Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Utah

[lagator]

Not as astute as guys like you @cover2, and others, but I’ll chime in here as opposed to starting a new thread. A couple observations.

Any questions as to whether the players, the team, even the fans had bought in to the new era were certainly answered. Everything from the attendance and intensity, even when losing, to staying throughout(2nd Ave post game looked like the old days), the fans specifically look to be as on board as I’ve seen since Meyer. The players, as I said all off season, have shown their belief. That was encouraging.

And excellent example of where the team is discipline wise can be seen by Burney in the moments following his game sealing INT. If you watch the video, as he’s running he briefly takes his helmet off before immediately putting it back on. That tells me there is night and day difference in the discipline and attention to detail from before.

It’s hard not to notice that between Johnson, Pearsall, Eteienne, the OL from UL, and others, Napier has an eye for talent and his commits and transfers are largely better than what we had. It’s not playing favorites. They’re just great players that he identified. Great hope for the future in recruiting.

Critiquing a bit, I think Napier has to be a little more forceful in dealing with the refs. I thought Johnson scored on that 4th down bootleg, the adding time thing was a joke, the odd timeout situation. We won, but those things may cost us going forward. I’d like to see him address it.

Not bagging on players, but Cox specifically seemed to disappoint. He talked about breaking Brown’s sack record going into this year. He’s at 0 after 1 game. We need pressure from somewhere and I thought the edge was lackluster.

I’ll agree with @lagator in that I did not really get the 4th down timeout after wasting 20 seconds. To me, we either have confidence we’ll get it and proceed, or are concerned and need to set up the possibility of another possession. In retrospect it was perfect because we got it and scored. But I’ll also add that once we got to 1st and goal, we should slowed down. We have Utah probably 20-30 seconds by snapping too soon. Clock management wasn’t my favorite down the stretch. Someone I sit near, who used to coach, disagreed with me, so maybe I’m wrong. I just didn’t get it.

Great win all around.

Personal note, my youngest got a pic with Ventrell Miller at the Gator walk, and then after the game got his new polo that his grandmother got him, signed by a player. Haven’t told her about that yet.

Nice write-up. I liked the idea of running clock to limit Utah's remaining time and timeouts, but do it after you get the first down, and absolutely no reason to waste our own time out. Hopefully Billy has enough staff looking at every detail that evaluating all the coaches performances including his own is part of the process of working toward getting better each week.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

We weren’t getting the ball back. They were gonna get the ball with 2mins and change. They were winning. We could do nothing to stop their ground attack. They were going to run the clock out without any doubt.

 

[Blonde Gator]

For those of you who are looking for the rebroadcast, it will be on DISH NETWORK, SEC Channel, on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Thanks Cover, for pointing out the things I missed (per usual. I notice a few other minor things. The word "QUIT" is no longer in the team's vocabulary, thankfully. And it looks like conditioning played a part in this win. We managed to keep even with this up-tempo play, and even turn it around to our advantage and their disadvantage. Toughness counts. And I may be wrong, but it looks like our guys on both lines, starting, were a bit smaller than usual. No se.

 

[Cozumel Gator]

Cover thank you so much from the other baby boomer on this site. You and truth provide me with the much-needed return to the famous "breakfast with the gators". All we need is a skeeter's big biscuit. The first missed interception in the final drive made me almost jump off the couch. The interception in the end zone made my week.

 

[secgator]

I haven't read the whole thread(lazy) but if this hasn't been mentioned, I'll throw it out there to see if anyone else feels like I do regarding Napier and the AR relationship. During the post game/on field interview with Napier, when the sideline girl asked him his thoughts on AR he said to the effect "we're all learning he's pretty special".....which of course is the obvious. But reading through that, I get a strong sense Napier recognizes his innate abilities & instincts, and is not going to screw around with it, but let him develop what he instinctively can do. Given how in the past we've had a run of coaches who would take a QB(or any other position) and try to mold the player to fit into what they(coach) wanted the player to do--in other words, change him. I sense Napier sees AR's natural potential and make adjustments to have the offense fit better around AR instead of the other way around. Not forcing a square peg into a round hole, but making 'hole more square'....if that makes sense.

