Are we better than last years team at this point?

Concrete Helmet

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Ok, records and ability to pass our way to narrow victories over marginal opponents for most of the season aside do the members of this board think we are better than last season at this point?

I'll start. To me I feel we are 9-2 on a shoestring for the most part. I am ecstatic about our emergence of a legitimate passing game that I believe would at least keep us on the field with most of the Top 10 teams in the country.(more on this later) Conversely I'm still baffled that we lose yardage on more of our running plays that we gain yards on...

I'm all in with the pressure we bring when playing marginal opponents but baffled how most of the time we get gashed by average at best running teams and then rely on a big sack to get off the field.

I'm pleased with our ability to keep it together down the stretch of most games.....I'm baffled we can't hit the gas and put mileage between us and most of the teams we've played this year allowing a breather for our gassed defense and to allow EJ to run the TOTAL offense....not just come in to run the football. I wanna see him work our passing game for most of the 4th quarter in games(we know what we have with Trask so I don't want to hear that he is still rusty...he's not, he is what he is, a good passer)

Where I'm going with this is our possible bowl match up's(and further to our future) I see quite a few teams that we could possibly end up playing that don't look like good match up's for us.

Are we better than at this point last year? IMO no....I think we would have beaten ANYONE outside of the playoff teams from last year including UGA if we had played them again!!! I don't quite feel the same this year.
 

oxrageous

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I am ecstatic about our emergence of a legitimate passing game that I believe would at least keep us on the field with most of the Top 10 teams in the country
PRE-POS-TER-OUS


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There isn't a snowflakes chance in hell that a glorified ballboy will ever start a game while Franks has any eligibility left......
 

oxrageous

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I'm a little bit baffled at this thread and breakdown from Crete. He has a complete obsession with the run game, and UF is one of the worst rushing teams in the nation. I would think he would be tearing the team to shreds right now, instead of making a relatively fair and thought-out post.
 

Concrete Helmet

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Sounds fair enough....Funny I can't seem to pull up any searches on the topics of
Freeze
Kelly
Frost
or wait for it, McButters hired......not that they wouldn't have been edited by now
the old emoji's are gone too:rotfl:
 

oxrageous

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Sounds fair enough....Funny I can't seem to pull up any searches on the topics of
Freeze
Kelly
Frost
or wait for it, McButters hired......not that they wouldn't have been edited by now
the old emoji's are gone too:rotfl:
-Didn't feel one way or the other about Freeze. I was told he was the #1 target.
-Big Chip Kelly nutswinger, I started threads on that. Loved his offenses at Oregon.
-Didn't do much Frost nutswinging....was mostly focused on Kelly.
-Never liked the Butters hire from Day 1. Frankly, I had never heard of him and thought we could have actually gotten a coach that was known.

Are we done here?
 

SGG

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-Didn't feel one way or the other about Freeze. I was told he was the #1 target.
-Big Chip Kelly nutswinger, I started threads on that. Loved his offenses at Oregon.
-Didn't do much Frost nutswinging....was mostly focused on Kelly.
-Never liked the Butters hire from Day 1. Frankly, I had never heard of him and thought we could have actually gotten a coach that was known.

Are we done here?
I was all in on Frost and Kelly, then very disappointed that we “settled” for Cousin Eddie. The turnaround and stability that he’s provided in year one and two, especially compared to those other coaches, has been nothing short of remarkable. I’m disappointed that we laid an egg against UGay, and that we lost to the current number one team in the country and likely eventual national champion. That said, his recruiting needs to improve quickly, or we will be right back where we started.

Trask has been a godsend this season compared to how Franks started the year, but he’s not the long term answer for this team. I hope he sticks around, but I have a feeling he will lose the qb competition with EJ in the offseason, because EJ is more of a Mullen type guy.

