Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Vanderbilt

[Double Gator Dad]

Yep, at least 3 times a game I think "IF he kept the ball that time he is running for big yards" But I dont see the field from his perspective. And the last two games his RBs have absolutely killed it. How do we crush USCe and then they score 63 on UT.

Unfortunately AR doesn’t see the field so the only way you could duplicate his look is to close your eyes.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

It’s been mentioned (unofficially) that Wake’s QB might be available via the portal for one year. I have no idea if he would be interested or even if we are. However, if we don’t want to use Kitna, who‘s shown a couple of glimpses, then Hartman would arguably be a great get. As the late Charlie Murphy once remarked in a Chappell Show skit “that cat could ball!” I’d really be shocked if AR returns and doesn’t take his potential to an NFL payday. He‘d be foolish not to unless the “Gator Collective” makes him the richest resident of Alachua county, which would be counter-productive to Gator football moving forward I believe.

Funny you mentioned Charlie Murphy, I was at the game yesterday and when Vandy scored to make it 31-18 I texted my two sons “Game blouses” which is from that same great skit.

 

[CGgater]

Thanks cover! Very frustrating. The mental errors and lack of running game were both out of the ordinary compared to what we saw the majority of the season. We might've survived one of the two issues, but both proved to be too much.

Billy needs to post the vandy score prominently all over the weight room, film room, locker room and around the stinkin pool. These kids need a daily reminder that losing sucks and they don't have the luxury of winning by simply showing up.

Billy also needs to conduct a review of every player and every coach (including himself) to discuss problem areas (common trends) for off season focus.

I have my concerns, but very few coaches deserve to get canned after only one season. If recruiting continues on it's current trajectory, Billy definitely deserves some time.

Now go beat the clowns!

 

[TN G8tr]

Cover, have to give you props for being able to to post all of that. Spot on and it was brutal to watch it in person.

I mentioned this in another thread earlier today but for some reason it looked as if UF brought only a small amount of players of this road trip. Could be I guess the cuts, defections, etc. But none the less from a numbers standpoint, UF had significantly less IMO. They also seemed "off" even during warmup. Upset was in the air and thick yesterday.

I'll get right to it. Richardson had several times yesterday he could have run and run forever. Had a good vantage spot behind the offense. If my eyes could see that, he dang sure is not pulling it. I am at this point of the opinion, he simply cannot execute that as he should. After one play in which Johnson got stuffed he beat his chest and shook his head.

You pretty much nailed the rest head on. It was a total system failure yesterday staff and players. Anything that could have happened, did so. Seeing it in person showed we definitely are a depleted team by way of numbers. But we still with the guys we had there possessed the better talent. Superior talent cannot overcome dumbazz football play.

Good as always. Hope coffee is better next Saturday am after the Clowns.

 

[cover2]

@TN G8tr I appreciate you and all of the fans that made that trip and sat in the cold watching us shoot off a bunch of toes yesterday. I’ll be in Tallahassee on Friday and hope we get things sorted out. I think it’s a case of chicken or egg with AR. Either he doesn’t want to run it or can’t read it on the little inside option. That piece was crucial to any running success we potentially were going to have yesterday. Vandy was not going to give up 200+ on the ground to our backs. I’ve thought all along that the book on stopping us was to make AR beat you with his arm. He’s capable of making some great throws, but he’s equally capable of throwing missiles when touch is needed or overthrowing open receivers who have two steps on the defender. He’s too inconsistent and that includes his apparent emotional state in many games.

One thing I’ve thought of and it’s just a thought. AR obviously needs a lot of petting and rubbing to stay with it. I could see SOS running him off like Bobby Sablehouse if he was coaching him. But nowadays you have to be aware of locker room politics along with everything else. Billy’s shoved all his chips in and there’s no turning back at this point. May be totally off base and I hope I am, but the best thing that could happen would be for AR to have a Tebow-like game at Doak, which incidentally is the last time I watched us play in that stadium. Then ride off into the NFL draft and us get on with becoming a more consistent and formidable team.

 

[TN G8tr]

@cover2 Always fun going but the ride home was somber.

I hope you all have a better outcome than we did here yesterday. They played a crap game so chances are with the consistently inconsistent team, I could see UF winning next Saturday. Throw W/L records out the window. It is kinda of a Jekyll and Hyde situation with what team will show up. Beat the Clowns and we'll all feel better.

 

[Back Alley Gator]

I think the old ball coach would have benched AR after Kentucky.

Who am I kidding... SOS would have gone with a passer to begin with.

 

[GatorJ]

You cannot win without good quarterback play. AR is streaky as hell. When he plays well, we win. When he plays terrible we lose or almost lose (USF).

