Article: Five Takeaways From Florida’s Gasparilla Bowl Game Victory Over Tulane

I hope our training staff provided the correct information to the coaches & Lagway for his participation in yesterday's game. It was apparent he still wasn't 100%.

 

An additional point or two:
- Despite the unsettled state of the roster/staff in this exact moment, there is much to celebrate about the state of Gator FB.
- We already have our DC, based on what I've read elsewhere and what we saw again yesterday. He's effectively been in place since taking over the play calling duties after TA&M. IMHO, replacing RR after the transformation we've seen could be a colossal blunder. But I do have some thoughts on how to spend that particular small fortune in a more availing manner.
- We need a topflight OC even more emphatically than we don't need to replace RR. Red Zone misery sucks. Need I say more?
- DJ obviously struggled a bit against a pretty decent D, he looked like a true FR at times yesterday. Go figure. His answers will surely come with reps and game experience. But our OL needs at least two P-4, plug and play SEC starter types in the worst way if we are to maximize DJ's time at UF. We have made some progress, but the OL still needs major portal help in '25.
- The sideline blunders/clock management issues remain a problem. Perhaps one less major distraction for a detail-oriented HC would help. I sure hope so.

 

Napier was on Orlando radio with Bianchi (I think Thurs morning) who asked him pretty bluntly if Billy was going to continue calling plays next season or get an OC. Napier was emphatic that it's a part of the game that he thinks sets the tone for the team in the game. Billy said it's a part of the game that is important, that he enjoys doing and is satisfied that he does it well.
Of course i am parphrasing. He never said he would never give it up or that it's a hill he would die on, but his every indication is that nothing is going to change as far as things stand right now.
So unless we have another extended losing streak, it is status quo for next season it sounds like.

 

If he keeps calling, he must do much better in the future as hes bery lucky he hasnt already run out of chain. Hes doing many good things but he is still on very thin ice.

 

It came from another site. If it isn't accurate please delete because as you know, I'm back on the Napier train although not without some concerns but I want to be accurate in any critcisms

http://teamrankings.com/

 

Just to reiterate from another thread, I don't hate the offense although there are some issues that have been present every year regardless of lineup. DJ missed a couple of opportunities but typically we struggle to get tds in the red zone. We struggle to get Wilson the ball with space or momentum as well among other things however the offense overall isn't the issue despite how much people seem to think it is(thanks GNFP).

The organizational issues keep happening year after year and game after game and I think he should focus on being the head coach. Been said many times over that stellar offensive and defensive coordinators that become head coaches almost always have coordinators. This might be the issue that leads to his ending here if he doesn't succeed next year. My biggest complaint has been our 3rd quarter performances since his first game here and that we don't stress a defense on 3rd down and mid to long at all instead doing half the work for them throwing way short almost always.

 

Uncanny how consistent those #s are. Reinforces the third qtr concerns.

 

I'll give SOME benefit of doubt and assume the defense' inability to get off the field contributes to that however the offense has gotten shut down either by opponents or by Napier's conservative tendencies over and over. I gave never wanted to believe it's purely a coaching deficiency however one of the criticisms has been that we run what we run irrespective of strengths and weakness of opponents schemes. Don't know if that's accurate or not but numbers seem to speak to adjustments by opponents and lack thereof from our staff considering 3rd quarter issues.

Maybe Donzo or one of the more savvy scheme guys can reference a game where we attacked a weakness with a particular play, blocking scheme or route mismatch like we saw when Mullen attacked Georgia with wheel routes, maclwein dared Georgia to stop our run game, mullen/Meyer with the wide splits against LSU, adding a fullback before the Georgia game etc..

 

Like you, clearly, the right decision was made on BN's return for 2025. DJ was having an off-game, but there were no offensive adjustments to help DJ find his rhythm. In my view, the knock on the offense-- predictable--was, again, apparent. The defense pitched a shutout, but Tulane's qb was the glaring weakness. Tulane was in this game far too long, and if there starting qb had played, the outcome might have been different. Their starting qb would not have thrown three interceptions, and their third-down ratio would have been much better. I am not knocking our defense! Simply saying the offense made our defense be on the field more. If we don't have an OC next year, I doubt BN gets a fifth year!

 

Wilson has not played for most of the season. I agree with you on the 3rd quarter. We tend to come out flat and make mistakes.

 

Yes on Wilson but when he was healthy we weren't very creative getting him the ball. Seems as when we did he had multiple defenders on him almost immediately.

 

I haven’t looked up a stat line to support it but it certainly feels like our red zone offense was better this year (sans Tulane). That was always the knock on Mertz. Above average between the 20s …then stall.

And you brought up a relevant point in another thread about the bowl game. If DJ doesn’t try to squeeze it into tight coverage in the end zone and tosses it to a wide open Dike instead on one drive …and you take away the bs holding call that called back another …we are looking at 45-0 mid way thru the 4Q. It’s a different discussion most of us are having.

 

Tulane was more on DJ than Napier but Tennessee was Napier in my opinion.

 

The refs incessantly throwing flags on us, even to the point of making up shit that didn’t even happen (e.g. 2 men in motion when there was only 1) kept it closer than it should have been. Those clearly crooked refs cost us a bunch of points

And we still won by almost 4 TDs

 

C’mon, you have to admit it sounded like there were two guys in motion.