Game Thread ***OFFICIAL GAME THREAD: UF vs Arkansas***

[Detroitgator]

The Bobby Layne '50s?

It's the last time they were in a championship game! Sure, in my life we had some fun and some wins, but it never looked like a real team on the field (sound familiar???!?!?!?). And until mid-season last year, I was pining for the days of Wayne Fonts where we would start 1-7 then go on an impossible 7-1 run to make the wildcard game and get our ass kicked 41-7.

 

[RiverRat]

Their numbnuts fans have only had to endure 15 losses. IN EIGHT FREAKING YEARS. Billy is on #11 in less than 2 years.

Yeah probably a bad comparison, Norvell at Fl St would be a better fit. Fans wanted him gone a couple years ago and now he on the cusp of taking them to the playoffs.

Im not saying changes aren’t needed , they are. I just believe you give a guy time to get his players in place. IMO a little over a year and a half isn’t enough time.

 

[revgator]

Yeah probably a bad comparison, NorveLLLL at Fl St would be a better fit. Fans wanted him gone a couple years ago and now he on the cusp of taking them to the playoffs.

Im not saying changes aren’t needed , they are. I just believe you give a guy time to get his players in place. IMO a little over a year and a half isn’t enough time.

With all due respect, I see this comparison a lot of others like it. Fsu was improving each year. This year we are regressing. 6-7 last year and a bowl blowout and most likely 5-7 this year and no bowl.

I, and I think many other, would love to see improvement no matter how small. But his mistakes this year are even more perplexing than last year.

Furthermore, Armstrong was on fire when he first took over, my suspicion is that Billy (unintentionally and with his personality) took the steam out of the defense. This he will also do to any OC if one is hired. But if he hires an OC I can personally guarantee it will be a no-name young guy who will trend back to the mean.

 

[Gatormac2112]

Yeah probably a bad comparison, NorveLLLL at Fl St would be a better fit. Fans wanted him gone a couple years ago and now he on the cusp of taking them to the playoffs.

Im not saying changes aren’t needed , they are. I just believe you give a guy time to get his players in place. IMO a little over a year and a half isn’t enough time.

Well I’ve said elsewhere he gets 3 years minimum, but he’s on the clock and it ain’t looking too promising

 

[MertzJay26]

Norvell also plays in the ACC and has a roster full of 25 year old, 7th year SRs. Situations aren’t similar.

 

[RiverRat]

With all due respect, I see this comparison a lot of others like it. NorveLLLL was improving each year. This year we are regressing. 6-7 last year and a bowl blowout and most likely 5-7 this year and no bowl.

I, and I think many other, would love to see improvement no matter how small. But his mistakes this year are even more perplexing than last year.

Furthermore, Armstrong was on fire when he first took over, my suspicion is that Billy (unintentionally and with his personality) took the steam out of the defense. This he will also do to any OC if one is hired. But if he hires an OC I can personally guarantee it will be a no-name young guy who will trend back to the mean.

With all due respect Norvell went 3-7 and 5-6 in his first two years at halfassu

 

[revgator]

With all due respect NorveLLLL went 3-7 and 5-6 in his first two years at halfassu

Yes, that's what is called improving because 5 wins is MORE than 3 wins and 6 losses are LESS than 7 losses. Sorry I didn't explain it earlier

 

[MooseSmack]

Hoping I wake up tomorrow and the Glazers have shown simple Todd the door.

Amen! So tired of him on the sidelines with his arms crossed looking like he needs to go take a dump. Gave up a rookie record in yards today. Just sickening. No defense.

 

[Gator98MD]

What will be said at the end of year 3 when we are sub 500 again ? And 4 years straight of losing records ?

 

[Detroitgator]

Yeah probably a bad comparison, NorveLLLL at Fl St would be a better fit. Fans wanted him gone a couple years ago and now he on the cusp of taking them to the playoffs.

