Post-Game Discussion: Florida at Utah

That’s why I said worst since the Spurrier hire.

 

Doug Nussmeier

 

Get the OL fixed and we’ll do less kicking, but the point you make remains valid.

 

Hard to trust Napier when we have two number 3s on the same play then 8 players on the field another play

 

This is a good point. But, I think fans just want to see progress even if the result is still a loss. I don’t understand why this program can’t have a “normal” down year without the wheels completely falling off. Losing to better teams? Ok. Losing in abysmal fashion while the sideline looks clueless? This shouldn’t happen in a coach’s second year at a program of this caliber. Yet, I feel like we’re in for another season of just that.

 

I attended several of the 1979 games when we went 0-10-1 and this year's team has a lot more talent. And I can think of a few other Gator teams that were pretty bad. I honestly think the 2023 team has more talent and depth overall than last year's team. But what I saw tonight was a lack of execution and too many mental mistakes, compounded by an offensive line that was terrible. I have always respected Utah under Kyle Whittingham. He gets more from less than almost any coach in the country. His teams always play hard, disciplined football and they execute their game plan with precision. We have the toughest schedule in the SEC, maybe in all of D1, and it's going to be hard to finish 6-6. Many were predicting 8-4 this year, but by losing tonight the Tennessee game becomes critical if we're going to have any kind of respectable year. We're supposed to be a running-based offense and we just couldn't get anything going consistently tonight. And I'm afraid that's how teams will play us. Pack the line of scrimmage and force Mertz to beat us. I thought he played pretty well tonight, considering he was under constant pressure and we couldn't run the ball. My main concern is that a bad season could run off some of the recruits we have committed to sign in December and that the #3 recruiting class will fall apart. If that happens, that's all she wrote for Napier.

 

Hopefully Utah is just that good.

Side Note, when was the last time the Gators spend the whole year unranked (top 25)?

 

We are already at Defcon1

 

They were missing 8 starters...they are good, but we are really bad.

 

Don't think ANYONE would compare this team to arguably the most talented team in Gators history.... that's just silly. That team was built on the heels of winning our 2nd ever national title. This team was built by a new staff on the heels of 2 losing seasons.

 

The jersey number error is unacceptable. How a single coach didn’t notice to call a timeout.

That alone shows this staff has no idea what they are doing.

 

16 is Moten, our veteran transfer portal player from UM that was touted to help stop us from seeing exactly what we saw on that play.

 

The lucky ones are the ones that didn’t have to watch that in person. I live in Utah but watching all the snotty Utah fans Gator chomping and singing the goodbye song as we drudged to the exit was about all I could take. If I had my finger on the nuke button I would have made the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of you could survive and start the rebuild.

 

Do we have a dedicated special teams coach? If so dock his paycheck for the entire month of September.

 

Fair enough.

Minus dumb penalties, a shanked punt and a missed field goal, I saw a lot of positives. More so than I expected

 

We need an experienced offensive coordinator.

 

Looked bad, but honestly a young team will look like that. It only takes one guy to not do their job. This team really needed a warm up before going on the road against a good team. We aren't moving the LOS on either side of the ball, but OL is going to be the problem this year for our O. Mertz may have to have 40+ attempts a game.

Defense is improved, but we're still a year or two away. Wish we'd get the play calls in faster.

It's going to be a rough ride this year. I'm still all in, but would like to see an improved team by the end of the year. Still wish Napier would bring in an OC even if its just to run basically the same offense.

 

The ‘08 team won a natty. What is the point? Nobody expects a natty this year with this talent. We all know that the talent is simply not there (no Tebow, harvin, etc). BUT, what about playing clean football? No false starts in the red zone? Not catching punts on the 3 yard line? The issue here is not talent but competency and coaching. Again, not giving up on Napier, but this was a continuation of poor discipline, execution, clock management, and gameplay from last year (though tackling did improve). Nobody expects the 08 team to roll out there, but this was far below par….

 

Yeah that was tough and probably led to alot of the confusion on the O'Line as the center is their leader.

 

If that 24 recruiting class collapses we are ( expletive deleted).