Message Board falls to 0-2 in 2017

SteveOrr

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Jan 30, 2017
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This was a good class...if we were USF. It was a great class...if we were UCF. By our standards, or at least what should be our standards, it's mediocre at best, and Mac has shown no signs of being a big league coach nor the capacity to lead a program of our caliber.
 

ThreatMatrix

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Try to stay on topic Swamp Nuts. I'm talking about Zook only.
"The way I see it is that we haven't lost a game where we were clearly supposed to win ."
To which you responded: "People used to say this about Zook." Then used that assumption to support your argument. However the assumption is wrong. Zook had very talented teams and lost anyway. Zook went 8-5 with Rex. Here's another factoid for you: Zook did not beat a ranked opponent at home during his time at Florida. Zook was a horrible game day coach - you could literally see the gears grinding to a stop in his head.
 

MJMGator

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Try to stay on topic Swamp Nuts. I'm talking about Zook only.
"The way I see it is that we haven't lost a game where we were clearly supposed to win ."
To which you responded: "People used to say this about Zook." Then used that assumption to support your argument. However the assumption is wrong. Zook had very talented teams and lost anyway. Zook went 8-5 with Rex. Here's another factoid for you: Zook did not beat a ranked opponent at home during his time at Florida. Zook was a horrible game day coach - you could literally see the gears grinding to a stop in his head.
Law already said it...Zook was a great recruiter and a lousy coach. Mac is the polar opposite. Both yield the same mediocre results.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Zook was a horrible game day coach - you could literally see the gears grinding to a stop in his head.
So, true. He always seemed surprised when the prevent defense didn't work.

Sidehat and Butters had the same stupid look at Tinerc.
 

Marine1

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This gets more comical by the day. Solid class. Top 10 in the country. #9 in one poll. Yet some just cannot bring themselves to admit it.

What is the minimum rank that is acceptable? # 8? #6. Only Top 3? Anything less is mediocre and unacceptable?

More than anything else ever posted this pretty much sums up the negative crowd. Spurrier did great things at UF but he could never meet today's expectations. Pure Gator....but not good enough for this crowd.

Great bowl win....real solid NSD....brought on a great new coach/recruiter with ties to the Glades.....promoted Shannon who has ties to South Florida and Miami....and more moves to come. 2017 is off to a great start despite what you read from some of these guys. Go Gators!!
 

Durty South Swamp

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This gets more comical by the day. Solid class. Top 10 in the country. #9 in one poll. Yet some just cannot bring themselves to admit it.

What is the minimum rank that is acceptable? # 8? #6. Only Top 3? Anything less is mediocre and unacceptable?

More than anything else ever posted this pretty much sums up the negative crowd. Spurrier did great things at UF but he could never meet today's expectations. Pure Gator....but not good enough for this crowd.

Great bowl win....real solid NSD....brought on a great new coach/recruiter with ties to the Glades.....promoted Shannon who has ties to South Florida and Miami....and more moves to come. 2017 is off to a great start despite what you read from some of these guys. Go Gators!!
You're trying too hard and it's not necessary. I don't know anyone who wasn't pleased with the outcome of events this week. There's some that believe that we should be at that level or better consistently, but no one was bad mouthing the class once the ink was dry that I saw. And there's been nothing but cheers for the most recent hire. Ive also been on this board a while and Ive never seen a single negative word uttered about Spurrier or his time here. Some people on this board are constantly claiming others actively route for the program to fail, the team to lose games, and that even when something good happens look for a reason to complain.

Well some of those same people doing the finger pointing spend their time actively looking for a reason to point out the above, and in the absence of real tangible examples to point to, resort to the same embellishment and emotional based drivel they are accusing everyone else of.
 

GatorTom85

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Mar 22, 2016
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This was Mac's best class. Hopefully, that portends continued improvement. I also hope that Mac learns the administrative (hiring and firing of assistants) role of being a head coach. And finally, I hope Mac does not have to be replaced because, based on past performance, we are not likely to hire anyone better.

Out of curiosity, in what area has Coach Mac failed to improve since he started (with the one exception of the very understandable fall off in offensive play post Grier suspension)?

As I see it, each of the 3 recruiting classes has been an improvement over the last, the team's record has improved from season 1 to season 2, the defense was stable year 1 to year 2 (which counts as an improvement given all the injuries), the offense was better overall (though still far from good enough!), special teams were vastly better, and we've had continuous facility upgrades since Coach Mac walked in the door.

It boggles my mind that some are calling for his head when he has done nothing but move the program forward since the day he arrived. I think we'd all like to see things proceed faster, but things in life don't tend to conform to our desired timelines as often as we'd like.

It's like when I take my car to the mechanic. I try and be patient, even when I'd really like my car to be fixed faster, because I know it is wise to let the mechanics have all the time they need to do a good job so I am less likely to have to bring it back to the shop again.

