Post-Game Discussion: Charlotte at #25 FLORIDA

Lol... the 3 coaches I outspokenly wanted gone last year got new jobs...

I was obviously not alone with that assessment. Napier made the right choices. He just needs to continually upgrade...

 

…so would Wes Chandler. But Ricky is definitely in the conversation.

 

What makes the catch so incredible to me is that he one hands it, completely palming it as the ball is going over and past him and yet holds on as he is crushed by the safety and the cb. No idea how he held onto it cause it was a third tier production crew and the replays I saw last night were not very good angles or close up. The grab was all time, and keeping possession was all time too.

 

Sorry I did not read all the posts. I am sure there was plenty of discernment and more than a couple of "see, I was RIGHT!" comments. Obviously, it was not a game we wanted to see, given what we want to see as progress in the program. But we were given advanced notice by Napier's mid-week comments. Too much back patting and probably some fatigue after their effort against Tennessee. What it shows to me is that we aren't as deep as we need to bring in good and hungry players each week. It is what it is.

I am not sure who I am more disappointed, the O-line or the D-line. I said after the Utah game, our identity is going to be that, against the upper-echelon teams, our running game is going to have to click using passing to keep their defense honest, our defense is going to have to make plays, or the other team is going to have to lose it. The defense looked nice at times but overall, not enough. No turnovers again? VERY concerning.

The running game...again...is not what Napier wants. I think I am going to make one more condition for winning games against the better teams (until further notice): We HAVE to have Eguakun in as center. He is an adequate to good center. The others are less-than-adequate. But it is possible that the timely passing isn't quite there to keep the defense honest.

And that gets me to the next thing: Mertz. He is capable and poised under pressure. I do not like his running ability or his taking shots from the rush. His nuance is lacking. Not that he is a bum, but he does not have as much wiggle to prevent him from getting lit. My fear, and I have no knowledge to say it will manifest, is that he is "working the process" the way he did at Wisconsin and it is just not quite there yet. There were some throws I thought were really good and not what I saw in the other games, but I also see someone who is comfortable doing certain things and not others. No bombs. This IS a concern. And many of the passes are to the receiver and not where the receiver is going to be. Not Emory-esque, but still not ideal. And I said we need quick slants when their defense plays the run too hard.

Last thing, and this is a broken record that won't change this year, Napier needs to fire himself as the play caller/OC. Don't tell me Sale is the OC. That is disingenuous.

It was a win against meh competition. It will NOT cut it against the meat of the schedule. And that WILL start in earnest next week.

 

We are a work in progress, obviously we aren't consistent enough to play near our best game each week. D was good again, O struggled. In reality, whether we put up 22 or 52, next week

The other side of that is many take the the 'positive outlook' of some of us as lack of concern and we need to be beat into submission for us to realize the flaws of this team, which is absurd.

IMO, I'm in a good place with the progress of this team, realizing there are obvious places where we have a lot of work to do (which i don't know if corrections will occur in the near future.). Red zone, downfield passing, and dominating offensive play are all areas that need to be improved. Yesterday we took a good step in downfield passing, all be it for only a part of the game. Red zone is an issue, especially without a true dual threat QB who can cover up our flaws. CBN said in his press conference that he is pissed about the red zone issues.
As far as i'm concerned, Mertz has exceeded expectations, and the young players we have contributing is a good sign that our future is bright. Lack of consistent effort and execution is an ongoing problem.
Whether we won by 50 or 15 against Charlotte, KY will be a tough game. I'm hoping for the best.

 

Players try to convince the coaches, fans and themselves that they realize a game against a lesser opponent, sandwiched between two important conference games, is important and they will be ready. They aren’t being insincere, but it’s more difficult to “get up” for a game of this kind.
That said, we have very often performed a lot worse in these type games in the past than we did last night, (Georgia Southern and Samford come to mind). That doesn’t make last nights game any less ugly or frustrating, but it doesn’t mean our trajectory is now heading south, either.
Kentucky is now the most important game of the year for us until the game that follows that and so forth. Every game will be a war and I still believe we have a real chance to win against any team left on the schedule. The flip side of that is we also could lose against any team left on our schedule.

 

Until we get a better Oline that can pass protect, we will be limited in this area.

 

I guess we will see about that. Nice vote of confidence. At least we still get to play the game even though you already know the outcome.

 

Dions offense sucks? Maybe not, just got out talented yesterday. It takes players.

 

Oline was better against Tenn but it is not an elite unit. Probably our weakest link in recrui over the last several years. You offense is only as good as your line play. Qb is by far the most important position but without proper protection, it’ll be limited.

