- Jun 12, 2014
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Founding Member
Forgive me. I’ve made the Jekyll/Hyde comparison before, but it just feels so prominent up to this point. Mr. Hyde was dominant in a pair of spankings at the hands of Miami and Texas A&M, both at home, the place where once upon a time “only Gators get out alive!” The past two games have provided somewhat of an upward trend, though the overtime loss to Tennessee in Knoxville left all with a sense of ”what could’ve been” while the blowout of Kentucky brought back memories of a protracted winning streak against the Wildcats. With a bye week upcoming, it might be nice to dream of the possibility of the positives that could take over for the remaining five games on the schedule. But realistically, it’s going to be pretty dang tough with UGA, Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss to complete the SEC part of the schedule. I’m initially feeling more Mr. Hyde for this stretch despite the surge last evening.
Though we’ve done a lot of wallowing this season (heck, a lot over the past 14 or so) and are wondering about the fate of the HC position along with whether or not we’ll ever get the parts in place to manage the roster in terms of the impact the NIL, the transfer portal, and seasonal wins and losses are concerned, it was good to see DJ Lagway step up and show us what he’s capable of. Though he threw no TD passes and was intercepted once, he was able to get the ball down the field. The kid has a knack of being flushed but keeping his eyes downfield and throwing accurately on the run and not simply tucking and running. He is also an emerging leader who the other players respond to. You have to hate it for Graham Mertz that his season and college career is over, he is/was a good Gator, but it appears that the door for DJ has been thrown open and thus far he’s showing signs of why he was so highly regarded coming out of high school.
And what about the ground game? One of the bright spots this season has been the play and depth of the RBs, but it‘s doubtful that anybody had Jaden Baugh running for 106 yds on 22 carries and FIVE TDs on their bingo card! What a night and I’d like to think that UK’s defense was more of a test than maybe the stats would indicate. However, at this point we should take the good, however it comes, and be glad for it.
Defensively, it was good to see our kids flying around and making plays. I don’t know that holding the Wildcats to 309 total yds and 20 points qualifies as a “We’re Back” moment, but seeing us pick off three balls, returning one for a score, does feel like the secondary is rising…some. The LB play has also been more consistent and that’s certainly a plus. You can’t ignore how bad we looked against Miami and A&M, but the play, the intensity, has been better these past two games. One more similar or better effort, albeit against the Dawgs in two weeks, and maybe there’s a trend!
As far as disappointments, the biggest would have to be the KO return for a score. For a unit that was going to be a focus this season and had started out pretty solid, it sure feels like we’ve started gaffing it up or breaking down the past few games, mental errors by both players and coaches. You can’t have a Championship caliber team without solid Special Teams, but maybe more importantly you can’t have it without consistent oversight by the coaches. THIS has been a constant by the Napier staff.
Getting back to the remainder of the schedule, it is conceivable that we could go 2 and 3 and finish with 6 wins and a spot in a bowl. OR we could go 1-5 and spend Christmas and New Year’s Day watching everybody else that made it to the postseason. I know there is a thought that “Oh God, if we go to a bowl we’ll be stuck with this same staff, AD, etc. and we’ll be doomed to the bottom of the SEC with no chance of competing for an NC for the foreseeable future!” It could happen, but if hoping that we lose is our only way out and potentially back up…pretty distasteful and I believe most will always pull for a win. That leaves us with having to have the school’s administration in place and fully on board with doing what is best for the program in the long run. There’s got to be better days ahead. When they get here is still a guess at this point but more will be known after UGA, Texas, and LSU.
Go Gators!

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