My thoughts on the state of the program

[78]

I'm gonna blame the coach that's making 6 mil a year rather than the kids that were evaluated by every recruiting service out there as better than the team that just kicked in their teeth. This same group of players managed to beat Kentucky last year. We lost very few starters from last year. This team got worse under Mullen.

We had to come from behind to beat Kentucky by a single point a year ago. As much as we want to believe we have an unalienable right to dominate them, we don't until we get better.

This remains Jim McElwain's punkass roster.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

What's up everyone...I had to step back after the loss Saturday so I could fully take in the loss and rewatch the game before I could put my 2 cents in.

Well....here we go!

1) this loss isn't on Stricklin or the staff! This is on the previous AD and his last garbage hire.

2) The rebuild is much bigger than I or anyone else originally thought. We have major talent issues across the board but mainly on the OL and on every damn level on defense. We thought the issues we've been having would be fixed by yr 2 with the coaching changes....well that isn't happening! This is a minimum of 3-4 yr rebuild job because we simply don't have the talent or depth.

3) The OL is a dumpster fire! We have severe talent issues on the offensive line and the depth behind them is atrocious. Other than Ivey we don't have one single blue chip talent in the starting lineup and Ivey is a BUST! He doesn't have it between the ears to play at an elite level and he has a ticker problem that cant be fixed. The lack of give a sh*t he plays with and effort he gives is unbelievable! As for the rest of the OL...These dudes are not top tier talent and it shows. However what makes that issue worse is they are also lazy/soft mentally and physically to boot! Because of the previous strength staff they get pushed and slung around like ragdolls. It seems like they aren't football smart because they continue to miss on their assignments for 3 going on 4 yrs now. That shows the lack of film room work they have put in and the lack of playbook study they have done. This is what infuriates me about the OL though...they simply refuse to put forth the effort to finish blocks on the rare occasion when they win coming off the line The lackadaisical approach they play with is really unbelievable and concerning! None of this isn't changing until we bring in new blood and they develop!

4) The young defensive tackles we have aren't ready to start but due to piss poor recruiting efforts by mac/rumph they have been thrown into the fire. Conliffe/Slaton have high ceilings but due to the previous garbage strength and conditioning program they aren't physically ready which is a huge problem!

5) DE...We have talent issues here as well because the two 5*s we have haven't lived up to their billing. Cece is an above average talent but he hasn't taken a snap this yr because of injuries and suspensions. Clayton is just a flat out bust! I expect him to transfer especially if what I'm hearing pans out. As for the rest of the DE's...they are 3*s who continue play reckless and continue to over run they're gaps in the backfield which allowed the UK QB to run all over us multiple times. We need an infusion of talent here desperately going forward before anything changes.

6) other than David reese (who's an above average player) our starters and key reserves are garbage! They lack top tier talent,are slow,refuse to play their gaps and can't tackle for sh*t! The Randy specials are killing this unit and until we get new blood in the system we're screwed!

7) other than Wilson (who we just lost for the yr) Hendo and Dean The secondary is also lacking elite talent and depth but this especially shows up at safety where most of the dudes we have are either injury prone or just not good enough to play at UF.

In other words...grab a seat because we're going to be mediocre for the next couple of yrs until we get the horses we need on campus to compete for championships again. Mullen has his work cut out for him because of Foley's incompetence on hiring the right guys to run the program. What mac did to our program will take time to overcome and we're just going to have to accept that until Mullen has time to fix it. I believe we have the right guy for the job! Go Gators!!!!

Another battered Gator fan talking mainly about defense after the defense gave up 21 points to UK. Muschamp really messed up a lot of fans around here.

UF should have won that game comfortably like 35 to 21 or so. But alas UF's AD has YET AGAIN failed to hire a guy who can put a credible offense on the field while passing over Spurrier. There is no excuse for this and you should win any game you hold the opponent to 21 points.

 

[Buckman2000]

Good post and it goes with what I heard on the Gators Breakdown podcast. The whole team performed like ass. Yes, we allowed 21 but look at the yards we gave up on the ground. Didn’t Kentucky run for like 300 yds against this defense. Yeah, that should never happen.

 

[t-gator]

We had to come from behind to beat Kentucky by a single point a year ago. As much as we want to believe we have an unalienable right to dominate them, we don't until we get better.

This remains Jim McElwain's punkass roster.

So a year later we can't even compete with em? With the same freaking players. Shouldn't we have gotten better this off season, regardless of whose roster it is?

 

[t-gator]

That same team might’ve lost in similar fashion last year if not for 2 plays where they left our WR all alone.

So we didn't win last year?

 

[Tay Bang]

So we didn't win last year

His point is Kentucky outplayed us last year, just like Tennessee. That was a 2-9 team out there.

 

[Tay Bang]

Another battered Gator fan talking mainly about defense after the defense gave up 21 points to UK. Muschamp really messed up a lot of fans around here.

UF should have won that game comfortably like 35 to 21 or so. But alas UF's AD has YET AGAIN failed to hire a guy who can put a credible offense on the field while passing over Spurrier. There is no excuse for this and you should win any game you hold the opponent to 21 points.

Bear Bryant couldn’t have beat Kentucky with our trash roster.

 

[78]

So a year later we can't even compete with em? With the same freaking players. Shouldn't we have gotten better this off season, regardless of whose roster it is?

Love ya, t, I really do, but did you not remember that it's not just the same putrid roster, but the same putrid roster trying to learn someone else's diametrically opposite offense?

 

[InstiGATOR1]

Bear Bryant couldn’t have beat Kentucky with our trash roster.

