- Jun 10, 2014
- 16,578
- 20,016
Founding Member
We took the state back!
It seems as if our lost decade might finally be coming to a close. Four weeks ago, after we lost to Georgia, I said that we couldn't fall apart down the stretch in November like we have so many times in the post-Tebow era. And while we definitely laid an egg against Missouri and looked like crap for 2.5 quarters against South Carolina, something clicked in these guys' heads and we finished as strongly as we have in a very long time. What's truly staggering is how quickly FSU hit the skids. In all honesty it almost mirrors exactly what happened to us 9 years ago, so I'm hoping we can parlay yesterday's dominance into years of running the state again.
Franks had a few wobbly moments early yesterday, but ended up having what might have been his best game yet. He threw the ball away when he had to, only forced one throw that I can remember, didn't turn the ball over, made some nice plays with his feet, and threw some absolute dimes to our receivers. Granted, FSU's pass defense is horrendous, but the first step in being a good QB is lighting up the defenses you're supposed to light up. And for the most part, I think Franks did that this year. Obviously the Missouri game was bad, but he performed well against the rest of the mediocre/bad defenses on our schedule.
Now the challenge is getting him to elevate his game to perform like that against the good/great defenses. We can all debate on whether or not that's possible, but the Franks from this year was far superior to the version we got of him last year, with the obvious difference being the coaching he's receiving now as opposed to last year. I feel like he's only going to keep improving now that he's truly being coached for the first time in his career. It's still possible he won't be our starter next year, but at least he's giving Mullen a choice. Either way, I think down the road we'll look back on this season and truly appreciate what Franks did to hold this offense together and transition to Mullen's QB recruits. As it stands, he is our first quarterback to start every game of a season since Tebow left (look it up, it's true).
There's really not much more for me to say on the rest of the game. We just dominated them in every phase. The biggest takeaway is still the shocking fall from grace FSU had. It cannot be overstated how important this recruiting cycle is. This is where Mullen is really going to earn that paycheck. He's done it on the field so far with a mishmash of decent, but shallow talent. Now he needs to load his own cupboard up so we're not one injury away from playing walk ons. We were VERY fortunate to only have one major injury all year, which was Marco Wilson. Other than Mullen, the most important hire that was made was Nick Savage. It's amazing what a real offseason strength and conditioning program does for your results in the fall.
Looking forward to seeing our bowl matchup. Win or lose, it's amazing that we're in a New Year's Six bowl when at this time last year, we were tracking airplanes and melting down about the coaching search. Going from a listless four wins (that could have easily been two) to a mostly dominating nine wins is coach of the year type stuff. Great season, Gators!
It seems as if our lost decade might finally be coming to a close. Four weeks ago, after we lost to Georgia, I said that we couldn't fall apart down the stretch in November like we have so many times in the post-Tebow era. And while we definitely laid an egg against Missouri and looked like crap for 2.5 quarters against South Carolina, something clicked in these guys' heads and we finished as strongly as we have in a very long time. What's truly staggering is how quickly FSU hit the skids. In all honesty it almost mirrors exactly what happened to us 9 years ago, so I'm hoping we can parlay yesterday's dominance into years of running the state again.
Franks had a few wobbly moments early yesterday, but ended up having what might have been his best game yet. He threw the ball away when he had to, only forced one throw that I can remember, didn't turn the ball over, made some nice plays with his feet, and threw some absolute dimes to our receivers. Granted, FSU's pass defense is horrendous, but the first step in being a good QB is lighting up the defenses you're supposed to light up. And for the most part, I think Franks did that this year. Obviously the Missouri game was bad, but he performed well against the rest of the mediocre/bad defenses on our schedule.
Now the challenge is getting him to elevate his game to perform like that against the good/great defenses. We can all debate on whether or not that's possible, but the Franks from this year was far superior to the version we got of him last year, with the obvious difference being the coaching he's receiving now as opposed to last year. I feel like he's only going to keep improving now that he's truly being coached for the first time in his career. It's still possible he won't be our starter next year, but at least he's giving Mullen a choice. Either way, I think down the road we'll look back on this season and truly appreciate what Franks did to hold this offense together and transition to Mullen's QB recruits. As it stands, he is our first quarterback to start every game of a season since Tebow left (look it up, it's true).
There's really not much more for me to say on the rest of the game. We just dominated them in every phase. The biggest takeaway is still the shocking fall from grace FSU had. It cannot be overstated how important this recruiting cycle is. This is where Mullen is really going to earn that paycheck. He's done it on the field so far with a mishmash of decent, but shallow talent. Now he needs to load his own cupboard up so we're not one injury away from playing walk ons. We were VERY fortunate to only have one major injury all year, which was Marco Wilson. Other than Mullen, the most important hire that was made was Nick Savage. It's amazing what a real offseason strength and conditioning program does for your results in the fall.
Looking forward to seeing our bowl matchup. Win or lose, it's amazing that we're in a New Year's Six bowl when at this time last year, we were tracking airplanes and melting down about the coaching search. Going from a listless four wins (that could have easily been two) to a mostly dominating nine wins is coach of the year type stuff. Great season, Gators!
