Is There Any Hope for Florida in 2015?

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Sorry, but that is patently false. Creyer took a 3 win team at Bowling Green and won the MAC in his second year. Creyer then took a 4 win team at Utah, won the WAC in his second year, became the first midmajor to win a BCS game and went undefeated.

Mac went 21-16 just like Chimp, had one good year in which he failed to win even a division and lost to military school three years in a row. Mac's resume looks a lot more like Chimp's than Meyers. That's a fact.

It's also patently false that Colorado State is a horrendous program. They had one bad coach and have long been one of the beasts of the WAC. Their budget is one of the largest in their conference. Frankly, their AD knows more about winning football and writing contracts than ours does. We should consider hiring him when we fire Fooley.

Law, normally you are one of my favorite posters, but I just don't get this. We've been through the record thing twice already most recently here where I pointed out that his CSU turnaround was very similar to Spurrier's Duke turnaround:

He won 57% of his games at CSU, an improvement of 32% over the previous 3 years. Spurrier won 59% of his games at Duke, an improvement of 29% over the previous 3 years. Those records are not materially different.

In Spurrier's final season at Duke they went 8-4 overall, 6-1 in the conference finishing tied for first among the 8 teams (pre-FSU joining the conference) and unranked nationally. Also the team that he 'tied' with for first in the conference beat him head-to-head so if there really was some kind of trophy or playoff berth associated with it, Duke would not have been the 'champion'.

In Mac's final season at CSU he went 10-2 overall, 6-2 in the conference finishing tied for second among the 12 teams and unranked nationally. Again, not materially different.

Non of that is conjecture or an excuse. That's just comparing the actual results.

I also want to point out that whomever convinced you that CSU is some kind of powerhouse really sold you a bill of goods.

As it turns out they are 6th in their conference in spending on athletics as you can see here:

http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/

And that's only because their AD (who I agree with you is very good) has fought to get them up from where they were a couple of years earlier which was 7th, or dead last in the conference at that time. Reference here:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/spor...ollege-athletics-finances-database/54955804/1

Even back 20 years ago when they were briefly good and still in the WAC they were in the bottom 3 in the conference in budget:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/469840/WAC-RELEASES-ATHLETIC-BUDGETS.html?pg=all

Here's a nice blurb from an article where said AD is trying to get money to put a football stadium on campus even though their attendance averages less than 20,000 a game:

"Another issue is the CSU football team. The Rams have been ranked as one of the nation's top 25 teams in just eight of the past 78 seasons and played in 12 postseason bowl games in more than a century of organized football. "

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303983904579093432304563144

I guess I just don't see why you have to go and make up the notion that CSU is some kind of football juggernaut just because they had one decent coach almost 2 decades ago.

Oh yeah, and that Air Force team that they are supposed to be incredibly embarrassed to have lost to spends millions more on athletics than CSU including $25 million on coaches compared to only $14 million at CSU.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Best case scenario:
If Mac wins 9 then we have a keeper. I see 5 gimmes (w/o MusChump) maybe 6 if you count Missouri*. If those other 3 wins are agains Georgia, F$U and pick 'em (UT or USC) I'd be very happy. Maybe that gives us the SEC east. I'd take that and be very happy. We should see this team getting much better each week - if we don't then yikes!

NEW MEXICO STATE W
EAST CAROLINA W
at Kentucky W
TENNESSEE
OLE MISS
at Missouri
at LSU
Georgia (Jacksonville)
VANDERBILT W
at South Carolina
FLORIDA ATLANTIC W
FLORIDA STATE

*Okay maybe not Missouri, but somebody.

 

[t-gator]

That's why I don't argue with Bernie

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Don't be a wimp.

 

[t-gator]

He does too much research for me. I'm more of a talk out of my ass kinda guy.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

He does too much research for me. I'm more of a talk out of my ass kinda guy.

 

[soflagator]

Interesting, Sofla, because I'm pretty sure that I was among the first to suggest that the All Smurf offense would never work. And, of course, the Smurf defense wasn't any better. Yes, you guys banged on me nearly every day because I pointed out where we were headed with that Creyer era recruiting. How dare I question the direction of the program under Creyer! Kind of humorous you now try to spin it into a win. You own boy declared that he broke the program.

