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Post by wahhappen on Nov 20, 2023 10:12:30 GMT -5
The whole broadcast was odd. Made odder still by the fact that Palmer should have the inside scoop on gator football as much as anybody in the country. I missed the first part because of dad duty, but saw Mos post about a qb coach having offensive coordinator added to his title, and I kept hearing about great play design by OC Rob sale. Even as we have no QB coach, Sales job title hasn’t changed (always been listed as OC as well as one of 2 line coaches because ya know process) and Napier is running around with his play sheet clearly calling the game. So I don’t know if Jesse is just lazy or was trying to put a pro gator spin on things. He’s pretty bad so I’m guessing it’s just being lazy. That said, the game plan was better. It’s inexplicable to me that etienne had half the touches that Johnson did going into the 4th. Also picking nits compared to other stuff but when you’re looking for a last second miracle why wouldn’t you have etienne on the field? I really have no idea how to take max browns performance because I have so little faith in this staff, possibly even less after this game. The read option game and offense generally with him and etienne in the backfield was far and away the most effective out offense has looked against a real defense all year, and it wasn’t close. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t at least have a package of plays for a kid with a better arm and a lot faster especially since you’ve got deep threats out wide and an explosive play waiting to happen in etienne. There is even less reason for graham mertz to come back as the starter than I thought and I didn’t think there was much reason. Mertz have us everything he could. I appreciate it. It would be a fitting and apt send off if his most exciting play as a gator was also his 2nd to last. He should go to some small school where the windows are bigger and the rush doesn’t come so fast or as scarily and put up some awesome numbers. And despite all that along with Mizzou doing everything possible to lose that game, we weren’t having it. Lot of talk about etienne running out of bounds on that 3rd down play and Mizzou not having to burn a timeout but per ESPN we called timeout after the first down run. Then ran 2 more times. I don’t remember it, but it sounds about right. Then and I really don’t know what it’s going to take for Napier to call a spade a spade and admit maybe sunbelt coordinators can’t make the jump straight to DC in the SEC we let burden run down the seem at about 75%, sit down in a hole in the zone and basically make an uncontested catch on 4th and 17. It was bizarre. He just ran a comeback route 3-5 yards beyond the sticks and there was a huge hole in the middle of the defense. So, with another staff or if Napier had given me any reason to believe that this might stick, that he might have watched brown and said “damn, maybe this is better than completing 70% of our passes and still losing and only scoring in garbage time,” I’d be really happy with what we saw because there was stuff to build off there, but I’m beaten down at this point, so I’m just gonna hope for the best. Hopefully the class stays together and some semblance of common sense is applied moving forward. Napier is going to start off as the coach in 24, if we struggle I have to believe that somehow some way nature will take its course I suspect it will take the bull gators threatening to pull money, but surely this can’t continue. I really hope he surprises me and does the whole CEO approach, gets and stays out of the way, and makes staff changes that need to be made. I’ll believe it when I see it, but here’s hoping. Go gators Yeah, that pretty much sums up my thoughts. It is difficult to get too excited about any of the positives when history has shown this staff lacks the ability to build upon them. On the Etienne out of bounds play, it was not a smart play by him, but we bumbled our way into the situation to begin with. Also, with a timeout coming ahead of the play, wouldn’t one of our 300 coaches emphasize the importance of staying in bounds if we were trying to run clock? Perhaps we thought that play was going to go for six or pick up a first down — or — maybe it was the responsibility of one of the players on the field and he heard a different word and told Etienne to run out of bounds. Who really knows? Doesn’t much matter when you give up a 4th and 17 and subsequently any other passing plays the opposition needs thereafter to close out the game. Or How about not being a pussy and try to move the ball instead of playing for a field goal with so much time remaining knowing your defense sucks balls? I am completely baffled by this coaching staff.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 19, 2023 14:35:41 GMT -5
So we continued to see some of the same… Etienne inexplicably getting three touches in the first half and then blowing up in the second half when given the opportunity, missed tackles, all around poor defense, dumb mistakes at the end of the game involving clock management, etc. But then there were some positives such as the offense seemed ok in the second half, play calling was better, and Max Brown looked pretty good to me in terms of raw talent. His pocket presence was lacking, but he made some plays and his arm strength looked better than I was expecting. Also, the commentators were referring to our offensive coordinator — honestly, no idea what that was all about. So, I guess I am left wondering, is this an attempt by RDB to change some things up or is this just desperation? Is Missouri even any good? I don’t know what to think.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 15, 2023 10:33:04 GMT -5
I don’t believe for one second that he is staying in Colorado longer than he has to. My question is why would he continue to coach anywhere? Does he really want to step that deeply into the coaching career at this point in his life after his kids are done with college? I think he could do it at a high level and has the drive given how much of a competitor his is. That is the only reason he would, though, because he doesn’t need money and so the only motivator after the kids move on is him wanting to prove he can beat the best of the best. I think he goes to FSU if the gig becomes available, but not sure he continues to mess around with other programs in between.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 14, 2023 10:30:08 GMT -5