He had 7 points.

Point 1 was don't blame Stricklin for hiring a guy with a losing SEC record.

Point 2 was OL

Point 3 was OL

Point 4 was DL

Point 5 was DL

Point 6 was mainly LBs and tackling

Point 7 was was DBs

So out of his 7 points two or 28.6% were about the offense. The rest were about a defense that allowed 21 points. There was a day when UF won almost every game where it allowed only 21 points. There was a day where UF regularly rang up 40 to 70 points on the likes of UK.

If UF had lost 35 to 31 to UK I would be optimistic. Instead UF had 10 points going by the middle of the 4th quarter and a coach claiming to be satisfied with 10 points at the half.

That UF fans are complaining about a D that allowed 21 points rather than an offense that ran 10 more offensive plays than UK and did nothing shows how battered UF fans are. There was a day UF fans would not have blamed the defense for losing to a UK giving up only 21 points. There was a day UF fans knew better than that.

Like McElwain, Mullen was hired to change this. That is why I would find losing to UK 35 to 31 much much more tolerable than this. It shows nothing really has changed and you are not going to recruit your way out of bad coaching.

 

[MJMGator]

I appreciate your input and opinions.

UF's last 3 classes 14th, 9th and 18th

UK's last three classes - 28th, 26th and 30th

I thought Mullen and staff were outcoached.

We got physically whooped. The lack of coaching and a S&C program the past 3 years is to blame for that.

 

[T REX]

Blame Meyer...check.

Blame Chump...check.

Now? Blame Mac. We seem to be on schedule.

 

[FireFoley]

He had 1 points.

Point 1 was don't blame Stricklin for hiring a guy with a losing SEC record.

Point 2 was OL

Point 3 was OL

Point 4 was DL

Point 5 was DL

Point 6 was mainly LBs and tackling

Point 7 was was DBs

So out of his 7 points two or 28.6% were about the offense. The rest were about a defense that allowed 21 points. There was a day when UF won almost every game where it allowed only 21 points. There was a day where UF regularly rang up 40 to 70 points on the likes of UK.

If UF had lost 35 to 31 to UK I would be optimistic. Instead UF had 10 points going by the middle of the 4th quarter and a coach claiming to be satisfied with 10 points at the half.

That UF fans are complaining about a D that allowed 21 points rather than an offense that ran 10 more offensive plays than UK and did nothing shows how battered UF fans are. There was a day UF fans would not have blamed the defense for losing to a UK giving up only 21 points. There was a day UF fans knew better than that.

Like McElwain, Mullen was hired to change this. That is why I would find losing to UK 35 to 31 much much more tolerable than this. It shows nothing really has changed and you are not going to recruit your way out of bad coaching.

Truer words have never been spoken. Thank you

 

[t-gator]

Love ya, t, I really do, but did you not remember that it's not just the same putrid roster, but the same putrid roster trying to learn someone else's diametrically opposite offense?

We didn't lose because we were trying to learn a new offense. We lost because we got our ashes kicked on the LOS. And our defense completely regressed. The offense actually looks a little better.

 

[BMF]

Kid can't stay out of his own way! We're better off going forward because that's one less piece of cancer in the locker room. We have alot more that needs to go also and you will see that happen before spring.

Thanks for the post Marianna. Honestly, I was surprised at how few transfers we had during the transition (it was basically a typical off-season, it seems). I expected at least 5 more.

If we can bring in 25 recruits and add a couple of transfers, this roster will well over half-way turned over. With the transfers, graduations, and early departures (NFL) the only Butters players left should be the one's who want to be here and will actually contribute (I hope)....

 

[gardnerwebbgator]

Wait until we play ranked teams and Mullen continues his inability to beat them.....

 

[78]

We didn't lose because we were trying to learn a new offense. We lost because we got our ashes kicked on the LOS. And our defense completely regressed. The offense actually looks a little better.

That's very true we got our ass kicked on the LOS, but let's at least attempt to read between the lines. Mac recruited an OL designed for pass protect and power runs. We're now asking these same unawares dudes to facilitate a nimble read option. The ends simply don't meet.

As for what happened on defense, I'm like you left shaking my head.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

As poor as our talent is we still fielded more blue chippers than UK. On that alone I would expect a win.

Point: A good coaching staff would have had the team ready to play and schemed around weakness on offense.
Counter point: New staff, etc. etc. to learn. Plus overcoming they years of neglect and poor coaching.

The defense gave up 27 points. We certainly should be able to overcome that. But as I say repeatedly the three most important position groups are Oline, Oline and Oline. You just can't overcome that and we are nowhere near ever seeing an SEC caliber OLine. Not this season or next. Maybe at best 2020 we'll see something that looks kinda, sorta like an SEC line.

 

[Tay Bang]

Truer words have never been spoken. Thank you

Then explain Chip Kelly and Scott Frost’s struggles. And why can a guy like Stoops put together a Gator beater team if given five years to do his thing in peace and quiet?

 

[NVGator]

That's very true we got our ass kicked on the LOS, but let's at least attempt to read between the lines. Mac recruited an OL designed for pass protect and power runs. We're now asking these same unawares dudes to facilitate a nimble read option. The ends simply don't meet.

As for what happened on defense, I'm like you left shaking my head.

A good coach coaches to the strengths of his players. You know it, I know it and @t-gator knows it.

 

[78]

A good coach coaches to the strengths of his players. You know it, I know it and @t-gator knows it.

And yet the number of people, t included, who bytched about the number of times we flung it in the air in the first half.

The guy can't win for losing.