Fixing Florida Cont'd: Before Fall!!!

Coaches should demand perfection. Fans expecting perfection are guaranteed to be let down.

 

Well, I said make ONE of 2 vs FSU. (one was 48, the other 52.) And the 44 yarder vs Arky.

I don't know his numbers from the various distances, but I do think major college kickers should be 90% up to 35 and 75-80% from 35-45.
This is assuming good conditions- not crazy wind or mud...

I will also add that it was offensive goofs that made the ARky kick go from 39 to 44 AND moved our kick vs FSU back about 10 yards to 48.
So a better more competent offense would help our kicker as well.

 

I think those are the only kicks he missed all year and none were chip shots. Bad time to miss but two were at long range.

 

Not could, WOULD.

 

This 100%. If the defense gets 4-5 more stops last year, we win another 3-4 games.

 

Yes, Smack missed the game winner vs Arkansas but he was a pretty solid kicker all year! Just find it odd to single him out. Heck, if Pearsall doesn’t get stripped of the ball we win that game but nobody mentions that when talking about the Arkansas miscues.
I guess I just didn’t see the FG kicking as in the same boat as the defense.

 

8 games would be excellent. We aren’t a veteran squad.

 

No one else that knows something about football doesceither. While I do agree we have had problems with our special teams, a middle of the road defense solves most of those problems.

 

8 games would be incredible actually. How could we get there? I think it's asking a lot to go into the georgia game 5-2, but that's my hope. After that, every team looks like a juggernaut at this point, save fsu. If we have 5 wins going into the georgia game, we have a chance. I just don't see us going only 4-3 to start then finding 3 wins on the back 5.

 

we won’t get many wins of any on the back end. Let’s hope we beat FSU. No idea if they were going to be good or not

 

<40 11 of 11
40-49 4 of 7
50+ 2 of 3

81% total, top 40 in the country. Pretty dang good, not the problem.

 

While I agree that is good, but IMO we need every part of the game since we have so many well-discussed other roster deficiencies.
I know nuance can be lost on message boards, but I wasn't saying our kicking game was as bad as our defense- not even close.

I WAS SAYING that, with focus and work and drills, we should get our special teams top notch.

We don't have to stack 5 star on top of 5 star recruit to get there so it's an easier fix than getting the D up to top 10 in the country.
IF WE DID THAT, and got our kicking game up to top 10 in the nation, we will win a few extra games.
Last year missed kicks hurt us badly vs Utah, Arky and FSU. (Cost the game vs Arky.)
Furthermore, our punt returns could be vastly improved which cost us vs Mizzou.

No one is saying it's our main problem.
Im just saying its low hanging fruit- let's improve.

 

I think the point was not so much the kicker himself, but offensive/special teams goofs two times during the season that moved our kicker out of the < 40 range where he was 100%. It doesn't guarantee that he would have made either kick, but the mistakes loomed large with both games being lost.

 

Great article. Full of facts.
"Time to get off the Billy Bus and hop on the Lane Train"
Priceless.

 

Not getting on the Lame train and I find the quote more dopey and childish than humorous.

 

Yes, really good and honest. Hoping for enough improvement to win 7. If he cannot win 7 and look competent in games, we know where this is going. I like that the article intimates Napier brought in an excessive staff to improve coordination and execution and in his 3/23 presser, Billy at least pretended that his army of assistants has purpose. Maybe this year we see it pay off. I would like to see us win 8 with a bowl victory and establish 8 wins as a floor going forward. I know it's not enough to make us nationally relevant but it's better than being at the bottom and improvement will definitely help recruiting.

 

He missed at bad times but arky shouldn’t come down to a longish kick. Don’t blame the kicker because we suck. He was actually a highlight.

 

The problem with the "this cost us a game" logic is the inverse is often forgotten or discarded. What are the chances we beat SC by 2 points without Smack hitting from 28, 44, 48, and 54? His miss was due to a block that was the fault of the OL (see clip below).

Having 11 players on the field is low hanging fruit.
11 distinct numbers for those players is low hanging fruit.
Not returning kicks short of the 25 (actually much improved this year) is low hanging fruit.
The OL not letting a dude jump through the C gap to block a kick is low hanging fruit.

Trey Smack at 81% is not low hanging fruit.

 

Again, the penalty is low hanging fruit 100%. A kicker missing a 44 yard kick, it's going to happen. I consider the former controllable while the later is not, IMO.

 

No surprise that you would call this priceless