Bits and Pieces: Florida vs. Florida State

[NavetG8r]

It sux losing to the Semis. It sux losing to any rivals. We lost to them all this year. We even lost to Vandy & Ky. I knew we needed a rebuild, but I didn't realize just how badly. Now I know. Hopefully Billy can stock the shelves with some upgrades and turn things around. I love how the team fights till the end. That'll pay dividends with better players. PT needs to figure out how to adjust his defensive scheme so mobile QBs don't continue to eat our lunch. Probably should study what opposing defenses do to stop AR from running. That'd be a good starting point. I don't have much else to add. 6-6 is what it is. AR is imo 99.99% chance of entering the draft and skipping the bowl game most likely. Gives Kitna, Brown, or whoever a chance to get all the starting reps in the coming practices so we'll see where we stand there and if we need to hit the portal hard for a transfer QB in the off-season.

 

[B52G8rAC]

@cover2 Why can’t we contain on D? It’s the one thing we teach our youth team. Why do we dive inside and abandon the edge? Are they not practicing that?

NV, we don't have the linebacker speed to contain. We have one linebacker that could play at another top tier SEC school. One. The D line did a pretty good job of stopping runs (not QB runs though) all year. They never mounted consistent pressure on the QB. Again, I think its speed and the lack of true DEs. Coach Napier and crew worked with what they had. You just can't scheme around lack of speed in the SEC or with top 25 programs.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Great analysis and commentary from all and it leaves me with nothing else to add other than this.

AR absolutely has to go to the NFL.
There’s no other way around it because there is no upside for either party if he stays.
Can anyone here honestly say that AR will be better next year? He’s had a personal QB coach for four years yet he is no better.
Can anyone honestly say that they would prefer that UF waste another season on a lost cause as opposed to moving on to the next guy?
Can anyone say that AR’s draft status will improve next year?
Lastly, is anyone here looking forward to the negativity that will come from AR’s family next year when he once again faces scrutiny? His family has been whining for several months already and it will only get worse.

The program can only improve when the players perform better and I have seen enough to know that there is no way the current QB gets better.

 

[FlyingGator]

Was it just me or did TE‘s from just about every team we played this year have their best days against us? Also, I don’t know what the Gator record is for most 3rd and 4th downs conversions given up in a year but this D surely must have set a new one or made the Top 3. Just pathetic all year long. i hate to say it but if we have another Coach who won’t fire friends and admit mistakes we will be searching for another one sooner rather than later. Billy needs a Joe Brady type to come in this off-season. Hope he is not too stubborn to see it.

 

[LaylaGator]

I look forward to the AR experiment being over and would be very happy to see what Kitna can do in the bowl game.

 

[Gatorbait25]

Because our TEs are terrible. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Odom.

Zanders is AWFUL

We don’t throw to the backs either . Unless it’s a dump off in the flats . A guy like Etienne can cook a LB, but that’s not how they play in the sunbelt apparently. We just have to rely on our 3rd team receivers to win one on one

 

[Tunaboat]

I know Kitna has had limited PT but I liked what I saw in only 2 plays he ran under center. Kid looked like he had a real grasp of the position, standing in with ownership and was balling, if only for 2 plays. With AR we have to wait for good things, lots of potential but not balling out on every play when "moody". Love that AR wears Gator O&B but would like him to move on to greener pastures and make some real money, and help us with reliability in this critical position. The other young commit that came back from his Miami adventure is another possibility

 

[NVGator]

NV, we don't have the linebacker speed to contain. We have one linebacker that could play at another top tier SEC school. One. The D line did a pretty good job of stopping runs (not QB runs though) all year. They never mounted consistent pressure on the QB. Again, I think its speed and the lack of true DEs. Coach Napier and crew worked with what they had. You just can't scheme around lack of speed in the SEC or with top 25 programs.

B52, I coach at the youth and HS level. Sorry, not the college level.
:
If you lack speed, you don’t over pursue. You stay home and maintain your position. Our DE and LB just crashed. We lack fundamentals. Technique.

 

[g8tr76]

For the game we had 9 completed passes to only 3 receivers and 3 TDs from those 9 completions would be serious efficiency if it weren't for the fact that AR tossed 27 balls. Although we held their QB to 43% passing, our downfall was allowing 5 of their receivers to catch passes of 30 yard or more.

Yeah, we had 9 penalties to their 5, and maybe some were suspicious, but J. Childress was not heading up the officiating crew (see 2003). We need to learn to beat the officials too!

 

[cover2]

@cover2 Why can’t we contain on D? It’s the one thing we teach our youth team. Why do we dive inside and abandon the edge? Are they not practicing that?

Bear with me, it may be long. When I was coaching DE’s years back, we went to FSU’s spring clinic and they’d have positional breakout rooms where the coaches answered questions about technique, scheme, drills, etc. I was in the room with Jim Gladden, their DE guy. My Qs for him involved teaching contain. I specifically wanted to know what they taught their ends in terms of rush angle, aiming point (outside hip, shoulder of the QB), maintaining outside leverage, etc. Gladden gave me this strange look and said simply “our guys have to be better athletes than the QBs they face!” This did me absolutely no good, so I repped the hell out of situational techniques and always had guys that were fundamentally sound, played their techniques, and never gave up outside leverage. Even when they weren’t great athletes, the worst they were expected to do was force the QB to stay in the pocket and to set the edge and force the back inside where a scraping LB better get him. We’ve got the interior guys to keep blockers off of the ILBs.

