Bits & Pieces: Florida vs Kentucky

[cover2]

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!

 

[Tunaboat]

Accurate post Cover, as always. For me the best takeaway was that blowout-win euphoria that was there in the championship years, haven't had that in a long while. And the post-game quote from Stoops: "We just got our butts kicked"

 

[Detroitgator]

Second!

I just finished with Tuna's mom.

 

[RiverRat]

Thanks Cover
A bit of a ”catch 22” we find ourselves in.
I for one am not wired not to pull for Fl. to win. Guess at this point just let the season play out and that starts with somehow, someway getting a win in Jacksonville , fuch a bulldog

 

[Detroitgator]

Thanks Cover
A bit of a ”catch 22” we find ourselves in.
I for one am not wired not to pull for Fl. to win. Guess at this point just let the season play out and that starts with somehow, someway getting a win in Jacksonville , fuch a bulldog

More like a "Sophie's Choice"

 

[LongTooth]

The losses to UM and TAMU were bad but those teams have proven to be very good this season.

UT just beat Bama but that boneheaded loss against them, that is on Napier and likely puts us on a path to 5-7 unless he can steal one from LSU or Ole Piss. But, he’s only good for one complete game a year and I think he just got it so if he can’t sneak into a bowl at 6-6 his departure is solely of his own making. 6-6 with a bowl saves him because of the chaos in our admin right now.

Defensive front seven’s play has been very good for the last few games. But, better QBs on our schedule will require even more output from this group.

 

[Cozumel Gator]

Cover2, I am with you on this puzzle. "Damned if you do and Damned if you don't."

 

[Sec14Gator]

DJ playing so well, and the offense overall being more productive with him, is just more indictment of Napier (SS will not see it that way). I could give him Miami when he didn’t really know what DJ would do, but stats had DJ being far more productive for weeks, yet Billy went to a designated 2-1 rotation that limited the offense, left no room for adjustment based on game circumstances, and gave DJ so few chances he had to be perfect in his limited possessions.

The greatest concern with the uncertainty on Napier and risk of no firing is a repeat of what I view as the real start (or greatest catalyst) of the program decline - retaining Muschamp for 2014 after 4-8 record and not seeing the signs in a mirage of a 2012 season.

What happened was we really struggled to recruit when everyone knew chump was going to be fired. We are seeing the same now with Napier. Even then, the 2014 class was ranked what seemed awful but was better than any of Billy’s classes at 9th (2013 was 3rd). 2015 under McElwain was then 21st following chump’s dead man walking season where his retention/non-firing was the #1 program storyline. We already have that this season and next will be far worse. You can’t recruit into that and NIL donors will also retract.

There is a fair argument that Florida has not recovered from those two classes nor has our national prominence and respect among HS athletes recovered.

I think this is the reason Kiffin is high on so many lists. He holds the most likely boost to our excitement level among boosters and HS/portal players (if we can’t get Day/, who I don’t think we even try to hire). The ceiling is higher than most options from a reputation and talent acquisition/NIL donation perspective.

 

[Sec14Gator]

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.

Best tackling game I can recall for a Gator defense in several years.

Also, while we had three picks, 2 were of the variety we have had for the last 2+ years - bad throws right to us or dropped/tipped passes right to us.

But Cormani’s play, of a DB breaking on and returning an INT is one I can’t recall seeing (at least not many) in a loooong time. It was a bad throw but still one we have not made plays on lately. Very happy to see that.

 

[Detroitgator]

The losses to UM and TAMU were bad but those teams have proven to be very good this season.

UT just beat Bama but that boneheaded loss against them, that is on Napier and likely puts us on a path to 5-7 unless he can steal one from LSU or Ole Piss. But, he’s only good for one complete game a year and I think he just got it so if he can’t sneak into a bowl at 6-6 his departure is solely of his own making. 6-6 with a bowl saves him because of the chaos in our admin right now.

Defensive front seven’s play has been very good for the last few games. But, better QBs on our schedule will require even more output from this group.

This is the real problem as I see it right now, for several reasons:

1. Stricklin doesn't seem to want to fire Billy, regardless of the record.
2. Fuchs, whether he wants billy gone or not, won't force Striklin to fire billy.
3. It's easier for both of them if they can keep kicking the can down the road.
4. Assuming billy is still the coach next year, and we do actually fire him, we are very likely f'd the way we were previously when we got stuck with firing too late, after everyone else has fired their coach, and we are left holding the bag of shameful hire, and it will exacerbate and prolong our suckage even more.
5. From a pure "who is available/possibly interested" perspective, THIS is the year to make the change... before everyone else does it next year.
6. Note: this post meets the "no bullet comments" restriction in the TOS.