Napier may have already indicated it and I simply missed him saying something to this effect in the off season, but in any event does anyone else get that feeling too? I just don't see AR having the same crap put on him like so many of some other recent UF QB's who didn't fit into the Gator offense because the HC was trying to turn a drop back QB into an option QB or vice versa and ended up in the NFL making the team or even starting.

 

[Treebeard]

So I am definitely not your guy for expert analyst but I would be interested in some commentary on the observations/questions below:

1. Defense - It seemed we were still taking a lot of time to get aligned on the play. Reminded me too much of the last couple of years. Is this still going to be a big concern for this year, or should improve with game experience?
2. Recruiting - Does the close score actually benefit us with the recruits - showing real need in a way that blowing out the Utes would not?
3. Quarterback runs - Both defenses seemed to have trouble keeping track of known running quarterbacks - the Utes early on, but UF moreso later in the game. Is this a defensive problem for us, or were the Utes just executing well?

 

[GatorJB]

So I am definitely not your guy for expert analyst but I I would be interested in some commentary on the observations/questions below:

1. Defense - It seemed we were still taking a lot of time to get aligned on the play. Reminded me too much of the last couple of years. Is this still going to be a big concern for this year, or should improve with game experience?
2. Recruiting - Does the close score actually benefit us with the recruits - showing real need in a way that blowing out the Utes would not?
3. Quarterback runs - Both defenses seemed to have trouble keeping track of known running quarterbacks - the Utes early on, but UF moreso later in the game. Is this a defensive problem for us, or were the Utes just executing well?

1. I'm not concerned right now. Utah played with a decent tempo, and this was the very first game for the defense to get the call, line up, etc. It's good that the defense was always ready when the snap went off.

2. Na. They know Utah isn't on Bama's level.

3. Both. They had an experienced, quick QB who generally made good decisions until the last play. We didn't contain him very well on the edge, and we could have done better. But that guy is a playmaker and faster than most the QBs on our schedule.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Here’s my recap: the coffee tastes better this morning.

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my pleasures of the fall is to sit on the screen porch on a Sunday morning and read @cover2 with a hot mug of coffee. As we were in Gainesville yesterday and I was a bit busy getting us on the road, I had to delay gratification for a day, but it was worth it.

Sitting on the porch with my coffee, Mrs G. reading something quietly, the dog chewing a bone, a great game still fresh in my memory and GCMB providing entertainment. A nice start to the fall - heck, even some of the leaves have already started to turn. Ain’t life grand?

 

[Gator By Marriage]

It was very loud, from start to finish. And I have never heard "Orange - Blue" go back and forth as long as it did last night, not even close. I think what a lot of people don't realize is how loud it is on the FIELD vs in the stands, it is wayyyy magnified at field level. We were there for the Perine Auburn run and it was loud in the stands, but you can't appreciate how loud until you hear that field level video. The INT last night was that level loud.

Also, that Ute dude can go fuk himself, right after he fuks his "not Mormon" third wife.

I second this; the Burney int immediately reminded me of the Perine run in ‘19 for noise level. (Considering how I can usually only get to about two games a year at the most, I am very fortunate to have been present for both.)

Oh, and I second the part about the Ute too.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Just went over to read some of their posts. A few of them are crying about the fans being dicks and I saw a post about the "online fans" that were bad winners. Saw a post from our visitor claiming he didnt think it was very loud. Others said it was the loudest they have ever experienced. One said he was stuck in hogtown for today and hated the place and couldnt wait to get out of here. Hahaha...

I passed a Ute fan on our way to the car and told him “good game” to which he made no response - he looked pretty pissed. Other than that, all of their fans I spoke with were very friendly. We happened to sit next to a table of them at dinner Friday night and had a great conversation. When I told them I was trying to encourage Mrs G that we should make the trip to SLC for the game next year they were very encouraging and even told us where to find their tailgate. Coming from Utah, the fans all seemed to like the natural beauty of Florida and one lady I spoke to was very excited to tell me she saw an alligator at Lake Alice.

On the whole, good fans and great people. (And based on the alcohol consumption I observed, not many Mormons made the trip!)

 

[oxrageous]

Coming from Utah, the fans all seemed to like the natural beauty of Florida and one lady I spoke to was very excited to tell me she saw an alligator at Lake Alice.