As for coordinators, I always said Mullen was trash to much resistance from everyone else here. Show me where I said anything else.

I also said Meyer chose well, again, with OSU at a time when Meatchicken and Pedo are on probation. Please show me where I said he wouldn't win. What I predicted was that he will quit again, because quitters quit. Pvssies will be pvssies.

Yes, I was pumping with the new regime after Creyer, but I saw through it LONG before most...even while some usually objective types thought we were on the way to championships in 2012 and were on the right track. I don't think many reasonable types would call me a Chimppumper but whatever.

I am actually quite the bandwagonner. I don't turn negative until the evidence is clear IMO. I also don't try to act like mediocrity is better than it is. I don't pump three star players and declare that they are all really 5 star guys who haven't been rated properly. I don't pump 3 star coaches either.

Back to Mac, 21-16 is 21-16. He has ALOT to prove and precious little time to do it. I fear that, even if he does have "the stuff", our Mickey Mouse cheap ass hires, again, on his coaching staff (particularly at OC, DC, WR and DBs) may well be his undoing. That's unfortunate because I don't believe any of them except Nusschamp was his real target.

Meyer's issue wasn't necessarily a direction issue. He'd had success before using his formula, and he's since then had success. It was more of a problem with his last few classes. Even the best programs go through rough patches. For that matter, compare our '97-'99 teams to the '94-'96 teams. Obviously QB was the biggest issue, but Spurrier didn't get his offense back until 2001. To me, there was nothing wrong with things under Meyer. He simply missed on some players and definitely settled on some others. But on one hand you're saying he "chooses" his jobs wisely--meaning his success is largely about his favorable surroundings--while on the other claiming that his success at Utah and BG was much more impressive than Mac's at CSU. But it's me who wants to have it both ways....

I recall one of your reasons for trashing Meyer was the personnel around him that were no longer there. To be fair, I believe you also attributed it to certain players like TT and PH, but the point is you refused to credit Meyer and were thrilled we were going in a different direction. Not going to look up posts from 2010. That's just silly.

You and I both saw the writing on the wall with WM long before it became popular. I will give you that.

I have no issue claiming we've recruited fairly mediocre thus far. I've merely pointed out repeatedly that Meyer's class looked very similar to this point, justwith fewer commits. While I get that we don't want to fill our class with 3*, we have a ton of room and need bodies. Meyer didn't have that issue when he landed.

The pay of assistants is what it is. If you want to pound on Foley, so be it. But until proven otherwise, I think we should allow the staff and program to prove themselves without constantly questioning every little move, or calling everything from a negative viewpoint. You and I both know that the damage has been done.

And btw, I was busting on your Brantley optimism in 2010/2011, not 2008. You and Ken doubled down too many times to count on his improvement, culminating with the claim that (paraphrased) "He and Weis are going to be great together in 2011". Personally I had my doubts about JB the moment Meyer chose a concussed Tebow--who looked like he had no clue where he was--against Lsu over John. But my point stands. You imagined something that wasn't there. Therefore, it's possible you are seeing something incorrectly again. That's all.

 

[GatorTAG]

Practice squads. And they can add free agents at will when someone gets hurt.

And McElwain has non scholarship players as well. Im not going to count but I bet there are more than 90 kids on UF's roster. My son's school manages to play football with less than 25 kids on the team every year.

 

[oxrageous]

I'm amazed what sofla remembers. The only thing I remember is T-REX calling Tim Tebow the "biggest bust ever" after our loss to Ole Miss in 2008.

Law hated Meyer's style of play, so he always hated Meyer. He never seemed happy even when we steamrolled everyone on our way to the title in 2008. He despised the spread option.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Mehhh... I said wait see on the recruiting but it is hard to say it's going well at this point. We aren't going to win big recruiting like Kintucky but Mac pulled a HUGE rabbit out of his hat last year only 2 days before signing day.

I'm not really pessimistic about Mac. I enjoyed what we saw in the O&B game, but it's hard to get excited about the coordinator hires.

We are certainly doing all the right things with respect to finally catching up to "the state of college football" with respect to needing three dozen "quality control" guys and facility improvements. (The first being way more important than the latter, IMO.)

JB, old news. Just like your Driskel love is old news.

