ESPN mid-season report card

I think the recruiting grade already is a solid B to B+ . . . but with the ones coming it will go up. Right now though, on second thought, I believe you're right. Thanks!

 

I never thought our defense would be in this shape until 3 or 4 years years ago, when we went to a 3-4 base defense. It took a full year to take us from a 4-3 base (often top 25 defense in a few categories) to that 3-4 base that's why I said 3 to 4 years.

Right now I think we're stuck in this for the year, so I just hope we can get our players lined up properly and play assignment football.

But with this new class heavy on the DTs, maybe we can transition back to a 4-3 base defense, like the defenses that we had in every year that we won a National Championship.

 

This is going to take 3 years to be able to complete with the top of the SEC every week and 4-5 recruiting classes to complete for titles consistently. This is a talent issue. Fix the talent and things will look so much better.

 

Reality is a hard thing.

UGA
TAMU
S Carolina
Vandy
FSU

Only 1 is at home.

Need at least 2 more to go bowlin...............

3 would be mightly nice...........

 

That's pretty favorable/optimistic, ET. Coach is ultimately responsible for the Gator defense, which by nearly all accounts, is an abomination. We shouldn't expect a perfect record or NC contender at this point, but defense & special teams have to improve vastly.

Statistic......................rank
3rd down defense..........131 (last)
1st downs allowed..........121
Rush defense.................111
Scoring defense..............77
Pass efficiency defense....91

 

Napier really needs to be pulling out everything and the kitchen sink to make sure the USCe and Vandy games are must wins. We ain't beating Jawja and A&M can play D and is on the road.

Can you imagine the off-season funk and fan grumbling that would occur if we were to go into FSU 5-6 and get whacked to finish with a losing season? Of course losing to FSU in a year when we were thought to have the clearly superior team would never be pretty, but adding in knocking us into a losing season it could get downright ugly.

 

Not picking a fight just asking a question - why 3 years?

Kiffin had freakin Ole Miss at 10-3 in year 2. in a tougher division
UT did it in 19 games? less than 2 seasons and they were a dumpster fire

USCe has won 3 games in a row and seemingly passed UF **at this stage ** with a new HBC who beat UF in season 1.

So 2 is not realistic? 10 wins next season

 

Agreed. The portal can be a game changer for those who use it wisely. Without that, I think that the 3 years before being competitive would be more accurate considering that you would have to recruit the talent from HS.

 

Interestingly the common denominator with the teams you mentioned is innovative offense. Ours? If our Offense is going to be slow and plodding we need a stout, tough defense that much more. The defense now is inexcusable and a major red flag. I hope CBN knows what he's doing.

 

Beat FSU, and honestly that's the only thing left that is attainable AND matters the remainder of the season

 

Florida football: Midseason report cards for the Gators’ defense

It’s ugly, as it should be.

 

They'll wave your concerns away as a talent issue, but I don't think UF is 106th in defensive roster talent which is where our total defense ranks.

I'm patient and don't have a problem waiting until his first recruiting class graduates to start really complaining but it is concerning to see, was hoping for a staff that could get the best out of what it has to work with.

 

I agree with their grade

 

Same. And right now I'm not seeing it.

 

I predicted we would be 4-3 at the midpoint of the season and here we are. I did not expect Napier to sprinkle magic dust on Mullen’s crap 6-7 team and magically make it better with slightly positive post-game speeches and a likable personality. 65 of these athletes played on a 6-7 team. How does a new coach and a new scheme make them better athletes? Napier gets a B+ from me at this point. If the Gators finish at 7-6 including a win the Gasparilla Bowl or the Birmingham Bowl he gets an A from me. A bowl loss and a 6-7 finish gets a C- from me. Finishing at 5-7 without a bowl gets a D from me.

 

Move back…,

 

Seems like a pretty arbitrary rating system. Comparing last year's record to this year's isn't really meaningful as the teams and players are almost entirely different. Our strength of schedule ranking is different. We have a complete staff with a head coach. A much better metric would be improved offensive and defensive performance as the season progresses, fixing of issues as the season progresses and improved decision making as the season progresses.

I don't really see any of that. Not sure why you think predicting 4-3 halfway through the season for an average team is supposed to give your arbitrary ranking system credence but it's not working.

 

Right now, I can live with the O, with the limited time the D has given them, we are scoring points which is the name of the game. Frankly, we've scored enough points that it should have been enough.
No one expected this crap show of a D. No one. Yes, we pretty much knew it wasn't going to be great after last year, but not 106 bad nor 131 last place giving up tons of third downs. I know BN is trying his best to put lipstick on a pig but being this bad on D gives Gator fans the jitters. We now have to speculate will we see the opponents punter. We have passed the halfway point and nothing has changed which is very disconcerting. I had thought coming into the season with all the added advisors on both sides of the ball, our performance would be better than it has. Hopefully, this bye week things will begin to change for the better.

 

I have us with a season ending record of 8-5 this season and while that seems like a decent record we are no where near completing for a SEC title, just like Ole Miss going 10-3 was not going to win the SEC that year.

We could go 10-3 next year and with some luck could have had that happen this year, but we could be 10-3 and still light years behind Georgia. I would consider that the Mullen years.

That is why I'm saying 3 years of competing for a SEC title with good recruiting.