**Buzz Buzz Buzz** - How did we get here?

I was a patient supporter but he should have relinquished OC duties prior to this season. Big red flag. Not finding a way to bring in higher end talent on either line was another one. He continues to find ways to make games closer than they should be against inferior opponents which is consistent with how he won games at Louisiana.

I praised hin for his adaptability with what he had to deal with regarding NIL and the portal however he hasn't changed his core philosophies at all towards roster management, game management and motivational methods.

 

FYI:


We are 6 weeks into the season and we are up to 72 pages. I am feeling we can beat the record. Or at least get to 136 pages!!!

 

Very well said. You make it hard for me to stand my ground but, I’m going to let this play out at least two more games before I give up on CBN altogether. I think after UT on road and Kentucky at home I’ll be able to have a better feel for wether or not he can turn it around.

 

It takes Gainesville Green for me.

 

Wait wait wait, you think that SOS would want, or need to lower himself to Bush League tactics to win a game? He wouldn’t. His football and sportsmanship is high. @tilly I don’t think I’ve ever disagreed strongly on anything with you for many years and the comparison to Kiffin is actually stomach churning to the proud and honest Ole Ball Coach.

As far as Napier is concerned we all need to go back and read our expectations for this season and if he meets or breaks them we then what are we talking here? If he can pull up two upsets going forward, then I’m still on board. Aside from the win, I like how he trusts himself, winners do. He’s calm but only by nature. I was ready to but I’m not jumping just yet. Especially not for “oh I got amnesia” Kiffin.

 

At the beginning of the second half, it seemed like he was not going to "turn turtle" on the first drive. We went for it on 4th and 1 on our own 34 yard line. We missed a FG on that drive and we all saw what happened on O for the rest of the game.

I think Billy might have had a killer instinct in the past. In 2019 at Louisiana, he won 11 games. Only 1 was within 1 score. Fast forward to 2021 at Louisiana, he won 13 games - 7 were within 1 score (and presumably with more of a talent advantage). And we've seen examples at UF - UT last year, UCF last night ...

 

Yeah, I don't get the no OC thing. Even Bill Belichick had a DC. It would be one thing if the offense was lighting it up, but clearly that hasn't been happening.

 

Kirby Smart, former Alabama DC...has a DC.

 

Those were the days..... or daze......

 

Funny thing is I thought his decision to go for it on 4th and 1 on our own 34 was dumb as hell. It could have cost us the game. That's the scary part about Napier. He gets a wild hair at the most inopportune times, but when it's crunch time, he folds like a cheap tent mentally.

 

Your analysis of the situation is spot on, so it’s perplexing that you would prescribe giving him a fourth season when there is zero evidence he is capable of getting this train back on the tracks, let alone keeping it there. No, Napier needs to take his millions and find something else to do. This is not for him.

 

Reasonable. I hate to be negative but I would be surprised if we aren't crushed on both lines similar to our 2 losses.

 

It’s like you don’t know me.

 

Well, we use green font for sarcasm around here. Your post reads like you agree he sucks and isn’t going to work out, but at least one more season is in order to be sure. I’m glad to hear you don’t really believe that, but that was a common theme this offseason: fourth season, no matter what.

 

I sympathize with where you are coming from and wish it were so. But if he gets us to a bowl he will get another season. In order to understand why we need to look at it all one step beyond.

People focus on team performance and think that will dictate Napier's fate. When what we need to look at is that PLUS the behavior of the administration and athletic association.

a winning season gives them all the excuse they need to not do what they do not want to do. Because other than winning enough games Napier is everything they want. And winning games IS NOT their primary concern.

(Please recognize this is not a normative argument, it is a descriptive one.)

 

I think most of us who predicted 4 or 5 wins before the season began picked us to beat Samford, Miss St and UCF. The real schedule begins now.

 

Fully understand that six wins likely gets him a fourth season. I only see two truly winnable games left on the schedule. SWAC is the most winnable, obviously, just because they seem so unwatchably bad. And Kentucky — a must-win for Napier to keep his job, in my opinion — is the most winnable after that. I’m not seeing a third win, even if we beat SWAC and UK. Much more likely is that Kentucky wins again, and you can’t be a UF head coach if you can’t beat Kentucky once in three years, two of which are in Gainesville. You just can’t.

 

I don't think he's enjoying himself at UF and he's going to sink or swim his way or the highway. That 4th and 1 call last night was suspect as well. Nobody does that in that scenario. Not only having a sizable lead, but having held UCF to 6 points late in the 3rd quarter. It's not like UCF were putting up points every drive. And lo and behold we just happen to lay a goose egg in the 2nd half. There's little things like that which seem almost passive aggressive.

 

He's just in over his head. Game management has always been a problem since he's been here. Go back to the safety he took at Louisiana his last year. Instead of punting away with a few minutes left he had his team run a few seconds off and take a safety. That's fine if you're up 6 or more because you're still up 4 and you can get a better kick while still making the opposition have to score a touchdown. The opposition was only down 3 after so a field goal would tie it.

Granted they had 2 bad long snaps in the game so they were worried about another but the strategy only worked because they tipped a field goal attempt.

His game management has been awful from the beginning. I have piled on the guy but he isn't tanking on purpose. He's in his 40s and wants to keep coaching. He just got overconfident in his methods because they worked at Louisiana.

La. coach defends intentional safety late in win

 

I'm the last guy on the "fire the coach" train but I've also arrived at what antny1 says above me.
Billy is in over his head. There's too much evidence in support of this.
I know he walked into a hard situation, that he's done a lot of good things, etc.
And he's a great guy- a guy we could all be proud of as Gator head coach. He's not sleazy like Kirby or others.

But he clearly doesn't know how to coach at this level.
The only path forward, that I can see, is to get killer OCs and DCs and ST coaches and get out of their way.
Pay them huge money while CBN takes a big pay cut.
Let CBN do the other stuff.

Dabo kinda sorta did this in his first years at Clemson- and after a few tough years it worked.