? sure, but to EXPECT to is mental suicide. Now, to the "state of the program", both at UF and major college football. Someone had a great post saying Swinney is now in a world of hurt whereas he was once "The Man everyone wanted to emulate". As I have posted plenty of times, his schtick isn't working well in the NIL era. Things are going to have to change there if they want to remain basking in the "glory". Yes, what I really mean is a new pact with the Devil. It is what it is. What will they do? What CAN they do? South Carolina isn't the most wealthy state around. Neither is Alabama and yet...damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead! But now let's talk about what is THE most important thing to me, and I presume important to many (most?) of you, and that is...what can WE do as well as what SHOULD we do? I hope everyone realizes that we have us a Grade A, no holds barred Royal S__Tshow of a mess known as major college football. We are NOT Clemson and we are NOT Ohio State or Stanford. We are the University of frigg'n Florida. We have one of the most coveted (if not own the hill outright) positions regarding athletic resources and results and academic excellence. That does NOT mean we can buy a National Championship in whatever we wish. If that were so then UTx and aTm would be playing each other for it every year. All I can say right now, in that regard, is that UGa seems to have a nice combination of a coach who knows how to win games with enough Jesse's and Joe's and does not care how they manifest and a state that does not mind the "state of the game". Hey, if they can cheer on the Braves all these years, they can certainly cheer for another professional team. Just stop believing that a NC contending UF baseball team is going to "compete" with the Braves. That is just plain silly. Yes, there are still some "caveats" to what a UGa and others can do. They are still kids, so to speak. But still, let's not call them "amateurs". That is just as silly. And so, what do WE do to compete better? Napier is Napier. He will do it his way. End of conversation. Is he a finished product? I sincerely hope not. Otherwise, we are in a world of hurt. All you and I can say (except for the excessive whining) is that he has had to tear the damn building down and is building it bigger and better and hopefully designed for all the rigors of the modern S__Tshow. No more complaining about what Dumbo did to us. That is mainly trying to find a scapegoat. Yes, he IS responsible for the massive teardown effort, but again, too much focus on the past and not enough focus on the future. Okay, I want something akin to what is a contender. Think Donovan before and after the '04s. Not to always get to the FF, just know that it is plausible. And to that, Donovan left not because he was tired of UF and college basketball, he was DAMN DISGUSTED with the state of the game. Talk about a S__Tshow!!! I do believe that Napier has what it takes to get UF to that position. And while we have some pretty limited fans who post here (and are out in the public), I think the vast, vast majority are not "demanding" to go all "UGa and Bama". And I do not think the brain trust at UF is going to "that place" either. But those fans do get a bit loud when they haven't gotten their diaper changed when they expect it to be. It is what it is. Finally, to the remaining schedule and what it means moving forward. This game did not quite live up to what I wanted, and that was giving UGa a real workout and thinking about us as real contenders moving forward. I looked at the stats and I would say that they lie. Mertz was Mertz, just not SuperMertz. The runners ran the ball. And to me that means we were in the game. But we weren't after the first drive. It is entirely plausible that better play calls at certain times could have changed things and I recognize the effect of momentum, especially in a rivalry game. Methinks that at worse, besides superior players, Napier is playing chess and Smart is playing MMA. At least he is when playing UF. But at best, Napier implicitly knows that his job is to get UF to contender stage and that is still being built. It is just that his personality isn't Mus-take. Again, Napier is Napier. He WILL do it his way. And so, Arkansas is a win. End of conversation or plainly Dead Man Walking. That means he has gotten to last year's win total. That is the minimal acceptable results. The two away games seem as big of a challenge as UGa. Not losses, but hard to see as wins. And so, THE biggie game this year is FSU. Win and we are at 7 wins (and maybe 8). THAT is what I desire this year. And then show up and play a quality bowl game. Can't say win, just represent this year. If the USCe game was what I thought it was, this IS what will happen and then all the optimism for the future. Fall short and there will be more than a few folks who are going to want their diapers changed. And it IS going to get noisy. It is what it is. Thanks....again....for making it all the way through one of my doctoral dissertations.
We don’t know how good he really is as it was 7-on-7 out there as our DL applied zero pressure even when Armstrong sent blitzers. Dude had a picnic back there.
Our defensive line is not very disruptive. For the most part, we limited their running game, but the DBs couldn’t cover all day. Also saw a lot of poor angles and safeties running themselves out of position. Comes with all the above I reckon.
Yea George was abused all night. He was just a step too slow. I think he needs to be moved inside. Surprised the coaches didn’t make some adjustments…or maybe I missed it.
Tha angles! Horrible. They scored like 4 TD's after catches due to bad angles opening up a chasm clear to the EZ. We made them look all world, when so much of it was a break down in fundamentals on our part. I don't think the talent gap is nearly as wide as many others seen to think--Imo, we're some fine tuning and tweaking from being a much better team. Jmho.
Agreed. What I was concerned about with the bye week was that we were gonna get too cute with our play calling and that was the case. A double reverse that killed momentum early. A HB pass on fourth down that pretty much ended our chances. A flea flicker that worked when the game was out of hand. Cute. Although bad calls, overall we needed to establish the run more as our OL are better run blockers than they are pass blockers. Mertz doesn’t seem to extend plays very well because he holds a the ball a little too long (probably WRs fault) and he goes down way too easy. Once we mixed in a few runs, that kept the UGA DLine from pinning their ears back I thought. Overall, this was the kitchen sink we had to throw to be competitive as our talent and depth is nowhere near Georgia’s level. I just wish we didn’t have to play scared. They ran it down our throats on fourth down and converted easily. We need the same mentality.
yesterday turned out pretty like what I expected- some on here had unreasonable expectations after the comeback win against SCe. This is still a work in progress and we will have many more games where that is still the case, before we turn the corner- I think maybe late next season or sometime in 25 is when we finally reach that corner and make the turn- those who want and expect instant gratification will still be screaming for Napier's head- fortunately none of you who are like that are the decision makers
The NCAA is run by the powerbrokers of college football which are the major conferences and the major programs within these conferences.
The 4th down play was a big call and started the landslide that buried us. Not that I thought we were winning the game, but I did think we had a chance to keep it with a possession all game and then you never know. I was watching with no sound so I didn't hear commentating on the call. So my biggest issue was why is a first down in the first quarter being reviewed at all? Didn't UGA drop a ball on the drive before on a 3rd down and nothing was reviewed? Just because the quarter ended we have to review a close play? Every weekend there is a review like this, and it seems arbitrary on when and why they review. Whats wrong with playing on, when it's a non scoring or possession changing play? We compounded the bad spot and review by getting cute on 4th down. I'm all for being aggressive, but down 3 on your own 29 the negative outweighs the positive in my opinion. If I do decide to go for it, the sneak has worked several times this year, don't try and hit the HR, just hit a single and move the chains. It was a HR for UGA when they made that stop.
Yeah - something I forgot yesterday. Honestly, I totally lost it after that crooked ref on replay screwed us out of our first down at the end of the 1st. The ball clearly crossed the line and was spotted accordingly. When that bastard in the striped shirt was still looking at it after the 5 minute commercial break, I knew he had orders to screw us. Then they screwed us out of another foot or two with the re-spot. It was only one call and we certainly made the worst of it, but it destroyed our early momentum and our young team was never the same after that. Mission accomplished refs - you didn’t have to do much after that as we kinda fell apart there. Did the refs cost us the game? No, but they also made sure to take us out of it early. I absolutely despise the SEC and their homer Bama and Georgia refs and administration in Birmingham. That obvious screw job literally ruined the whole rest of the game for me. Go Gators Beat Arkansas