He and Emory Jones are the 2 least accurate QBs we’ve ever had.

I hope he enters the draft and we can bring in some accurate QBs.

 

[Gatorbait25]

Saturday was a game of love, lust, deception and unbridled enthusiasm. That is what has led to Billy Napier’s downfall. Ya see friends, Billy is a simple country boy. One might say a cockeyed optimist that got caught up in the high stakes game of gator football.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Thanks cover! Very frustrating. The mental errors and lack of running game were both out of the ordinary compared to what we saw the majority of the season. We might've survived one of the two issues, but both proved to be too much.

Billy needs to post the vandy score prominently all over the weight room, film room, locker room and around the stinkin pool. These kids need a daily reminder that losing sucks and they don't have the luxury of winning by simply showing up.

Billy also needs to conduct a review of every player and every coach (including himself) to discuss problem areas (common trends) for off season focus.

I have my concerns, but very few coaches deserve to get canned after only one season. If recruiting continues on it's current trajectory, Billy definitely deserves some time.

Now go beat the clowns!

He needs to post the score throughout his office AND his home since he owns it more than the players

 

[Detroitgator]

@TN G8tr I appreciate you and all of the fans that made that trip and sat in the cold watching us shoot off a bunch of toes yesterday. I’ll be in Tallahassee on Friday and hope we get things sorted out. I think it’s a case of chicken or egg with AR. Either he doesn’t want to run it or can’t read it on the little inside option. That piece was crucial to any running success we potentially were going to have yesterday. Vandy was not going to give up 200+ on the ground to our backs. I’ve thought all along that the book on stopping us was to make AR beat you with his arm. He’s capable of making some great throws, but he’s equally capable of throwing missiles when touch is needed or overthrowing open receivers who have two steps on the defender. He’s too inconsistent and that includes his apparent emotional state in many games.

One thing I’ve thought of and it’s just a thought. AR obviously needs a lot of petting and rubbing to stay with it. I could see SOS running him off like Bobby Sablehouse if he was coaching him. But nowadays you have to be aware of locker room politics along with everything else. Billy’s shoved all his chips in and there’s no turning back at this point. May be totally off base and I hope I am, but the best thing that could happen would be for AR to have a Tebow-like game at Doak, which incidentally is the last time I watched us play in that stadium. Then ride off into the NFL draft and us get on with becoming a more consistent and formidable team.

You were at the rain game too?

 

[RocketCityGator]

Appreciate the write-up Cover. I regret to say that I was there. My observations:
1. This loss is definitely 70% on the coaching. The team was unmotivated, undisciplined, and ill-prepared. I'm not on the fire Billy train yet. But next year, if we see this same performance, the fanbase will make Harsin look like children's theatre.
2. The other 30% is on AR. (Yes, you could say that is coaching too.) AR was definitely not interested in running. And while his passing numbers were up there, it interesting how often he was late with his throws. There was a dude in the stands behind me who did a great job watching the routes and would call when receivers were coming open, "throw it now". AR was consistently late or didn't see them. When he threw it into the stand on that last play, I just about broke my phone. It's a company phone, glad I didn't have to explain that one. I've been done with AR for a while, give Kitna a shot.
3. A lot want to harp on the two-point conversions, analytics, etc. A lot of coaches do that now and none of that cost us the game. Bad special teams, no QB runs, and piss-poor defense cost us the game.

 

[cover2]

You were at the rain game too?

I was. Remembering when we got to the stadium, the drains in the corners were overwhelmed and water was standing over ankle deep. I remember when Percy got hurt and all the Noles cheered and of course I remember Tim taking off and trucking the DB at the end of the run. One of the best Gator games I’ve ever been to. Didn’t mind being sopping wet at all!

 

[Durty South Swamp]

All I'm gonna say is this crootin class better stick, bc there's literally nothing else shown so far from this staff worth even a wet fart.

 

[Detroitgator]

I was. Remembering when we got to the stadium, the drains in the corners were overwhelmed and water was standing over ankle deep. I remember when Percy got hurt and all the Noles cheered and of course I remember Tim taking off and trucking the DB at the end of the run. One of the best Gator games I’ve ever been to. Didn’t mind being sipping wet at all!

Same on all (especially the cheering when Percy went down)... was there with Son's #1 and #2 and the rain just seemed to make it better (hands down the 2nd heaviest rain I've ever been in). One funny thing, there as a really drunk (but funny, not obnoxious) FSU kid two rows behind us... towards the end of the game, Tebow was alone on the bench and he just kept yelling in a moaning kind of way, "Tebow has no friennnnnnds"... for some reason, it was funny.