One would think that a constant record of improvement along with some significant accomplishments along the way (and 2 SEC East titles is significant regardless of the East's current state) would actually work in Coach Mac's favor. Unfortunatelty, however, it appears that a significant portion of our fan base has morphed into a bunch of Orange and Blue flavored Bammer clones who expect immediate success at all times because it is God's Decree that our team must be superior to all others at all times and they will incessantly whine, b*tch and moan on every subject regarding the team until such time that their fantasy is a reality. (Perhaps getting a life might be a reasonable therapeutic avenue to explore?)
 

Swamp Donkey

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the team's record has improved from season 1 to season 2,
:britney:

Alternate facts? Moral victories?

the offense was better overall (though still far from good enough!),
2015 total offense 83 scoring offense 94
2016 total offense 116 scoring offense 107

special teams were vastly better,
Really? We signed a kicker. That's the only difference and the ST coordinator had zero impact on that. Our return game is still a disaster. Just letting the ball bounce on kickoffs and fair catching on punts would be an improvement.
 
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GatorTom85

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Mar 22, 2016
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This gets more comical by the day. Solid class. Top 10 in the country. #9 in one poll. Yet some just cannot bring themselves to admit it.

What is the minimum rank that is acceptable? # 8? #6. Only Top 3? Anything less is mediocre and unacceptable?

More than anything else ever posted this pretty much sums up the negative crowd. Spurrier did great things at UF but he could never meet today's expectations. Pure Gator....but not good enough for this crowd.

Great bowl win....real solid NSD....brought on a great new coach/recruiter with ties to the Glades.....promoted Shannon who has ties to South Florida and Miami....and more moves to come. 2017 is off to a great start despite what you read from some of these guys. Go Gators!!

Totally agree! Semper Fi, Marine 1! :thumbup:
 

GatorTom85

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Mar 22, 2016
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:britney:

Alternate facts?

Moral victories?

Sorry - that's what I get for not checking it over before posting. I was forgetting about the Presbyterian game that got cancelled and was also thinking about the record against the better teams which was actually somewhat worse last year since we lost to UT and Ark in 2016 vs Mich and LSU 2015 (and of course losses to Ala and FSU both years unfortunately). That said, though, part of the reason for this mistake was that there was less of a sense of just holding on with more of the wins this last year and we got to the same basic level of success even though had to deal with a ridiculous number of injuries that we were able to overcome to end up with virtually the same record. That is probably why it felt to me like we'd had a better record in year 2 even though I fully acknowledge that this was not a true statement.
 

rogdochar

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I'm guessing Marine 1's OP was to gently illustrate the error of that ditch-mob thinking that takes a more downhill road than warranted.

I think the strongest efforts in recruiting were the ones put forth to sign the max # of GatChat to be opponents of Mac&Crew. I know I was unnaturally drawn toward that team. Now, during this
offseason unto the 2017 opening kickoff, I can at least go back to dreaming in bright orange & blue.
 

GatorTom85

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Mar 22, 2016
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:britney:

Alternate facts? Moral victories?


2015 total offense 83 scoring offense 94
2016 total offense 116 scoring offense 107


Really? We signed a kicker. That's the only difference and the ST coordinator had zero impact on that. Our return game is still a disaster. Just letting the ball bounce on kickoffs and fair catching on punts would be an improvement.

Forgot to respond to your other 2 points:

Regarding the offense rankings: Though your counter argument is valid, one must remember that year 1's offense rankings were somewhat skewed from the first part of the year when we had an actual quarterback so I am comfortable standing by the fact that our offense was better this year than the Treon run offense we finished with the year before and overall had at least a more cohesive feel even if execution was still lacking. The increased number of explosive plays alone is an indicator f at least a more complete offense was on the field even though there was an admitted shared lack of competence shared across both seasons.

Regarding the Special teams: Yes signing a kicker counts because our kicking was that bad in 2015 and signing that particular kicker was personally handled by Coach Mac who had to steal him directly from Nick Satan himself to close the deal. As a result, we went from a team that was not sure of making extra points to a team which is comfortably in scoring range from the opponents 40 yd line in. The most telling stat is that we went from making 41.81% of our FG attempts in 2015 to 84% in 2016 and the larger percentage of misses came earlier in the season. We also got 100% of our extra points in 2016 after having made just 87.8% the year before with Hardin and co. On top of that we punted less (64 vs 85) for more yards (47.89 vs 44.36 yds) in 2016 and, though the return game is still a work in progress, kick returns were up slightly though admittedly punt returns were slightly down.

Still, given the vast improvement in special teams scoring from having upgraded from a 41% kicker with limited range, control and a serious attitude problem to an 84% kicker (despite never kicking in a game before) who is accurate from long range, regularly kicks off with no return, makes all his extra points and is already growing into one of the team leaders (as a kicker no less!) I think Special Teams has clearly made drastic improvements especially in the area where it mattered most.
 

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