 

For those that didn't watch the game:
1. I predicted a sloppy win here - I thought it would be 4 TD and 2 FG, and a 34-13 win, but we ended up with 1 TD and 5 FG, with a better defense, so a 22-7 win. We also had a couple of turnovers that hurt.
2. Started the game fine. 3 and out on defense, followed by a 95 yard TD drive.
3. Failed to convert a 3rd and 1 at the 8 -kicked a short FG
4. Failed to convert 3rd and 7 - Didn't go for out on 4th and 3 from the 5 - kicked a short FG
5. Mertz get's sacked after a great defensive stand gives us midfield starting position - kills drive - Smack hits 54 yard FG. Looking fine 16-0.
6. Defense has a stroke - Charlotte has a 75 yard drive. It's 16-7.
7. We get the ball back with 2:30 left - really bad 3 and out, UF defense holds to end half.
8. Start the 2nd half with QB sack and Mertz fumbles - charlotte recovers - looks really bad but Charlotte misses 55 yard FG after defense holds
10. Florida drives down the field but fails to convert from 2nd and 3rd and 3 at the Charlotte 17 - kicks another FG - 19-7
11. Defense gets another stop - UF driving, but Caleb Douglas fumbles at the Charlotte 38.
12. Defense stops them again - UF offense gets stopped again - another sack of Mertz
13. Defense stops them again, Florida drives but is stopped on 3rd and 1 at Charlotte 6 - kicks a FG. 22-7.
14. Defense stops them again, game over.

Some notes:

• So - the big shocker to me, is that Florida did well to create manageable 3rd downs, but then didn't convert them. Failed to convert 4 short 3rd downs in the red zone. That we HAVE to clean up.
• Mertz was sacked 3 times
• UF had 2 turnovers
• Despite improved kicking still some problems on ST
• Charlotte only had 10 first downs, only rushed for 2.8 YPC, was sacked 4 times, and only had 210 total yards at about 4 yards per play. The defense other than 1 drive, was dominant. Princley had 4 hurries this game - they just couldn't block us.
• All in all, kind of a snoozer, - gotta clean up the short down and distance conversions if we want to win SEC games, need to protect mertz better, and have to clean up the turnovers.
• Football vs Charlotte on 9/23/2023 - Box Score - Florida Gators - if you check the box score you'd think Florida would have had a lot more points. Averaged 6.7 Yards per play. Really, the problem was turnovers, and not being able to convert short yardage. Learn and grow!

 

You ain’t…

 

When it was thrown I thought it was a pick. Then the leap, grab and maintaining possession through the hit! Thankfully the biggest hit went to teammate rather than RP.

 

But they scored 45 too, including 2 patented pick 6s. We need the game manager in Mertz to even have a chance and if Charlotte blew up our oline, Kentucky's defense is probably the best we've seen so far this season by a wide margin. If the same team that played Utah shows up or the one that played Tennessee in the 2nd half or the team that showed for Charlotte, it'll be an ugly score. It's going to require our A game from all phases. Keep in mind, the last time we played Vandy in their house, we lost. Kentucky didn't.

 

I actually didn't believe it was real. I thought it was an AI-generated image. Definitely ranks in the Top 3 catches of all time, pro and college.

 

There are some bright spots

The Defense seem to be improving, game after game. But just as we have seen in the past, that isn't going to be enough. They'll get tired if the Offense continuously sputters and can't stay on the field.

It's kinda the same ol' Gator Football story for the last decade. We can't seem to have a complete team. It just seems like we're only good on one side of the ball.

The other good thing is that Mertz seems to be better than expected. Not elite, but way better than other transfer QB we've had in the past, that we had to desperately rely on to be the starter.

I say Napier should just open up the playbook (even though it's only half a page ), and just see what this team has. It's a rebuilding year anyway, right? Like what all the apologizers seem to say.

 

What a silly analogy. I didn't say "stop coming to Gator Country." Nor did I indicate that I was going to stop frequenting this site.

The board is moderated with a heavy hand relative to others. Your business, your rules as you say but if you are honest person, you would agree that's true. Someone stated they'd like a place where it's less cheerleading and where more open discussion is allowed. I simply gave my suggestion. Obviously this is a very sensitive topic for you. It's OK. You'll still have this board to moderate even if users post on multiple boards. Breathe.

 

Sure he didn't. See above.

 

Favorite series was when Mertz completed passes on 1st and 2nd down, and we lined up for a 3rd and 11. That’s tough to do

 

Horrific would be short yardage 3rd down and not converting. Against a team of this stature, a simple run should get the job done, scheme should not be needed. Our offensive line is going to have to be schemed around. I think our Kentucky game plan wasn’t to be unveiled but our blocking is what it is.