A lot of this is just preference though. Dude likes air raid stuff and that's cool but "not being air raid" is not inherently detrimental to an offense. That's not to say he's wrong, you do see the same kind of stuff show up a little too frequently for my tastes, e.g. all hitches. We could use some more creativity on occasion, but we're also playing a true freshman QB. Video guy obviously has some knowledge, but I think most here decrying the scheme wouldn't know scheme if it bit them in the targeting zone. I'm certainly not against the idea of Billy getting a playcaller and someone to enhance the passing game though I'd be curious to know who people think might fit and specifically what that guy does in the passing game that would make him an upgrade.
Another nit pick with BN play calling. It seems whenever we have a negative play and get behind the sticks we normally are forced to punt. I felt the other guy before him did a better job of digging outta the hole. I assume stats back up my claim. I really think a real OC would help him adjust his playing calling off script.
GNFP it's like a boxed cake covered with pre-made frosting. It looks good, it tastes good, but when you're finished you're like what the hell did I just eat.
Another way to state Napiers scheme issues…he believes he can run his same offensive plays/route trees vs any defense with little to no adjustments. Napier himself has stated this and GNFP highlights it often. Napier believes that his routes will always have someone open. But as a prior poster(s) mentioned, it isn’t always a route to get them wide open- it requires the WR to out athlete the defense. But when the defense knows what is coming, this also makes it more difficult. how many times do you watch a football game and see a WR wide open catching the ball, including against UF? Literally every game this happens over and over. But this is rare for UF on offense. Using the LSU game - every Badger or Dike catch required perfect ball placement as the receiver was barely “open”- a defender was right there but the throw was perfect. other teams will run routes based on what the defense is playing. If they are playing man to man, they will run man beaters and rub routes which helps a receiver to be wide open and make easier throws for the qb. Billy does not do this. He will run the same routes vs zone and man- doesn’t matter. So while a receiver MAY get open a tiny bit, tactically, it is better to run an offense and routes that make them wide open. Something Billy’s offense doesn’t do and he himself doesn’t think it’s necessary. Like Vince Lombardi running the power sweep to perfection in the 1960s, Billy’s offense is he thinks if every player can execute their assignment 100% of the time his offense can succeed. At LA he way out recruited the rest of that conference which allowed him to out talent the competition and win games. And barely win games as he won a ton of one score games even with more talent than his opponents. a good offense will study the data and film of their opponents and adjust routes and so on to get the highest expected value per play - Billy does not so his play calls and scheme are sub optimal. in addition, his personnel choices can also be sub optimal. When we go 5 wide…it is almost never with 5 wide receivers. Instead we have 3 WR and a slow TE and a RB - neither of which is a threat in the passing game. Going 5 wide with Badger, Dike, Mizell, Wilson and Burke or Tank would have been ideal compared to the 5 wide we currently utilize, which scares zero DCs.
Napier was not hired for his offensive prowess. His offensive scheme is fine at a strategic level, but he seems to lack tactical agility—the ability to modify the scheme slightly to create mismatches or take advantage of a weakness discovered during the game. Pre-snap motion will work against some defenses, but I get the impression that most defenses the Gators play this year are harder to fool. The one thing that seems to fool defenses is Lagway’s hard fake during play action—front facing or turnaround. All that to say, Napier’s offense looks better than it is because Lagway is truly special. An upgrade at OC would unlock a new level to this offense. Maybe with Napier as OC, Lagway’s skill wins 8 games next year. I would guess that a next-level OC would unlock 2 more wins on top of that with Lagway and improved tactics—even with the same basic strategy.
These limitations were there before lagway was starting so you can’t say it’s because of the true freshman quarterback. We ran the same plays with Mertz and Richardson. Neither of these quarterbacks had the accuracy necessary to make this offense go. Mertz checked down the vast majority of the time.
True, but you wouldn't expect complexity to go up when you're playing a freshman. I agree that an accurate long ball thrower adds an important dimension, but every offense is better when it can connect on the long ball.
How would our scheme look if DJ were more experienced and could make checks at the line and was more adept at finding 2nd and 3rd options?
He has also thrown to the tougher option when others were running free at times. He has hit on those often so people overlook it. Truth be told I'm not a fan of how often we don't stress the defense on 3rd down and throw at or before the first down marker but people like to blame everything on scheme or coaching. How many times have we heard our receivers can't get separation and then another qb comes in and suddenly they are "open" i.e. Trask taking over for franks? As DJ matures I bet receivers suddenly get open.
We are still 64th in scoring offense so there is definitely room for improvement. Hopefully with lagway full time next year this will dramatically increase.
That was a great read... thank you. Man I miss those days. Love watching all those safeties awkwardly spinning around when they first realize the ball is going over their heads. Great times.
UF isn't going to compete for much with a total offense consistently ranking in the 50 to 60s. That's gotta improve next season. Hopefully it does with DJ and more experience and hopefully some more talent around him.
Some additional info on Billy’s scheme and success as an OC. Counting his time as Clemson OC, ASU, at LA and UF- the GNFP guys shared that Napiers offense has never rated above around 50th in the nation in offensive efficiency. Even with his best teams at LA. Over 8-9 years, his offense has been smack dab in the middle of average (there are 132 teams and the offense was consistently 50th-70th). (Whether right or wrong, the GNFP guys like to use efficiency over yards per game or points per game as it takes into account success in each individual play /down and distance) Their argument is not that the offense cannot succeed at times…just that it is not a championship level scheme. Offenses ranking 50-70th don’t win championships) And the goal at UF should be to win championships and that UF will not win one under this scheme.
I don't disagree but how much do our numbers hurt by a defense that can't get off the field? Until this recent improvement on defense our forced turnovers were as bad as last year's and we all know about third down. Not the only explanation but it can't help. Trask/ Mullen years were an anomaly. Prior to that the defense forced turnovers and sacks in his first two years. 2020 2021 not so much. Trask/Pitts and company could overcome that but once they left our offensive rankings tanked the next year without a proficient set of skill players like those guys.