That's ridiculous. I've been converted to a Sanders fan, but I'm not hiring him anywhere in FBS until he sustains something. His defense has been exposed all year and his offense, though entertaining, is one-dimensional. The PAC12 has shown that they can consistently beat this team - why would you want him as your coach in the SEC? Maybe in a few years, if he improves, but not now. RG Have you seen UF play recently? I’m with you though in the sense that I’m likely not hiring Sanders right now as my #1 given a full coaching search and assuming we can do better. I would, however, swap him for our current bloated coaching staff and off site game changing coordinators in a heartbeat. Part of me wonders if he is really in it for the long haul though once his sons leave.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 13, 2023 12:48:56 GMT -5
Tim Leger
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 13, 2023 10:16:38 GMT -5
LSU is really going to kick themselves 8 years from now — once our plan comes to fruition— for not going after RBD and letting Stricklin steal him right out of their backyard without even putting up a fight.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 10, 2023 10:49:20 GMT -5
I read an interview with RDB this morning. I am not too good with posting things on this board using my flip phone, but here is the part that jumped out:
Getting Trevor Etienne and Eugene Wilson III more touches:
“Yeah, I think every week we do that. That’s part of the plan, try to get the best players the ball. Trey and Trevor have been fantastic. Sometimes the defense can dictate where the ball goes, particularly in the throw game”
Have fun. I’m not sure where to start, but my first thought is this guy is a fucking moron.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 9, 2023 21:36:34 GMT -5
Who is Etienne? Is that the backup punt returner?
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 9, 2023 8:03:12 GMT -5
I can always tell when a coach is in over his head or not able to meet expectations (as in not capable within his ability) by the gradual shift that occurs during press opportunities. He typically begins patting himself on the back for meaningless moral — and sometimes on the field— victories and goes on the defensive about potential areas of improvement. Winners address issues head on and relentlessly find ways to get better instead of trying to mask things as part of the “process.”
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 7, 2023 15:26:51 GMT -5
I just can’t. Maybe RDB eventually goes down as the greatest coach in the history of UF, but I do not see a path for us to be successful under his leadership. It’s all about trusting the process and how we are a few plays away from winning some of these games. The problem is he sees it as being so close to winning some shit games against shit competition. We are nowhere near competing against real teams, and there is no urgency to become an elite program again any time soon. Mullen was a delusional ass clown, but he understood the end goal for the program - not that he got there, but he thought he was on his way to bigger and better - which is to get back amongst the elite. I don’t think RDB is mentally operating on a high enough level to take us there. I just don’t. I honestly believe he would be good with making it to Atlanta every few years and getting beaten down in the SEC Championship game. That would be considered a successful season. I don’t see the hunger or killer instinct it takes to get to that level. I don’t see the willingness to adjust to the SEC environment. He is too complacent. He is too McElwainian. He is too Sun Belt for me to get on board. Perhaps we will turn it around and shock the world, but I will only believe it when I see it.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 7, 2023 11:37:00 GMT -5
I wonder what the magic word is/was? Abracadabra? Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 5, 2023 11:21:15 GMT -5
“Yeah, I think ultimately we have a scenario where we would run the field goal team on the field. That’s what you’re talking about, right? A player felt like he heard that specific word, that scenario. We have a player that’s in charge of that. And he did it. Ultimately, the players around him followed him. I’ll get to the bottom of it, but ultimately just having talked to that player, I think he thought he heard it, and he did his job. There’s no question that there was some confusion there, and we’re fortunate. We’re fortunate that we got away with that. That’s one that I haven’t been around before. I think that player, he’s doing the absolute best that — he’s doing what he thought he was supposed to do. We’ll get to the bottom of it.” www.gatorcountry.com/feature/everything-billy-napier-said-after-floridas-overtime-loss-to-arkansas/I hope we get to the bottom of it. That player that is in charge of special teams really shit the bed It appears we have already gotten to the bottom of it.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 5, 2023 9:34:56 GMT -5
Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly, fly far away.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 5, 2023 7:56:04 GMT -5
To Taps' point about Big Des, I made a point of watching him after the snap several times today. I never saw him leave the line of scrimmage. Usually he would bump into an offensive lineman and then stand there. The last part I get, because there is zero chance that he is running anyone down. Obviously he is playing zone there and that’s a thing that sometimes there’s a deal where he gets there and then anyone who knows RDB outside of his almost two year stint in the SEC can tell you it’s going to be evaluated but also can be a good thing.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 4, 2023 21:28:29 GMT -5
Florida's kicking team ran onto the field even though the offense was scrambling to line up to spike the ball with seconds left.