Last game there was the come back win with Driskell after the FSU player got trucked... it was so good because the FSU fans were rockin' (for them) and SURE they had the win... watching the slow meltdown was awesome.

 

[Zambo]

I think it’s a case of chicken or egg with AR. Either he doesn’t want to run it or can’t read it on the little inside option. That piece was crucial to any running success we potentially were going to have yesterday.

@cover2, a certain former poster here who shall remain nameless is adamant that none of those plays are actually options, and that if AR took off running on those plays instead of giving to the RB then he'd just be making up his own plays rather than running whats called. Any comment on that, because it sure looks to my admittedly untrained eye like those mesh handoffs are option reads rather than just a give to the back to make a zone read.

Bottom line is that if AR isn't running the ball it could be one of 3 things:
1. The coaches don't want him to run so they don't call any plays where he is supposed to run
2. AR simply misreads the end or whoever he's supposed to be reading and makes an incorrect play, or
3. AR doesn't want to run the ball for whatever reason and winds up giving the ball no matter what the proper read is

While I can't think that anything other than 2 is likely, what none of this does is prevent him from scrambling when the routes don't open up. IMO this guy needs to count to about 3 or 4 potatoes and then take off instead of trying to move around and force some low percentage throw.

 

[cover2]

@cover2, a certain former poster here who shall remain nameless is adamant that none of those plays are actually options, and that if AR took off running on those plays instead of giving to the RB then he'd just be making up his own plays rather than running whats called. Any comment on that, because it sure looks to my admittedly untrained eye like those mesh handoffs are option reads rather than just a give to the back to make a zone read.

Bottom line is that if AR isn't running the ball it could be one of 3 things:
1. The coaches don't want him to run so they don't call any plays where he is supposed to run
2. AR simply misreads the end or whoever he's supposed to be reading and makes an incorrect play, or
3. AR doesn't want to run the ball for whatever reason and winds up giving the ball no matter what the proper read is

While I can't think that anything other than 2 is likely, what none of this does is prevent him from scrambling when the routes don't open up. IMO this guy needs to count to about 3 or 4 potatoes and then take off instead of trying to move around and force some low percentage throw.

If the nameless poster is correct, then it is a poor concept for the running game and likely a waste of AR’s greatest skill (it isn’t his passing thus far if consistency is a factor).

I think Billy is trying to coach AR into being a passing QB, but taking his throwing skills and ability to mesh the coverage with the route progression of the called play into consideration, he’s probably a better fit for the OK/Tex/Neb wishbone or veer teams than the modern offensive concepts. He may well make it into the NFL and set it on fire, but currently he’s struggling getting past the first or second progression, which you’d think would encourage him to take off more than he’s doing. It just looks like he’s working too hard to be something he’s not and may never be…a traditional dropback passer. He ought to have 10 carries a game minimum and scramble his receivers open on several plays.

 

[CGgater]

He needs to post the score throughout his office AND his home since he owns it more than the players

You're absolutely right. I should've made a comment about accountability for Billy and his staff. How could I have missed that? Oh, wait...

 

[CGgater]

As a more humorous observation from yesterday's abysmal game, did anyone listen to the radio broadcast? Kickoff happened while I was still out running errands...

Vandy committed a false start and the play by play guy commented that Dez shifted at the line and caused an OL to jump. He said something like, "see, he wiggled a bit right there." Shane quickly replied, "that's a big wiggle."

Possible new nickname for Dez - Big Wiggle.

 

[lagator]

Welcome back, coach!

It's not a popular opinion, but I think if the defensive scheme was a stock, it would be Enron. It isn't all on the players (as some here want to pin it) for reasons I and others have gone into elsewhere. If we just keep dismissing guys until we have the scout team QB playing linebacker, we can then probably just blame the players. Maybe that is the plan. Either way, if our young coach is going to be a coach when he is old he's got to learn a bit quicker than he seems to be learning.

When I hire a contractor that tells me he can do a job, I generally trust him to do it until his results tell me otherwise. I think it is clear that CBN shouldn't be both calling plays and coaching the QB.

Nice writeup as usual. I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering if you are thinking you came back one week too early after this disaster.

Let's face it, BN was gifted the effing job, and he's still either too dumb or too obstinate to realize he isn't an SEC caliber OC. And that's ignoring the fact that even if he was a good OC (which he's isn't by a Louisiana mile), great leaders realize it pays to delegate even if you are a better OC, DC, architect, chef, engineer, salesman, etc than the person you are putting in charge of that duty, when your job is to oversee the entire operation. Based on his game management blunders every single game this season, I'm favoring that his struggles are less ego driven and more that ole Slingblade simply lacks the grey matter necessary to succeed at his position.