I'm with you. There are several positive changes, and returning strengths, creating optimism that is constantly being pumped in my veins. What is the reason we won't/can't get 7-8 wins? Passing O? Rushing O? OL not good enough? DL? LB play and lack of experience? Secondary? Coaching? Overall talent on roster? If our OL is as good as the analysts are saying, it comes down to the DL for me. AND...the DL was just ranked outside of the top 10 for DL in the SEC. I'm curious what others think. I'm sure there will be a few that say our coaching is holding us back but I think they know what they're doing.
We were good enough to win 7 last season but for staff mistakes. Remove those this season and with our experience and improved talent we should be okay. Maybe not great, but improved. Talent is an excuse many of us use to buy time for this staff. "Give the new guy 5 years to get rid of the mullen stench" only holds water if it's clear the staff is capable of coaching at a high level. We can win 7 games if our staff prepares the team to do it.
This comment struck me, so I looked at the records since 1980. In the last 43 years, the Gators have failed to win seven games a total of seven times. Two of those, of course, are under Billy. Difficult schedule or not, this is a make/break year. And while I hate for it to come to this with such an insane schedule, winning fewer than seven games at FL can't be a thing.
If some young players that have not shown their ability as of yet don’t step up bigtime, 7 will be very difficult. I’m hoping for many surprises from the youngsters because scheme and having the right amount of players on the field isn’t going to beat many teams on this schedule. If we win 7, we are ceratainly a ranked team . They won’t ranked us at 7-5 but we will be that good.
What's up France, Interesting questions there, thoughtful post as aways. I honestly don't think we will be thoroughly out-talented more than two or a max of three times next season. I expect that we will be roughly on par roster-wise in two or three other contests and somewhere between a little and very noticeably superior in the remaining games. My areas of concern in order of most to least: OL- This is entirely because of the injuries that kept multiple players on the bench, recuperating/rehabbing during the spring. The fact is this is the most promising OL talent pool we've had in four or five years. I just want to see them together with set first and second strings, plus some good parts to plug in as needed. DL- I don't know any more than anyone else how well success in another conference or another SEC program will translate to this program. My sense is that the DL/LB rooms will combine to be the best we've seen in some years, unfortunately, that isn't saying a lot. I do expect solid play by the veterans (I trust BN evals) with some flashes of brilliance along the way from the youngsters. Overall competence is almost certainly obtainable; it will be a must with this schedule. WR- Some talent there with a lot to prove. Same can be said of TEs to a lesser extent. Those are my top-of-mind impressions. I obviously cheated by lumping the DL and LBs together. I would have just said the same thing anyway.
Napier said “you don’t know what I know” in regards to our defense before last season and it turns out the defense was still horrible.
It’s been 15 years since Urban left and he still gets blamed. The Mullen rabbit hole can go deeper for some of these fans
Yeah, he knows that he’s getting 85% of his contract if he gets fired. His family is set for generations.
Yep. Cristobal is even more inept than Billy. Lose that game and I don’t think he makes it back to the locker room.
With the OL, it is also giving them the help they need. Running into a stacked box or asking a light TE, back or WR to block a DE is not a winning strategy. Much like asking immobile guys to be mobile . The OL will get blames, but not always on them.
I'm reaching a similar concluson. The front 7 has to compete at a high level. I think the performance of the front 7, especially the defensive line, will decide UF's fate. The addition of Slackman, and Boone returning, gives me some optimism. I'm hoping Collins makes a big jump this season. Depth worries me, should the injury bug strike and it most probably will. Linebacker is also part of the equation, that unit should also be improved, but again I'm worried about depth. Wingo and Shemar will be integral to this groups success, I don't know how much PT Graham and Childs get, hopefully they can contribute at this early stage in their UF careers.
There are a lot of unknowns on the DL and at LB. Combined with the lackluster play of our secondary over the past two years, our D has to be a big reason why our o/u opened at 5.5 (I think it dropped to 4.5). Pup Howard, J. Robinson, RJ Moten, D. Spurlock, M. Graham and A. Chiles -- none of them have significant experience at the college level. Shemar needs help. DL - Can Slackman dominate the SEC like he did the Ivy league? Cam Jackson, Lyons and Banks are solid. Boone is coming off of a major injury. Collins moved inside and is light for that role. Sapp is solid. Gumbs, Searcy and Kamran James should be better but by how much? If we are going to win 7-8 games, we need a few players to become killers OR ... we need the entire group to get better. I don't know if we'll have any killers on the DL or at LB, but I can see the entire unit take a step forward and be an above average SEC Defense. The coaches can make them better than they are with scheme and play calling. (Ron Roberts) I'm sticking with my prediction of 7 or 8 wins. We will be a double digit dog for one of those wins.
My point, precisely, is that they matter a great deal when the coach in question is losing. Even at Auburn or LSU.
There's always going to be some talent "deficiencies" on both sides of the ball. What we really need is a couple of alpha dogs on both sides of the ball to get all eleven on the field, including those lesser talented/inexperienced guys, to not only play sound football but also play at a higher level. I watch teams from other conferences, Duke for example, who are not the most talented teams altogether but they have leadership and play fundamentally sound ball. At this point, I can live with losing a game because a team has more talent than us as long as we play hard and don't make many mistakes. I can't live with some of the sloppy and uninspired play I've seen over the last several years. The talent is coming. It's a matter of coaching it and bringing back the culture of we are going to dominate you.
Some kind of cookin going on at Auburn. Great class last cycle in spite of a 6-7 finish and already currently top 5 class. Must be good recruiters, selling the vision.
Love it Ros and thank you for a more comprehensive break down (as usual!). Pup seemed to make big noise in practice, love his measurables, looking for great things from him! and everyone of course. I wonder how things are working out for Dez? Sadly most of the commentaries are around his weight, I am hopeful he will at least get PT in the rotation and they can utilize him in the right situations. I have one of the larger pair of O&B glasses on this site, eternal optimist. Perhaps a legacy of having grown up in the "wait till next year" Gator set from the 70's and 80's. But hey, part of the fun of the off-season is the dream of "what could be". Maybe this year is the year UF gets off the snide, I think we have good reason to be a bit more optimistic. I'm in love with the QB room. If the OL can block like we think they can, we may be outscoring people, if nothing else.
