What Gator Nation Expects

Kudos for representing! Go Gators!

 

It’s all good. I’m just having fun. Thanks tho. It’s just football on this occasion. Nobody dies. But I do take my fandom seriously. Love my Gators. In all kinds of weather.

 

Our fanbase is at war. You have those who want immediate success, with demonstrated gradual progress towards the end goal from the start. On the other hand, you have those who want patience, and expect a rocky road for 3-4 years until it gets figured out. I am on the patient side, so long as there aren’t integrity or personality issues like Muschamp and McElwain.

In life, I have come to enjoy the journey more than the destination in many situations. I somewhat like seeing the struggle which eventually leads to triumph through hard word and determination moreso than an immediate payoff… it’s more satisfying to me.

Deion did something awesome in his first game, but then again… so did Napier in his first game beating ranked Utah last year. Had Tennessee on the ropes. Let’s see if he turns the corner this year. Beat Tennessee and Kentucky and we have something brewing.

 

What do I think I expect? I believe I would be content with looking competent running the ball and playing spirited defense. And definitely NO MORE brain fart plays on ST. And I am quite pleased (so far) with Mertz as a game manager. He CAN win games. I don't think he is going to stay upright (perhaps thinking a bit too much, just not this excuse against the Utah rush) in a conventional passing attack. He HAS to hit quick slants and some long bombs, along with the bootleg pass to TEs. That IS our offense.

If we do this, then we WILL represent. If not, then there will be some DAMN LOUD noise in the system. And while Napier won't be "on a short leash" next year, in major college football and recruiting, I can definitely see where he is going to be in a DEEP hole. And, while we can all point out Mullen's (ie, "Dumbo") failures, a stubborn sense of his skills seem to be at the top (loyalty to some limited coaches is a close second). What could transpire as a result of a limited rushing attack and continued ST brain farts without real remediation would give me real chills.

 

FYI immediate success would have been last year.

It also depends how we define success. At least right now success is competence, organization, detail, development leading to say 8 wins (borderline top 25).

Successful coaches on average hit that in Y1 or Y2, so CBN is well behind schedule compared to his peers.

He gets more time but let’s not act like people who want some level of success at this point are being unreasonable

 

Success this season is improvement.

We do need to realize that unlike Deion who cleaned house immediately, Napier made an effort to build a lasting culture he envisioned and gave everyone on roster the opportunity to buy in last season and the roster flip didn't really start until this season. The thing we've been told since day one is "Sustainable success".

That said, we still want to see improvement. Defense and receivers were pain points last year and Napier addressed them, which gives me some optimism that he also sees the same issues we currently see and intends to address them as well.

Throughout this season I want to see improved special teams play, the O line to get comfortable and improve, the WRs, and the defense to continue to improve.

Next season will be almost entirely his recruits, and we're going to want to see a competitive team fielded. Hardest schedule in the country or not, we need to start being competitive enough that it feels like we're in it for any game we play. THAT is what the expectations are, and they aren't unreasonable.

 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Or so you sound.

 

The only deep hole being dug now is by fans not the Coach or coaches.

 

What you are describing is called "blind faith" when you decide that your eyes are not relevant. What I am mainly talking about is how this is going to be used against the recruiting efforts by competing programs. It is cutthroat and when they smell blood it is feeding time.

Think about the conjecture of Deion being able to take Clemson's place in robbing Florida players based on one game. It may be somewhat silly, but there IS validity to it.

 

I didn’t expect a win.

I did expect to see a team that was competitive and showed improvement on the edges.

What we all saw was an absolute disaster on offense and special teams. The OL performance was close to the worst I have ever seen in 45+ years of watching gator football.

I don’t expect to beat teams that have better talent, but I do expect us to be competitive with opponents who have similar talent. If Napier is unable to deliver a product that reaches that minimal level, he won’t be here for long.

 

Imagine if everyone on the boards who called for Napier’s head were judged the same way for performance at their own jobs. It’s unacceptable for Napier to have setbacks during a rebuild, meanwhile fans complaining about his job performance are posting on the forum during their work hours.

 

We literally accepted the setbacks last year

 

No one is saying he has to go now. What people are saying is they see the path where he will have to go. For example a 5 win 2023 and 7 win 2024.

Obviously if he gets 15 wins combined over the next 2 seasons he’s safe and we are rolling (my hope).