Napier’s Big Decision

Does anyone not agree that Leak was the man? Timmy just got his feet wet and was a positive.

 

I agree! In other words the Gators will have a repeat of the 2006 season. Chris Leak as the senior QB and Tebow as the Freshman QB. Please do not expect a National Championship. That 2006 was one of Florida's best teams.

 

No where close to 2006!
That 2006 was loaded with experienced talent. The Gators need to establish a top tier O and D line and that is one or two seasons away.

 

I watched Miamis bowl game and thought they look undersized on both offense & defense: terrible. We should win at home by no less than 20.

No Excuses 2024

 

Don't think Miami will have the better QB. MERTZ will play as good or better.
This will be a 14 point win for the Gators maybe more. Calling it now.

 

There is plenty to be scared of on this fall's sked, but Miami is not one of them. If we do happen to lose, big problems early.

 

By any degree, Mertz should have a better O-line in front of him. This line will open more opportunities for both the running and the passing game. Especially with the routes that take more that two seconds to develop. A moderate to greatly improve O-line will open the play book for Napier, the receivers, and the running backs. The key words here are moderate t greatly.

 

Am under the impression miami landed some big OL/DL so am expecting their lines to be solid. No? That said, I don't believe their QB has to be as good already at miami as he was apparently pre-transfer. Add to that this is a tough away game for them and I can imagine they make enough mistakes to help us.

 

Leak was the man. Was good to have Tebow to throw in some nice plays and short yardage runs when we needed it. But Leak WAS the man and should always be remembered for being our starting QB winning the SEC and NC for us. No doubt.

 

Urban had that 2006 team, especially the defense, running through brick walls.

 

I still remember all the negative comm, in 2006, about Urban and his offense, and we won a National Championship! All that winning and some people could barely enjoy it.

 

Urban complained about the offense. It struggled to put up points against the meat of our schedule. Numbers can lie. Special teams, defense and trick plays using Tebow make the point totals misleading. We did play a nasty schedule of defensive teams and we would have given anything to have that offense during the muschamp/Mac years but the Gator fans bitching narrative is lazy. The offense was disjunct and had issues most of the year.

 

It starts there for any team

 

I do not believe UF has more negative fans than any other elite college football Program, that is a fantasy. Lower tier schools that don't expect to win are less negative because of lower expectations.

In 2006, we had the toughest schedule in the country and the offense was ranked 24th in the nation and the defense was ranked #6. That offense was disjunct compared to what? The Fun and Gun? Again, expectations can suck the joy out of a lot of things, if you can't simply enjoy all the positives.

 

Again, Urban himself complained the offense wasn't where it needed to be. It wasn't about Gator fans expectations. It was efficient between the 20s and the season was enjoyable whether we won it all or not but claiming fans were unhappy is disingenuous. Constructively critical sure. Leak was still a square peg in a round hole and there was a bit of residual from 2005 where the offense was a mess because of the wholesale scheme change and lack of a more "willing runner" for urbans spread offense which at the time was greeted with huge amounts of skepticism. The season didn't exist in a vacuum. I'd argue we could have been in contention for hardware in 05 if the offense was not completely overhauled but obviously it was done so for the bigger picture.

Percy and Tebow were cheat codes that year despite limited action. It was a marvelous coaching job to scrape every ounce out of the special teams, defense and young freshmen super duo.

2006 Florida Gators football team - Wikipedia
The game summaries tell the whole story. The team struggled to score points and relied on turnovers, special teams and the occasional trick play.

 

I agree with what you're saying, and my point was that some fans are going to be miserable regardless. Sorry that i did not make that clear. I'm not talking about "constructive criticism". I'm talking about the loud miserable few, "Urban's Offense will not work in the SEC" "Urban is in over his head. This is not Utah" and some wanted him gone. Being overly negative is not a choice for some, as they have to be negative and you rarely, if ever, hear something positive from them. That is true of all fan bases and most groups.

 

Yessir. No arguing that. All good. Just friendly debate during a slow time.

 

And the timely blocked fg! I have a good friend who left the stadium minutes before that cockblock. “To beat traffic “.

 

I was in school when Spurrier was the QB and attended many games when Sputtier was the Old Ball Coach.
Now 79 years old, I hesitate to guess what SOS might do or not do.

 

And yet it was ranked 19th in the nation in 2006, while facing eight top 30 defenses.

My reference to 2006 was due to many fans (certainly not most) who clamored for Tebow to start, similar to Jailer saying the same about Lagway. Thank the Gator gods for Chris Leak. We wouldn't have made it to Atlanta without him, just as we would win a lot less if DJ was thrown into the mix.

Leak might have been a "square peg," but he's seen it all in SEC football as a 3-year starter going into 2006, and clearly knew how to win. Chris wasn't just there for the ride. Neither is Graham Mertz. If our defense improves, Mertz will win games.