Im not saying changes aren’t needed , they are. I just believe you give a guy time to get his players in place. IMO a little over a year and a half isn’t enough time.

Agreed, and I think he's doing that part well enough (minus getting Olinemen... a pretty big minus), but man 'o man, if he doesn't get the upper level management (OC, DC, ST...) addressed, the player part is going to fall the fuk apart, FAST.

That goes to my "setting expectations" to shareholders, and he has different shareholders. He may not be telling us what he's going to do in terms of "how to fix for next season," but he had better be telling the current young players and the incoming recruits what he's going to do to improve next year or schit will fall apart in terms of portal exits and recruits bailing. A CEO can keep those things a secret from SOME shareholders, but not from the critical ones.

 

[MertzJay26]

What will be said at the end of year 3 when we are sub 500 again ? And 4 years straight of losing records ?

“He just needs another year, the Mullen stench is still on the roster. Plus, if we fire our underperforming, multi-million dollar coach with all the resources in the world at his fingertips, who would possibly want to come here?”

 

[MertzJay26]

Just saw a good point on Twitter/X….if whole sale changes are needed after year 2, isn’t that a major red flag?

This is Muschamp hiring a different OC all over again

 

[Gator98MD]

My prediction is canning mid year 4 maybe after another UGa loss when we are obviously still not showing progress

 

[78]

Just saw a good point on Twitter/X….if whole sale changes are needed after year 2, isn’t that a major red flag?

This is Muschamp hiring a different OC all over again

The doubters are fond of the millions that would be owed him. I think of the millions lost while we continue to own him.

 

[MertzJay26]

My prediction is canning mid year 4 maybe after another UGa loss when we are obviously still not showing progress

 

[cover2]

OK, after having time to digest my "frozen pizza of shame" last night, I ran his presser while on my Drive of Shame home from Gainesville to the Greater Pensacola Metroplex... I'm pretty sure I've watched all his post-game pressers, here are my thoughts on this one, because it was ever so slightly different, but I think in important ways. This is going to be just stream of thought, sorry it ain't organized better.

1. This was our first home loss. He didn't mention the crowd one time in this presser. He has ALWAYS made a big deal about the crowd and thanked them. Yesterday, nothing (see "bunker mode" below). Granted, the crowd came into the noon game fairly lame and the stands were slow to fill well into the 1st Quarter. Throw in being down 14-0 in the FIRST THREE MINUTES and it's TOUGH to rally at 12:03!!! That said, I think the crowd was into it in the second half. Point is: did not mention fans/crowd, and this goes to my other points.
2. I think he's going into "team cocoon/bunker" mode when he got asked about "fan criticism." Sure, OK, but no, you're making a big mistake and that could have been a spot to address understanding the frustration of fans rather than basically saying "fuk you" by silence/non-response. Part of a CEOs job is to set the expectations of the shareholders relative to how truly monumental the turnaround is and how long it will take, but then you have to back that up with action, and by action, I don't mean just winning, I mean by having an OC, ST Coordinator, QBs Coach... so that our eyes actually see the steps you are taking given said expectations. When you don't do those things, you rapidly go from 70% of the shareholders saying "he needs time" to 70% saying "he's in over his head and isn't up to the job."
3. He talked a LOT about "developing these young men"... but as men, not as football players. It's subtle, but important. He said that developing these young men is by far his most important priority. Unless Billy has it in his contract that "developing these young men as citizens and men," he does not understand his job at all. Yes, of course you want to do that, but that is not his job. It is a business, his job as CEO is to develop PLAYERS and WIN. Hopefully in that process you can develop good young men.
4. His answer to the question about ST problems was truly McElwainian and pissed me off for the first time at him.