 

[soflagator]

Best tackling game I can recall for a Gator defense in several years.

Also, while we had three picks, 2 were of the variety we have had for the last 2+ years - bad throws right to us or dropped/tipped passes right to us.

But Cormani’s play, of a DB breaking on and returning an INT is one I can’t recall seeing (at least not many) in a loooong time. It was a bad throw but still one we have not made plays on lately. Very happy to see that.

Side point of Cormani’s pick, what does it say about Sanders’ coaching that he was apparently terrible there and couldn’t even get in the field? Him having success here would be great from that standpoint as well.

 

[soflagator]

Good wrote up, Cover, as always. I enjoyed the win and watching their sloppy, fat union rep of a coach squirm knowing he was losing.

Personally, I’m pumping the brakes a bit and remembering that this is still probably the worst Uk team we’ve faced in close to a decade. DJ is awesome and will be a star, but he’s also a Freshman and will have some growing up moments against the better defenses, just like Leak, Tebow and DW did. Just part of the deal. Mostly, until proven otherwise, I see this is as this year’s “‘22-A&M” or “‘23-vols” game where we put it all together and the opponent is better on paper than in reality. Time will tell. But I’ll still take the win.

 

[G8trwood]

Gone in 90 seconds

 

[Sec14Gator]

Side point of Cormani’s pick, what does it say about Sanders’ coaching that he was apparently terrible there and couldn’t even get in the field? Him having success here would be great from that standpoint as well.

Maybe but McClain has enough baggage to cover Deion. Also, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. What Cormani was best at is playing the ball in the air. He has WR level skills and gets lots of picks as a result. I’m curious how he plays against more creative offenses and is he disciplined on zone coverage or double moves. Don’t know that yet.

 

[Detroitgator]

Good wrote up, Cover, as always. I enjoyed the win and watching their sloppy, fat union rep of a coach squirm knowing he was losing.

Personally, I’m pumping the brakes a bit and remembering that this is still probably the worst Uk team we’ve faced in close to a decade. DJ is awesome and will be a star, but he’s also a Freshman and will have some growing up moments against the better defenses, just like Leak, Tebow and DW did. Just part of the deal. Mostly, until proven otherwise, I see this is as this year’s “‘22-A&M” or “‘23-vols” game where we put it all together and the opponent is better on paper than in reality. Time will tell. But I’ll still take the win.

On this note, and I mentioned it TWICE during the game... but until last night, I had NEVER seen stoops "walk," it's always just him yelling in someone's ear, but not moving. Last night, when he was pissed about the 4th and goal stop call, and then at the end of the game, they actually showed him "walking" on the field... dude flat out literally WADDLES from side to side! In fact, I am positive that if you actually measured, his "side to side" movement relative to "forward motion" ratio exceeds 3:1!

 

[Gatormac2112]

Maybe but McClain has enough baggage to cover Deion. Also, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. What Cormani was best at is playing the ball in the air. He has WR level skills and gets lots of picks as a result. I’m curious how he plays against more creative offenses and is he disciplined on zone coverage or double moves. Don’t know that yet.

Watching the game he actually got lost on a few plays after the int

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Thanks Cover
A bit of a ”catch 22” we find ourselves in.
I for one am not wired not to pull for Fl. to win. Guess at this point just let the season play out and that starts with somehow, someway getting a win in Jacksonville , fuch a bulldog

Nothing you can do can keep Billy Retard from Retarding. Pull for the team but know that he is going to do what he does.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I see this is as this year’s “‘22-A&M” or “‘23-vols” game where we put it all together and the opponent is better on paper than in reality.

Interesting that you say that because UK played a lot of shell defenses, with only 4 rushing. No blitzing. Basically daring us to run, apparently believing their front 4 would keep us from doing it. It's the same thing 23 Vols did. I don't know why people would ever look at Billy and think the key is to let him run and concentrate on stopping the pass. It is sometimes quite amazing these guys get paid millions for this.

 

[NVAGATOR86]

On this note, and I mentioned it TWICE during the game... but until last night, I had NEVER seen stoops "walk," it's always just him yelling in someone's ear, but not moving. Last night, when he was pissed about the 4th and goal stop call, and then at the end of the game, they actually showed him "walking" on the field... dude flat out literally WADDLES from side to side! In fact, I am positive that if you actually measured, his "side to side" movement relative to "forward motion" ratio exceeds 3:1!

Yeah. It was great to see old Stoops take a beating. Maybe he was "tacking", and trying to pick up a breeze to get his fat ass out of the Swamp.

 

[wrpgator]

Second!

I just finished with Tuna's mom.

That seems a little fishy.