Post-Game Discussion: Florida at Utah

I'm in a bit of a quandary myself; a few points while still in mid-air...

1. It was a first game and rehabilitating this broken program is going to be a slog, no matter what. This is a work in the early stages of what is going to be frequently painful progress. That progression won't be "completed" for at least two additional seasons after this one. Losing sight of that fact will make some heads explode to no constructive end. Some already are, obviously.
2. The disarray we found ourselves in at several points last night is disappointing and concerning. Enumerating the instances in which we looked like we didn't know what to do, or how to do it, would be tedious and irksome to write or read. We all saw the game. I'm attributing some of that to the hostile environment and the solidity and preparation of our opponent, first game jitters, etcetera. But not all of it. When it comes to being game ready, we laid an egg, no way around it.
3. In the realm of game day coaching, Billy needs to up his in-game performance significantly. Clock management and in-game decision making remain subpar IMO. That has little or nothing to do with the quality of our opponent.
4. There are some bright spots. The defense is undeniably better in my opinion. After the first play fiasco, they held Utah to 200 total yards and seventeen points, which is not that bad. Over the last four seasons, not being "that bad" stands out as an achievement. I'm encouraged on that front.
5. Mertz didn't suck. He did everything I thought he was capable of doing while being exposed to a withering rush by a very good D line. Our OL must improve dramatically or the more dire predictions of 3 or 4 wins this year could be right on the money.
6. BN has to reassess his approach to coaching the STs, we are terrible in that area and it's costing us dearly. Also, the idea of hiring an OC with proven in-game skills and an active imagination is worth looking at. IMO, Armstrong was a really good hire. Billy really needs to make some more of those ASAP.
7. These are the times that can test a fan's loyalty to a program or confidence in a specific coach. Life-long Gators who have been through this before and still kept the faith ('79, et al) will persevere for the most part, others will not.
8. The future is guaranteed for no one. But if we act precipitously and pull the rug out from under a second year HC because we struggled to a 13-point loss to a very good opponent on the road, we will only set ourselves back even further. I'm fine with the fact that the CFB world doesn't like us and revels in our difficulties. The feeling is mutual. But when actual Gator fans are doing it, I worry that we may be locked in a self-destructive cycle that will eventually lead to joining Vandy and MSU as a PERMANENT member of the SEC bottom feeders club. We've got one foot in that particular hole already. GG!

 

Not sure why you are complaining about this. The defense actually played well. Of course, they were playing two backup quarterbacks, as well as a backup center and TE...

 

If we had a true OC then maybe Billy could focus on managing the other coaches.

 

1. I don’t believe the defense played well. 0 sacks, 0 turnovers, 0 pressure on these backups, first half Utah receivers streaking wide open routinely, terrible job containing the qb run and again this was against 2nd and 3rd string QBs from Utah.
you do realize Utah essentially shut it down in the second half? They could have passed on us all day, but instead felt like they had the game in control and didn’t want accident turnovers.
2. What qualifications, accomplishments does this guy have to lead our defense? He is 30! He is going up against some of the best coaches in the game. No one has answered that and I wanna make sure I’m not missing something glaring.
Wait till we face a real offense, with a real qb and nfl type WRs.

 

Agree completely. That’s why I said “on paper”.

Anyone who has cared to read my posts over the years knows that I take recruiting with a massive grain of salt. Recruiting is incredibly important- it’s the lifeblood of a program. But the for-profit recruiting services just make stuff up for clicks, take bribes to alter rankings, etc etc that it’s just hard to take it at face value.

I agree, a top 5 class becomes a top 35 class quickly if you have a staff on the hot seat because they can’t actually coach the sport.

We need Napier to get better, and get better quickly. I have my thoughts as to if that’s going to happen or not. Talking Season is over.

 

Having an electric mobile QB in AR was a big part of that. Mertz doesn’t scare anyone with the run, so load the box, keep the offense in front of you and shut down this offense easily.

 

We might just be on the cusp of revolutionizing college football. We've got a great GM--a position which heretofore has not existed in CFB.

Now, all we need to do is shoehorn some game time coaches and discipline guys in there, between GM n players, and sky's the limit!

 

A very temperate and well-reasoned post. I hope things turns out that way.

 

Yep. People do not realize how much it helps your RBs when you have a QB that is an elite runner

 

That will tell a lot of us if he’s the right guy.

 

Did this team actually practice? I don't like losing ever. But, I did expect this team to be more disciplined and play cleaner.

When you can be fundamentally sound and get beat by a better team - well that's just how it goes.

But when you are sloppy, undisciplined, uninspired, 2 players with same number on field at same time (never scene that before), bad all around - well that's disappointing and infuriating.

 

Attention to detail?

 

You need an elite runner as well as a willingness to use him in a designed QB run game. It doesn’t appear that Napier has any desire to incorporate a meaningful designed QB run game, ever. He had arguably the most electric running QB in UF history for a year and either refused to utilize him by calling designed QB runs, or refused to properly coach AR to make high school level reads to keep the ball, or refused to bench AR if he willfully disregarded the designed QB run play call.

In short, we won’t be seeing this any time soon.

 

AR had 100 rushes for 650 yards last year. We all can agree we wanted more but defenses clearly had to respect a 6.5 YPC across 100 rushes

 

A damn good reason to figure out how to pass-block if ever I heard one.

 

Wasn’t the coverage good? I don’t recall any big run backs.

 

Sort of slipping into "that mode"...briefly.

IMO, if Napier is making the calls and not asking the important questions from guys upstairs, then I think it plausible to say that a real OC upstairs and seeing "the big picture" and only worried about offensive performance and not everything...could solve a blind spot. I won't comment on the run/pass selection dynamic or the use (or lack thereof) of timeouts. But to me, this feels like another vote for taking one job - or two jobs, if Napier is heavily involved in special teams - away from him for the betterment of the success of the program.

It is still too early to make big changes to the process, but it IS a data point.

 

Are they saying we looked good over there ?

 

What's that?

 

Herbie said our D was big but “lacked twitch.”