Hopefully we can score a good NY6 bowl game against someone other than Michigan, win that and close recruiting out strong.
 

cover2

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Fair question. I would have to say we aren't quite as good as last year based primarily on OL play. Secondarily, defensive issues that include injuries, lack of talent, depth and development, and inexperience have hurt when it counted. You might throw schematic concerns in there as well. Still, I would consider the D good, but not elite by far.
 

stephenPE

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So far we have won the games we feel we should have won and vica versa. Considering the lack of OL exp. and depth and the injuries on the def. I say we have played beyond expectations. We were very much in the games we lost. But then again I love losing and just want our boys to have fun. Ribbons for everybody...................
 

oxrageous

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You haven't responded to the question.
Fair enough. In passing the football, we are worlds better. I think we are worse in every other aspect. Rushing, defense, special teams, etc.

Overall, I think this team is worse than last year, although the massive upgrade from Franks to Trask makes that arguable.

If Franks hadn't gotten hurt....:ugh: :suicide:
 

MJMGator

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We haven’t been curb stomped by an inferior team at home, so I say we’re a better team than last year. We still have major flaws, though.
 

Durty South Swamp

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Last seasons trend line, while a bit volatile at times was positive overall, peaking at the end of the season which is what you want. This year we've been a bell curve. Peaked around midseason and it's been downhill for a while. Last year's team was much better. Balanced and effective on offense, solid but not spectacular on defense. Trask is the sole reason we have 9 wins this year. If Franks was playing this is easily a 4 loss season. Significant regression from last year and a seasonal trend line that's negative at this point imo.
 

oxrageous

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The OL isn't good, but the EFFORT that we saw yesterday was inexcusable. I could not believe some of those "blocks". It's sick. I assume the coaches watch the tape. WTF do you do with guys that don't even bother to try?
 

Concrete Helmet

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We haven’t been curb stomped by an inferior team at home,
I thought about that for a bit but from the 2nd half of the USCe game last year on our team was more balanced, looked physically stronger, played a better base defense and like I said I think they would have beaten anyone outside of the 4 playoff teams when bowl season came around.....I see several teams that we may end up playing in a bowl that look much more complete and physically stronger than our team this year....
 

Pablos Tunnel

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The Gator Football Program is in a far better place than it was a year ago and a thousand times better than when Butters was here. The brand is coming back. Recruiting needs to step up big time and the facility upgrades need to come out of the ground now! Otherwise we will remain a mid top twenty team until the next coach arrives.
 

UFHealthGator

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I don't think we got better overall. QB passing improved, but OL and running game regressed significantly. Defense looks about the same, shutting inferior opponents out, playing one good game at home to equivalent opponents (LSU 2018 and Auburn 2019) and $hitting the bed against experienced QBs( Fromm 2018 /19, Locke 18, Burrow 19)

The only reason our record is going to look better this year is that our competition has regressed. Missou and UK were ranked by the end of 2018, this year they both are terrible. The only "good team" we played is Auburn, with a Freshman QB who can barely make 5 yard horizontal screen passes.

Bottom line we have not improved, and soon the recruiting classes from 2018 and 2019 are gonna come hunt Mullen in 2020.
 

Concrete Helmet

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The OL isn't good, but the EFFORT that we saw yesterday was inexcusable. I could not believe some of those "blocks". It's sick. I assume the coaches watch the tape. WTF do you do with guys that don't even bother to try?
I knew we would struggle a little in the beginning of the season running the ball but was hoping like last year we would be chewing up yardage by the UGA game. There doesn't seem to be any real rush for these guys to be better run blockers. Some of these guys are no better than what we had in 14-15 and that's saying something.
 

SeabeeGator

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Mixed bag.

Offense is more potent but way less balanced. Seems like it just can’t find balance if the qb can’t rush. Hev hasn’t done a good job with the OL, in my opinion.

Defense is impossible to understand. Look elite against most of the schedule but have stretches where they can’t get off the field. UGA was a bad performance but they did a good job in the red zone. UGA only scores one TD if they aren’t bailed out by the referees on an atrocious review (and that TD was on a nice play action way outside the red zone) so it’s hard to say that game was a total failure. LSU was the only game that they truly looked outclassed.

ST is the same vanilla unit it was last year. No improvement, no creativity, no advantage over the other teams.
 

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