“There's no question there was confusion there,” Napier said. “That one I haven't been around before."
WTF? By “not been around” is he talking about football in general? Could he not ever think of a scenario when he would be involved with the offense at the end of the game and wouldn’t be able to devote his entire attention to what the special teams unit was doing? If you insist on calling offensive plays, you must have someone responsible for knowing when to send out the other personnel - preferably within ear and eyeshot of said personnel.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 4, 2023 21:17:21 GMT -5
I was thinking the same thing, that our kicking unit just ran onto the field at the wrong time and we’re going to get a ten second runoff. I also think he makes that kick had it been 5 yards closer. These things just don’t happen to real coaching staffs.
It’s just the same mistakes over and over that bother me most.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 4, 2023 16:07:48 GMT -5
Maybe “it” was inexplicably going for two and having another special teams blunder (kicking unit coming on the field for an illegal substitution penalty) allowing the game to go into overtime? I don't think that we were going for two. Just a bad snap and the holder had no choice. My bad. I missed the play but it stated the 2 point conversion failed. I just assumed the worst
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 4, 2023 15:48:19 GMT -5
Maybe “it” was inexplicably going for two and having another special teams blunder (kicking unit coming on the field for an illegal substitution penalty) allowing the game to go into overtime?
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 4, 2023 13:34:32 GMT -5
The second coming of Ron Zook. That gibberish sounds more like Ed Orgeron. Zook at least used full sentences with verbs and all.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 3, 2023 13:12:57 GMT -5
I always thought in his younger days Dabo looked like a random guy who jumped out of the stands and said, “Let me at ‘Em” Scrappy Doo style after the team was struggling one Saturday and fired the head coach on the spot. He just looked out of place like he was handed a headset by a shrugging coordinator who told him to go ahead and give it a shot.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 2, 2023 14:30:24 GMT -5
If you follow the NIL value chart, his peak was before the season began. It takes a huge nosedive when we give him 7 carries in the opener while showcasing Mertz’s ability to throw 31 completions and still put up half the QBR of the opposing QB who passes for 159 yards. Then he sees a spike after the TennuhC game where he has a career day, in which he is rewarded with receiving half the touches of Johnson in the next game. Despite not getting more involvement in the offense, his stock continues to gradually rise until we get another nationally relevant game where we allow 280 yards and 4 scores to one guy. It has been in a gradual decline ever since.
I mean, how do you justify the business decision of sticking it out with a program that is not winning (real games) and does not value your talent?
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 2, 2023 13:01:38 GMT -5
Michigan State is in the running for the biggest joke of a program in the country. First I heard they were going to get Dantonio to come back to save the day. Here's that White knight: In that same regard, I agree that Urban would make a fine AD assuming Spurrier doesn't want the job. I'd be fine hiring him as a coach again because he can still win and maybe he'd bring in a solid protege to hand it off to. Hire saints in the non-revenue sports, you gotta win in the big time sports and we're not doing that right now. Interesting. I wonder if Stricklin would make him interview for the head coaching gig? Had this possibility been posed a few years ago, I would say there is zero chance Meyer would even consider coming back to contend with the pressure of beating Alabama. He would suffer at least a heart attack and a stroke if he did. However, now that the tide has shifted in favor of Georgia, I think he would seriously consider it because I truly believe Kirby is a great recruiter and GM who sucks at coaching. And I think Urban is competitive and egotistical enough to want to prove he is a better coach.
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Post by wahhappen on Nov 2, 2023 12:49:10 GMT -5
Most likely it will be one of those bowl games in between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, where you come home from work a little early one day (because nobody else is in the office that week), flip through the guide, and think “Holy shit. I completely forgot there was a college football game on tonight. Who did I pick to win this one in my office pool? Surely I didn’t put my money on the team that just lined up with 13 defenders and still got run over at the goal line.”
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 29, 2023 14:56:33 GMT -5
I swear, this guy gives me Zook flashbacks. But it’s not necessarily about the plays at times. It’s about the players. It’s about the execution. We can certainly call better plays at times today, but ultimately it comes down to the execution of the play.This has kind of a Shane Beamer vibe to it, and I don't care for it. It’s the job of the coaches to get the ball to our athletes with 8-10 yards of space between them and the 1st down marker. It is the players’ responsibility to make 3-4 tacklers miss and turn that 1-2 yard pass into a first down (that’s the execution part).