 

[CaribGator]

We'll all be and for the first 4 games. Then things get real. By that time we will know if the offensive line is serviceable, if one of the QB's can take command of the team, if any receivers besides DRob have stepped up.

Ole Miss will start the hnoes2: and . Causing some to others .. There will be , others will , hopefully nobody after a loss or two goes .


Have a winning season, beat at least one major rival, show improvement on offense and the next recruiting cycle we will take a big step forward towards regaining a premier status.

 

[MJMGator]

I'm amazed what sofla remembers. The only thing I remember is T-REX calling Tim Tebow the "biggest bust ever" after our loss to Ole Miss in 2008.

Law hated Meyer's style of play, so he always hated Meyer. He never seemed happy even when we steamrolled everyone on our way to the title in 2008. He despised the spread option.

I wasn't around back then, but I can see TRex saying that.

 

[soflagator]

Mehhh... I said wait see on the recruiting but it is hard to say it's going well at this point. We aren't going to win big recruiting like Kintucky but Mac pulled a HUGE rabbit out of his hat last year only 2 days before signing day.

I'm not really pessimistic about Mac. I enjoyed what we saw in the O&B game, but it's hard to get excited about the coordinator hires.

We are certainly doing all the right things with respect to finally catching up to "the state of college football" with respect to needing three dozen "quality control" guys and facility improvements. (The first being way more important than the latter, IMO.)

JB, old news. Just like your Driskel love is old news.

 

[soflagator]

I'm amazed what sofla remembers. The only thing I remember is T-REX calling Tim Tebow the "biggest bust ever" after our loss to Ole Miss in 2008.

Law hated Meyer's style of play, so he always hated Meyer. He never seemed happy even when we steamrolled everyone on our way to the title in 2008. He despised the spread option.

Ill say this. You were probably the only one(at least that I remember) that insisted we'd go undefeated and win it all leading up to the season. After the OM game, while many of us felt it was probably a season killer and were crucifying the secondary, I remember you just kind of casually being pissed and still kind of keeping the faith. I only remember because your posts stood out to me, and you happened to be pretty spot on in retrospect.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Ill say this. You were probably the only one(at least that I remember) that insisted we'd go undefeated and win it all leading up to the season. After the OM game, while many of us felt it was probably a season killer and were crucifying the secondary, I remember you just kind of casually being pissed and still kind of keeping the faith. I only remember because your posts stood out to me, and you happened to be pretty spot on in retrospect.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Law hated Meyer's style of play, so he always hated Meyer. He never seemed happy even when we steamrolled everyone on our way to the title in 2008. He despised the spread option.

I'm sure that's your perspective, but I didn't in fact hate Meyer. I always thought he his offensive schemes were being poorly executed by Mullett and Dumbazzio. He was so much more wide open at Utah. At UF, there was really only the 06 NCG and Tebow's last game in which the QB was actually allowed to throw the ball. Notice that we tended to blow people out when we didn't throttle our offense back so badly. It's the same thing at OSUX. Lotsa 16-9 type wins and fourth quarter comebacks until they felt like they had to open up the offense when they switched to passing QB Cardale Jones.

I do hate a run heavy spread.

 

[oxrageous]

I'm sure that's your perspective, but I didn't in fact hate Meyer. I always thought he his offensive schemes were being poorly executed by Mullett and Dumbazzio. He was so much more wide open at Utah. At UF, there was really only the 06 NCG and Tebow's last game in which the QB was actually allowed to throw the ball. Notice that we tended to blow people out when we didn't throttle our offense back so badly. It's the same thing at OSUX. Lotsa 16-9 type wins and fourth quarter comebacks until they felt like they had to open up the offense when they switched to passing QB Cardale Jones.

I do hate a run heavy spread.

Well, love it or hate it, you can't argue that it's been wildly successful. Wildly.

 

[GatorJ]

I hated the Mullen play wheel. About 4 plays total.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Well, love it or hate it, you can't argue that it's been wildly successful. Wildly.

OSUx started blowing teams out last year when they started throwing the ball. Blowing elite teams out, after they struggled to beat crappy teams earlier in the year and losing to Vatech. It was easily his best coaching job imo.

I wonder what their offense will look like with a new OC and which style of offense is truly Meyer's.

 

[soflagator]