To me, he sounded like a phenomenal HS or youth league coach that, while you of course want them to win, you really do want them to provide your kid with structure, mentorship, and personal development. At this level, that is not his job. I'm sure a lot of the parents of the players like him for this (who wouldn't?), but for a LOT of the top notch talent, they ain't choosing a school to be developed as a man other than as a distant secondary thing... they are choosing a program that they think will get them to the next level of play for that incredibly small 0.000000whatever% that make it to the NFL.

I still definitely like him as a man, and a shred of me still holds out hope that he could run the overall program at UF if and only if he makes some actual CEO like decisions regarding staffing and what his actual job/mandate is as CEO (and it ain't HCC (Head Camp Counselor), it's HC).

I just don't see us firing him this year (but who knows), but if by January we don't know who our new OC, ST coach, and possibly a QB coach are, I'll know we are truly fukked.

UPDATE to my last paragraph: and if we don't know who these new coaches are, it removes any doubt that Stricklin truly doesn't know what his actual job is either.

Couldn’t agree more with all points. Especially about the dodge / redirect on the Spec Teams Q. I don’t wish him harm or any emotional knee jerk things and as I’ve said before I appreciate attention to the culture and recruiting. But judging by the product on the field, I believe he’d be better suited as the youth group leader at First Baptist than HC at UF or any SEC school for that matter.

His words in the pressers are more philosophical than direct and meaningful and if there’s an attempt at corrections, they obviously don’t go much beyond just talking about them since we keep making the same technical and effort mistakes over and again. As for the coaching, same thing. Each week there’s one or more Keystone Cops event, usually Spec Teams, substituting, etc. with nothing more than “trust us” or “our players are invested” to assuage concerns. I just can’t see it changing 180 once we get the roster fleshed out. You are what you consistently do.

 

[cartman302]

Couldn’t agree more with all points. Especially about the dodge / redirect on the Spec Teams Q. I don’t wish him harm or any emotional knee jerk things and as I’ve said before I appreciate attention to the culture and recruiting. But judging by the product on the field, I believe he’d be better suited as the youth group leader at First Baptist than HC at UF or any SEC school for that matter.

His words in the pressers are more philosophical than direct and meaningful and if there’s an attempt at corrections, they obviously don’t go much beyond just talking about them since we keep making the same technical and effort mistakes over and again. As for the coaching, same thing. Each week there’s one or more Keystone Cops event, usually Spec Teams, substituting, etc. with nothing more than “trust us” or “our players are invested” to assuage concerns. I just can’t see it changing 180 once we get the roster fleshed out. You are what you consistently do.

5-7 and I think he is shown the door. As well as Stricklin. His buyout, while nauseating for us mere mortals, is capable of being swallowed (insert any reference need here). The long term damage to the fan base as well as recruiting dwarfs whatever his buyout is. Not that I want to pay it, mind you.

Seriously, look at Mullen- First grade douche, as we know, but he had PEDIGREE and 2 rings as Urb's OC. If anyone knew the landscape, he did. He also had a decent amount of success early- although he bested Kirby only once in 2020, that inexplicable year that we lost FOUR games - (thanks TG). As much as we all wanted Douchebag Dan fired in '21, it kind of was a surprise that it ACUTALLY happened. Never have we seen a fanbase turn on a coach like that.....especially with 2 10-game winning seasons under his belt. I still don't think we know what happened with him. He absolutely played 2021 like he was on a mission to get canned, and he did (yes I know he sucked at recruiting). It is for the best he is gone, but what we have now won't get any better, coaching wise. BN can recruit, but he is absolutely awful at game day coaching, hiring subordinates, and managing expectations. That, and he thinks he's smarter than he is.

 

[RocketCityGator]

But if he hires an OC I can personally guarantee it will be a no-name young guy who will trend back to the mean.

Exactly!

 

[ted]

Exactly!

If/when that happens the fan base will flip out. He better choose an OC from p5 with track record of success.

 

[Egor's Assistant]

My prediction is canning mid year 4 maybe after another UGa loss when we are obviously still not showing progress

This is most likely scenario.