This is where I find a measure of hope. His first year at UL was 7-7 after the bowl. The very next season he went 11-3, then 10-1 then 12-1. So it didn’t take a long time for his stamp to be put on the team. I think that’s both promising, and comforting, because it means he’s done a major turnaround before, and it doesn’t require some 3-4 year rebuild. I do t know how exactly it comes about, but I see major improvement next year. And again, if not, then it may mean the success simply isn’t translating.
A frustrating loss to end a frustrating regular season. I am back to where I was before the season, unsure what to make of the Gators and their (our) future prospects.
Today, we lost.
OTOH, FSU was a decent, ranked team with some offensive weapons, playing at home. We had some personnel shortages, with Miller and so many WRs out.
And we did put ourselves in position where we could have tied or won in the final minute.
But ... we, the players on the field, and the coaches ... did not execute the plays necessary to seize that win.
We lost. I think I mentioned that already. We did not make enough plays to win, and that's a fact for the history books.
I thought the Defense played hard, and didn't make many blatent errors. Did get worn-down some in the 3rd, I was frankly surprised they responded in the 4th. Made some great goal line stops.
But ... we couldn't string together enough stops, couldn't corral their QB, couldn't get them off the field, and utlimately couldn't keep them out of the end-zone.
Offensively, we ran well between the tackles, even when everybody knew that was what we were going to do. OL played pretty well in pass protection too. Etienne and Johnson ran well, both are quality backs. Our legacy receivers mostly lack suddenness and separation, so Pearsall was an excellent add.
AR remains an enigma wrapped in a burrito. He so often lacks touch and accuracy, which is most noticeble on short, outlet & swing passes. Functionally, those kinds of plays don't play much part in our offense, because AR can't execute them reliably. (And my impression is those kind of throws have accounted for a disproportionate share of our INTs.) Which mean we have limited counter-measures when opponents put on heavy pressure. We can't force the opponent's defense to cover the whole field, from sideline-to-sideline, from the line of scrimmage to 50 yards downfield.
My belief (as a amatuer random keyboardist from the interwebs) is that AR has been trying very hard to avoid running from the pocket, as an effort to improve his "NFL game." And perhaps some injury aversion. Despite all the prognasticating that he's a top talent for the NFL, I'm sad to say, I don't really see it. The Number One Job of an NFL QB is to execute the role of a QB at a very high level, and AR shows flashes but does not do that consistently. A lot of the WOW moments are in the QB Bonus Zone, not in the fundamentals. OTOH, does he have more upside and probability of growing into an NFL starter, compared to say Driskell or Brisett? I'd guess so, but cetainly not a sure thing.
IMO, he's not NFL-ready, and would benefit from another year of being coached and playing at the college level. Have no idea if he, and his advisors, can accept that. If he is willing to come back, I assume we'd want him. There have to be frustrations on both sides, but I don't recall any public indications of significant friction.
We can only hope that BCN's larger recruiting infrastructure and greater effort are in fact going to being more high-level talent into the pipeline. At UL, IMO in my amateur/uniformed opinion, if the school was willing to make the resource commitments, it was relatively easy to get recruiting up on a higher plane than their peers, and thereby gain a sustainable competitive advantage. In the SEC, we're not going to get ahead of Bama & Georgia etc. ... we're looking to get up to a level of parity. And that is a huge challenge. I *think* we're making progress, but we're early on that journey.
Once we fix the worst of the talent & depth deficits, coaching is going to make a difference, game-day, and all-week, all-year. CBN makes some on the field calls many here have criticized. Especially time mgmt and offensive play calling in the last 3-4 minutes of a half. How much of that has been due to a lack of confidence in AR is unknowable. I concur with the GatorChatter consensus on CBN that he needs to take OC/offensive play caller responsibilites out of his personal portfolio, but that requires freeing up a coaching slot somehow. Two OL coaches seems to paying off, so would hate to give that up.
If coaching FBS-level football was easy, all the cavemen would be doing it, and 75% of them would win the national championship every year. It is not easy. but we're Gators, and our expectations are high. We saw Spurrier do it, we saw Meyer do it, and we want more.
I am glad we qualified for a bowl game. The players and coaches need as much time together as is allowable.
TL;DR: We lost. We may or may not be moving surely in the right direction.