Non-Floridians always seem amazed that alligators are in damn near every body of water in Florida. I often have freaked-out northerner homeowners in the communities I manage make a panicked call about an alligator in the lake behind their home. They are under an illusion that gators break through people's doors and eat them.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Non-Floridians always seem amazed that alligators are in damn near every body of water in Florida. I often have freaked-out northerner homeowners in the communities I manage make a panicked call about an alligator in the lake behind their home. They are under an illusion that gators break through people's doors and eat them.

When my in-laws retired they moved from St. Pete to a brand new community, in what was then rural Pasco, that has a lot of wetlands. As it was a new subdivision, it attracted a lot of retirees from the north. Many of these folks were dismayed by all the alligators, to which my FIL would always respond, “Wasn’t it nice of them to allow us to move into their neighborhood?”

 

[soflagator]

When my in-laws retired they moved from St. Pete to a brand new community, in what was then rural Pasco, that has a lot of wetlands. As it was a new subdivision, it attracted a lot of retirees from the north. Many of these folks were dismayed by all the alligators, to which my FIL would always respond, “Wasn’t it nice of them to allow us to move into their neighborhood?”

Not sure if this is still the case, but a friend of mine who was FD said that the number one reason for PD/FD calls in Palm Beach Gardens was for alligators in peoples’ backyards. Basically every community was built in swampy area and centered around at least one pond, and they were appalled at the fact that gators were all over the place.

 

[wrpgator]

Great job again Cover! A few things I noticed:
* Dramatic difference in pregame warmup routine, full game unis, precision & purpose. Not Mullenstench sloppy tees & sleepwalking poorly led / uninspired jive dancing.
* Flyover by 2 F-15s was beyond awesome!
* Clock management with measured risk was far better than Mullenstench who routinely clock botched then later make up some bs to 'justify'.
* Johnson & Etienne are 2 quality backs without Mullenstench.
* Noise level was up there with 14-9 over FSU ('91) when the ball was tipped in the end zone and when Brad Stewart picked off Burrow. I had hearing loss for several days after these.
* The Twelfth Man came to play & the team loved it / responded in kind.
* I said to everyone around me before outcome was certain: "we are in good hands".

 

[CGgater]

Non-Floridians always seem amazed that alligators are in damn near every body of water in Florida. I often have freaked-out northerner homeowners in the communities I manage make a panicked call about an alligator in the lake behind their home. They are under an illusion that gators break through people's doors and eat them.

Well nobody is holding the yankee carpetbaggers hostage. They’re welcome to leave whenever they want.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Not sure if this is still the case, but a friend of mine who was FD said that the number one reason for PD/FD calls in Palm Beach Gardens was for alligators in peoples’ backyards. Basically every community was built in swampy area and centered around at least one pond, and they were appalled at the fact that gators were all over the place.

I was sympathetic to one of their neighbors who woke up one morning to find a Gator in their swimming pool. (Of course my FIL’s comment was “Thats why you keep your screen door tightly closed.”)

 

[NavetG8r]

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my pleasures of the fall is to sit on the screen porch on a Sunday morning and read @cover2 with a hot mug of coffee. As we were in Gainesville yesterday and I was a bit busy getting us on the road, I had to delay gratification for a day, but it was worth it.

I'll expand on this. Cover posted this Saturday night. For some stupid reason I went ahead and read it before going to bed. By the time I got done reading it, I found myself feeling oddly unsatisfied. I chose not to type out a response and wait till morning. I'm glad I did. It just feels better with a hot cup of coffee in my hands. It's a tradition and I should've known better than to be tempted into breaking that tradition.

 

[gingerlover]

Non-Floridians always seem amazed that alligators are in damn near every body of water in Florida. I often have freaked-out northerner homeowners in the communities I manage make a panicked call about an alligator in the lake behind their home. They are under an illusion that gators break through people's doors and eat them.

Have new neighbors from NY with two small kids. Their first question was the alligators. Told them not to stupidly try to let them and they’d be fine. They needed to be more worried about the Pygmy rattlesnakes we get and to leave the long skinny black ones alone.

 

[NOLAGATOR]

Have new neighbors from NY with two small kids. Their first question was the alligators. Told them not to stupidly try to let them and they’d be fine. They needed to be more worried about the Pygmy rattlesnakes we get and to leave the long skinny black ones alone.

And DON'T feed them

 

[B52G8rAC]

This sort of covers it all for Yankees in the South.