LET'S BE COMPLETELY HONEST ...

Dominate!

I look forward to the day when the other team knows exactly what we're going to do and can't stop it.

 

I look forward to the day when they haven't got a clue what we will do.

 

Not conceding the FSU game. There’s no reason why we can’t win out.

 

A few weeks before the start of this season, there was a thread here asking us to predict the win/lose record.

I was surprised at how many people here had set their expectations at a level that was unrealistically too high. Many people posted expected records of 9 -3, 10-2, and 11-1. I was going to include 8 - 5, but thankfully that mark could be achievable.

I will admit that I was pessimistic, and I posted 6 - 6 or something close to that. I was not the only one here that felt this way. Many posters predicted a similar record for this season.

I and many other like-minded posters have followed the Gators and college football for multiple decades. We have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly here at UF and at other teams. The last time that the Gator Football program was circling the drain was at the end of the Doug Dickey coaching era at the end of the 1978 season. Charlie Pell came in and righted a sinking ship. Charlie's first season was 0-10-1. Many of you here would have slit more than one wrist during that season. Thankfully, Charlie went on to 8-4, 7-5, 8-4, 9-2-2, and 9-1-1. It was Charlie Pell that set the standard for the future Gator HBC's.

Since the 2011 season, the Gator Football program had more mood swings than a psycho ward during a full mood phase. We had a series of poor HBC hires and up and down. Basically, the Dan Mullen era ended up with the Gator Football program being on life support.

The pessimism that I referred to earlier was based on the last two paragraphs. The results (good/bad) we saw this season is what I expected. The changes of a 7-5 or even an 8-4 regular season record look very promising for this season and for the coming seasons. We need to support Napier and Gator players.

 

Hi North - I drank the OnB kool-aid in the preseason - as usual.

But irregardless of record this year I'm all in with CBN.

 

A bowl game is a successful season for a first year coach. Anything less -> Noise Everywhere!!!!!

 

Hugely important and a marker for current and future success.

 

Spurrier won (initially) with average players and sheer brilliance (9-2 in '90).
Meyer won with a great scheme, then great recruiting shortly afterwards.
Great coaching always trumps great recruiting with all other things equal.
While Billy's playcalling is somewhat suspect, he'll need a great defense
to reach the SECCG. Not so sure he can do that with Patrick Toney as DC.

 

Not sure I agree Player, (regarding SOS) I have heard SOS say that he actually inherited a very talented group although he had to figure out whom his QB was going to be.

 

People keep saying it wasn't fair to expect Billy to win in year one and we have to wait for him to get "his" players...
Yet.. 4 first year coaches have their teams in the top 10 already and Elko has Duke bowl eligible as a first time HC.

 

Every situation is different. Sometimes a new scheme and practice methodology is all it takes to turn a team around. See Josh Huepel / UT in year 1 and 2.

Also it is rare in the extreme for a new staff to not get into a second season at least.

Let's face it, we all hope the Gators improve the remainder of this year and of course next season and beyond.

 

We are about what I thought we would be at this point in the season. I thought we'd lose to Utah and beat KY, and if we were 3-1 after the first 4, that we'd finish with 9 regular season wins and maybe 10. If we were 2-2, we'd win 8 regular season games, which is a good season as far as I'm concerned and better than most expected. I think I even posted that somewhere in the forums.

 

That’s how I projected it as well. Losses to UT, UGA & A&M with Utah as a toss up.

 

Napier has had clock management and play calling issues this year and has been a HC for how many years but he’s a great coach.

Smart had the same issues during his first year as a HC at UGA and you guys were unanimous he was a lousy coach that wouldn’t work out.

Color of jersey?

Time will tell how good a coach CBN is.

 

Correct....Galen Hall brought in a fantastic class in 87 that was the heart of Spurriers first team. They were very talented, super strong OL, DL, and LB class in 87 plus Emmitt who left after 89 season

 

I guess Kirby paved the way for Napier.

 

Spurrier maybe, but Meyer walked into a team loaded with Zook’s blue chip recruits. Plus, while it is somewhat forgotten now, it was not clear that Meyer’s offense would work until Tebow took the helm. Before that, it looked rather pedestrian.

Kirby gave a simplified formula that feels right to my amateur mind. He said that success in college football comes down to 25% evaluation, 50% recruiting, and 25% coaching.

 

I was sucked initially into the 8-4 or 9-3 mindset before the season. I presumed that the main difference was going to be coaching acumen on defense. I implicitly knew we had depth issues at DT and LB (the middle especially) and so any kind of injury bug could change this team FAST. What I also presumed was that the safety room was "safe" because of the number of experienced players and there had to be enough to take to much better coaching. Lastly, I also thought, with MUCH better coaching the O-line would have enough bodies to succeed (without injuries) to run an effective running game. My take on AR was "finally" and not world-beating (regardless of the pre-season camp leaks).

And so, we run the ball effectively to win the TOP so that our lack of depth in the front 7 on defense would make it all work. What could go wrong? Well, the first game happened. What I saw in spades is that 1) our O-line is alright but not great and so the running game mantra was going to take a hit. And so Plan B had to be effective passing. I wasn't sure if enough WRs were going to have their own light bulbs turn on. But mainly, 2) I saw that we had some chinks in the LB play (potentially expected) and pretty much nothing of what I expected with the safety play.

As everyone was drinking in the spiked Kool-Aid Saturday night, I was posting things "sobering", if not somewhat disappointed, because I wanted it to be all about the coaches and little about the players. I was wrong. And I saw the "We Have Arrived!" party taking place and my posts pretty much went over like a lead balloon. And then came Kentucky and reality. And we haven't been back to "sane" since. Individually, yes. Collectively, strictly bi-polar at best and passive-aggressive at worse. And believe me, I don't see how either helps, especially the passive-aggressive behavior. Utter contempt being dressed up as contemplation or discernment.

I think we are all cautiously hopeful that we saw a collective light bulb turning on with our team this past game. Make no mistake, we played a quality but somewhat limited team. And so, this next game is going to be THE game of the season. If the lightbulb indeed came on, then we can actually make my 8-4 prediction. DAMN!!! But if we get all full of ourselves, we can lose every game with the probable exception of Vandy, and so the 6-6 revised thinking (meaning 5-7 to 7-5 after Kentucky and not now) is very much still in play. We shall see.

If this is the "Come to Jesus" thread and it remains clean, then that is a good thing. Anger and denial are always first before the ultimate acceptance. Year 1 of a new regime, no matter who, has some gyrations. We have issues with this team and being angry isn't going to change that fact. All we have is the old mantra, "In All Kinds of Weather."

 

In Toney's defense, he looks like he's getting better.