In a nutshell, I think our DEs and LBs to an extent play more instinctively than necessarily following keys or rules. If they were the best athletes on the field they could get away with it. But they’re usually not. Burney, for example, dances at the snap too often trying to anticipate and f’s up as much as he does good, losing the edge and getting sealed too often. If they aren’t being coached as hard technique-wise, they need to be until they either mature or the type athletes Jim Gladden was referring to are recruited. I think our guys play with good effort, but inconsistent to lousy technique.

 

[MJMGator]

We don’t throw to the backs either . Unless it’s a dump off in the flats . A guy like Etienne can cook a LB, but that’s not how they play in the sunbelt apparently. We just have to rely on our 3rd team receivers to win one on one

AR can’t make throws to the flats. He had no touch on the ball.

 

[gatorev12]

In a game where our RBs reliably were getting 3-5 yards per carry and breaking a 8-10 yard run every 2 or 3 rushes...it really begs the question of why we came out airing it out in the 3rd quarter, especially since AR was clearly out of sync for much of the 2nd half. ***especially*** when we were missing 4-5 WRs through injury.

Timeouts were AGAIN an issue. A dumb TO to end the first half on 2nd down to stop the clock instead of letting it run down (or forcing f$u to use one of theirs). Then 2 stupid timeouts in the second half to leave us with one for most of the 4th quarter. This is the absolute worst clock management from a staff I've EVER seen. Worse than even Butters, which is saying something. Napier needs to take a long, hard look at himself because it's been an issue all season that has gotten worse, not better. Elite coaches don't consistently make these types of mistakes.

 

[Gatorbait25]

In a game where our RBs reliably were getting 3-5 yards per carry and breaking a 8-10 yard run every 2 or 3 rushes...it really begs the question of why we came out airing it out in the 3rd quarter, especially since AR was clearly out of sync for much of the 2nd half. ***especially*** when we were missing 4-5 WRs through injury.

Timeouts were AGAIN an issue. A dumb TO to end the first half on 2nd down to stop the clock instead of letting it run down (or forcing f$u to use one of theirs). Then 2 stupid timeouts in the second half to leave us with one for most of the 4th quarter. This is the absolute worst clock management from a staff I've EVER seen. Worse than even Butters, which is saying something. Napier needs to take a long, hard look at himself because it's been an issue all season that has gotten worse, not better. Elite coaches don't consistently make these types of mistakes.

Our league is only getting tougher with OU and the horns joining . These idiotic decisions with timeouts have cost us in several games and will only continue to do so . Dan Quinn was bad with timeouts but Billy takes it to a different level. Almost every timeout is a poor choice .

 

[NVGator]

Bear with me, it may be long. When I was coaching DE’s years back, we went to FSU’s spring clinic and they’d have positional breakout rooms where the coaches answered questions about technique, scheme, drills, etc. I was in the room with Jim Gladden, their DE guy. My Qs for him involved teaching contain. I specifically wanted to know what they taught their ends in terms of rush angle, aiming point (outside hip, shoulder of the QB), maintaining outside leverage, etc. Gladden gave me this strange look and said simply “our guys have to be better athletes than the QBs they face!” This did me absolutely no good, so I repped the hell out of situational techniques and always had guys that were fundamentally sound, played their techniques, and never gave up outside leverage. Even when they weren’t great athletes, the worst they were expected to do was force the QB to stay in the pocket and to set the edge and force the back inside where a scraping LB better get him. We’ve got the interior guys to keep blockers of the ILBs.

In a nutshell, I think our DEs and LBs to an extent play more instinctively than necessarily following keys or rules. If they were the best athletes on the field they could get away with it. But they’re usually not. Burney, for example, dances at the snap too often trying to anticipate and f’s up as much as he does good, losing the edge and getting sealed too often. If they aren’t being coached as hard technique-wise, they need to be until they either mature or the type athletes Jim Gladden was referring to are recruited. I think our guys play with good effort, but inconsistent to lousy technique.

Good summary. I think our technique is a big problem and wonder if they are practicing it at all. I also think we have a lot of Hero ball players which can be detrimental.
:
Then again, what do I know.

 

[cover2]

Good summary. I think our technique is a big problem and wonder if they are practicing it at all. I also think we have a lot of Hero ball players which can be detrimental.
:
Then again, what do I know.

More than you give yourself credit for.

 

[NVGator]

More than you give yourself credit for.

Seriously, thanks.

 

[G8trwood]

I think absolutely there is an overall lack of playmakers at the receiver positions. Their injuries made it look that much more stark last evening. To your point, lack of talent/speed/elusiveness makes our wide passing threats not much threat at all. As far as the backs involvement in the passing game, they seem particularly relegated to pass pro. I’d prefer to see them, as you mention, matched up with a LB up the hash, slipped into the flats, or in a screen. Spurrier used the backs in a circle route after a bump in pass pro. Definite lack of use in that regard and should be a point of emphasis moving forward.

If only we had stud RB we could toss to

 

[GatorJ]

We don’t throw to the backs either . Unless it’s a dump off in the flats . A guy like Etienne can cook a LB, but that’s not how they play in the sunbelt apparently. We just have to rely on our 3rd team receivers to win one on one

AR can’t throw to the running backs. He can’t make short passes.

 

[Gator98MD]

You know how to seriously get your drink on amigo

 

[Gatormac2112]

If only we had stud RB we could toss to

If only we had a QB that could hit him