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 28, 2023 17:44:39 GMT -5
Well we had a good first drive.
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 28, 2023 10:50:53 GMT -5
This is where the rubber meets the road. Is this a must win? No. But today we find out if we truly are improving or if beating up on Vandy and barely skating by against SC just looked like we got better due to the lack of competition. My hope is the gameplan looks more like the second half of SC than our traditional conservative approach. My fear is we aired it out due to desperation. If we don’t have something different and more aggressive for the dancing dawgs coming off of a bye in game where we have nothing to lose, it says all we need to know about this coaching staff.
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 27, 2023 10:05:23 GMT -5
Why can't we have helmuts for the QB that communicate with the coach like they do in the NFL? Because it is a college football tradition to be behind the times when it comes to technology and reality. Usually you have at least 2-3 people on the sidelines signaling in plays, and only one of them is “on.” That person changes by quarter, half, game, etc. depending on circumstances. Even if you figure out the signals, it is ridiculous to assume you gain much of a competitive advantage, if any at all. If your team loses because the other team “stole” your signals, then you deserve to lose.
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 20, 2023 11:11:26 GMT -5
I was thinking Old Dominion, but they probably don't need a coach. Ron Zook was guilty of the same thing, although not to the same extent that we saw from Beamer. He frequently said something to the effect of "We need to make plays", or "We need to learn how to finish" - never saying that he could have done a better job of preparation or play selection. It was always execution and never strategy that was to blame whenever we lost. I've got a buddy who hates Deion because he's scared of the threat he poses to UGA if/when he comes back South, who killed him for the post Stanford press conference where he said "our kids need to decide if they like football or love football," because that was blaming the kids. I watched that 2nd half and press conference and it wasn't that bad and he admitted he was in his feelings before he started. This fucking guy brought a notepad of plays so he could single them out and then went on to say "I/we made a perfect play call and they messed it up." It's awesome, I hope he somehow gets hot in the back half of their schedule so he stays forever. Maybe that is what Zook was jotting down in his notepad all the time on the sidelines when he wasn’t yelling “Get Back!” He just didn’t bring up any examples in front of the press because they were all poorly executed screens and dive plays.
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 17, 2023 12:44:32 GMT -5
That is Napier-esque. If I'm an agent for a coach I'd have a strict policy that as soon as the phrase "Anybody who knows me/the program/my style/" someone pulls a fire alarm because some stupid shit is about to be thrown out there. It is the equivalent of “I’m not racist, but (insert most blatantly racist thing you’ve ever heard).”
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Post by wahhappen on Oct 11, 2023 13:28:25 GMT -5
Yeah, I really think that we're at a crossroads this season and he needs to win at least 6 games to not be on a flaming hot seat going in to next year, and as much as I hate saying this, it doesn't matter if he has a top 5 class or not, if he doesn't win 6 this year and 8 next year he should be gone. Since Meyer left there has been a systematic decay of the football program similar to a Nebraska or Miami, and we can keep on blaming the facilities or NIL or academic standards or conference realignment or the prior administration or whatever the excuse d'jour is, but it doesn't change a damn thing. We've torn down what Spurrier built and Meyer leveled up. Then God forbid you say something about it or go crazy and say 6-6 isn't acceptable in the weakest SEC in recent memory, that makes you "spoiled." Guess what? Fans at destination schools where they play big time football have big time expectations, if that makes them spoiled every non-doormat in a power 5 conference has spoiled fans. If your coach can't meet those expectations you get a new coach. If you're AD can't hire a coach that meets and maintains those expectations you get a new AD. I'm so sick of "growing pains," scapegoating, excuses, righteous indignation about the expectations for a 7m dollar per year job, coaches "vision for the program," but most of all spinning wheels in mediocrity. It's hard to watch and I love college football and have been a Gator fan for the 40 years that I have conscious memory. So fine, call us spoiled, whine about the inequities of it all, point your fingers, but at the end of the day get better or get the fuck out, and that includes and is mainly directed towards the two asshats calling the shots. My sentiments exactly. If you want to lay out a 10-year plan or give an up and comer a shot, then go to a lower tier conference and do it on someone else’s dime. Top programs are for winners, not pretenders. And if you can’t do it — and by “it” I’m not talking about a championship, but marked improvement that eventually leads to sustainable success — with the resources available at this level in 2-3 years, then you don’t belong. Period. You should be relegated. I cannot understand for the life of me why UF gets such a bad rep when we have seen coaches at Ole Miss, Arkansas, and other crappy schools (Georgia j/k) turn things around with fewer resources. If RDB fails, and I don’t want him to, we should 100% be in the market for a new AD and a restraining order against Jeremy Foley.
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