Pre-Game Discussion: #22 FLORIDA at Kentucky

This Florida team can beat anybody and it can lose to anybody. Just the way a young team is. I was not a believer in Napier, and I have been very negative on him for about a year now. HOWEVER I can see the roster taking shape here. We are an extremely young Football team that looks to bring back nearly the entire roster next season. The defense actually looks physically imposing, we look athletic, and I can visible see the speed on the field on defense.

Offensively we have the makings of a very very good offensive line, we have great backs, and have the possibility of some sort of Leak, Tebow thing in the making for next year.

In recruiting I can see definitive progress towards being a top program. The roster is in a place where we are no longer a portal dependent team, and I don't hear anymore chatter about us being under in terms of scholarship numbers. Things are stable for the first time in a long time, and Florida is now in a position to recruit the best players available. It also seems like Napier and the staff have done a good job of developing the talent they have had come in.

In it's current state I think this team can win 8ish games. I was ready to move on from Napier, but after seeing the tangible things on the field this year, and what it means moving forward, I have begun to soften on that opinion. I am very interested to see what year 3 brings, and if this team can gain momentum nearing the end of the season towards that.

In my opinion Napier is either going to win Championships here, or set up a really good situation for somebody who wants to win them here

 

Last two games vs Kentucky
We have scored 29 points

 

Tenn. win quieted all the noise. But lose to Kentucky it will all comeback. win and 8 wins is very possible, lose and winning 6 will every hard.

 

Time to turn that around starting Saturday..1 game at a time

 

We just need the team (minus the Swamp) that showed up for the first half of the Tennessee game and I think we’ll be alright. Full strength O line is the key to me. I think it will be on Mertz to throw the ball early and prove he can move the ball which opens up the run game. Don’t like our chances if it looks like the last 3 halves tho.

 

Not good

 

Jeff is a class act !!! @dailydoublecat

 

Okay, I'm just going to spit it out, I think Billy revels in close games. Does he have a killer instinct? I have yet to realize it! If it's a close, grind-it-out, game, I don't see us pulling off the upset in Lexington. I, for one, like Billy as UF's HBC. I have been reading too much negativity on here; so, I don't want to be construed as being part of the negativity crowd.

I think the Gators are capable of playing dominant, because they showed that against Tennessee. Someone, IMO, needs to convince Billy that he needs to keep the foot on the gas and trust his quarterback. Mertz is far better than I thought he could be,, although he's made a few boneheaded plays. Mertz is a quarterback who will win us some games, but we will not win against opponents on their own turf, when a predictable offense is run. I hope Billy will scheme for a killer-mentality offense like our defense seems to be!!! My 2 cents.

 

He has had only one opportunity to win at an away venue. Maybe a bit premature statement? The Utah game he had some circumstances that was not fair to pin a loss on Mertz

 

How many posters have watched Kentucky play? The reason they aren’t ranked is because they have played low tier teams! They have a QB that is hit or miss much of the time! Their O line is the worst part of their team their defense is mediocre. And Stoops is always good for several bone headed calls in a game! Stoops has been there eleven years and had only two good seasons. I have read some of their message boards and their fans don’t Leary is the answer! They are leery of Leary! Our Defense will crush them and our QB is much better theirs! We will win this game! Our young team has been in a hostile environment going to Utah so going to Lexington is a been there and done that experience for them. The Gators want to win this game they will be focused on winning not losing! They will win!!

 

I watched them play vandy. A team not much better than their first 3. 4 cupcakes is a lot of practice but if we come with the intensity we had vs UT then we should get the W. We need to show them what physical means and prove we turned the corner like we proved it to UT.

 

I think coach is playing the games out with a process in mind. He played a lot of young players against Charlotte to give them game experience. And why worry about running up the score at this point when it is more important to build rather than to look good. I think he knows exactly what he is doing. Kentucky will see somewhat of a different Florida team when they play. If I am right Florida will surprise the cats with a motivated offense that has a special plan for them.

 

I have watched all of the UK games, and you are absolutely spot-on! UK played three cream puff teams they should have annihilated but did not. In fact, I was shocked at how those low-tier teams stayed in the ball game and gave the OL of UK fits. Also, Leary has not been impressive. He doesn't have a good pocket awareness and his accuracy is suspect! The Gators DL should give Leary fits! Yes, the Gators should go into Lexington and have a beat down! But, what concerns me, will the Gators play to win or play not to lose?
I have been reading lately that many sports writer's are questioning the poor playcalling; and they have a point.
Something is not quite right. Is it the youth of the team or that so much of the offense hasn't played much together? However, that's certainly not the case with the Gator defense!
I think much of GN are too overreactive and just flat-out don't like Billy. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get an OC like TAMU. If Mertz was more mobile as a quarterback, though, would GN even entertain an OC? I suspect not. And I believe all of this get rid of the coach crap is nothing but toxic and is not good for GN!

 

Kentucky has won the last 2 against the Gators by being the more physical team. This year's Gator team has a defense with much more speed and aggressiveness than the last 2 the Wildcats have faced. Mertz is a better game manager than Richardson and if our offensive line can do their job, we'll win this game. We simply have more talent. Just can't beat ourselves.

 

I've noticed this too and I hope its product of us being young and still needing to add another top-10 class of talent to really breakout on offense than reflective of of BN wants to play.

Because we've already had two coaches that either A)Liked playing in close games or B) Got too conservative too early in Ron Zook and Will Muschamp.
I've told many people that Ron Zook had the potential to be an elite coach. He was a fantastic recruiter, a great schemer that he combined with some nasty defenses. He had everything to bring a title to UF...except for the lack of a killer instinct. If we got up 2 scores, he would take his foot off the gas and keep it off. The other team would often come back, then we'd have to try to put our foot back on the gas against a team with all the momentum. There was no place better that this was showcased than @Miami in the "Fade in Dade" game. This is why we would lose to teams that we had no business losing to one week...then beat a national title contender the next week. (LSU 03, Georgia 02). In those games against high level competition he would never get a lead big enough to take his foot off the gas, so we would keep it down the whole game and win.

Champ was a defensive coach by upbringing, so he wanted to put the game on his defense as much as possible, because that's what he felt most comfortable with. Simple as. Thus, his entire coaching philosophy was centered around field position, time of possession, and not putting the defense in a bad position. Thus the extreme conservatism on offense. And we saw how that turned out. It lead to many gut-wrenching last second losses because we couldn't bury teams when we were up 1-2 scores as well as getting blown out when we faced a team that could go up 1-2 scores on us as we weren't geared for and our team had not practiced, schemed or had experience in shootouts. It was so bad that our best season where we went 11-1 in the regular season and almost went to the national title game (2012) we simultaneously almost lost to Louisiana-Lafayette in the same year.

 

Yes, trying to eek out a win against UT was not good. Lucky for the Gators the UT offense was not that good, and the Gator defense was better than UT's offense.

 

Sorry. not me.

 

Since we are playing KENTUCKY next Saturday,

GATORS should be wearing their BOLD BRIGHT ORANGE COLORS!

LuLu and Junior’s faded Orange Color VOLS Week is over! They lost again!