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

[Lurker]

In the Swamp Kings documentary on Netflix, Urban Meyer commented on how much pressure he felt to win the home game in year 2 against South Carolina. The national media was questioning whether his spread offense could win in the SEC. Many fans were wishing that Spurrier had returned to Florida after his stint in the NFL. Meyer claimed that if the Gators lost to South Carolina on home, he would lose the confidence of the fan base and worse, the team. Perhaps it is not fair to make the comparison, but this game has sort of the same feel, to me at least. If Napier doesn't feel that kind of pressure to win this game, perhaps he should.

 

[jdh5484]

In the Swamp Kings documentary on Netflix, Urban Meyer commented on how much pressure he felt to win the home game in year 2 against South Carolina. The national media was questioning whether his spread offense could win in the SEC. Many fans were wishing that Spurrier had returned to Florida after his stint in the NFL. Meyer claimed that if the Gators lost to South Carolina on home, he would lose the confidence of the fan base and worse, the team. Perhaps it is not fair to make the comparison, but this game has sort of the same feel, to me at least. If Napier doesn't feel that kind of pressure to win this game, perhaps he should.

I think it will be this years Leghumper game.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

Interesting bit of trivia on Austin Armstrong gleaned from his Wikipedia bio:

Armstrong was born and raised in York, Alabama, one of three children to David and Ruth Armstrong.[1][2][3] Growing up less than an hour from Tuscaloosa, he dreamt of coaching football at Alabama from the age of ten, idolizing Nick Saban.[2][3] When Armstrong was in the 3rd grade he dressed as Florida head coach Steve Spurrier for Halloween, his mother's favorite coach, and has stated that Spurrier is the reason he wears a visor.[2][3][4] Armstrong attended Sumter Academy for high school where he was a team captain in football and baseball before attending Division III Huntingdon Collegein Montgomery where he played linebacker on the football team and graduated in 2014.

 

[GatorJB]

Our run plays are up to SEC standards but our pass plays/routes...

Utah wrote the book on how to defend us - stack the box and dare us to throw more than 10 yards. The philosophy of " take what the defense gives you" doesn't work well when they don't give you the things you CAN do,

McNeese, for whatever reason, occasionally played us honest and we were able to run the ball. But I didn't see a different game plan. Against Utah, we were running into 7-8 man fronts because that's all we ever had.

But pass play designs are a mess. And that goes back to last season. I would love @cover2's opinion (or Law's). It's like Napier doesn't know what to do with receivers past 10 yards. The plays aren't SEC caliber. Even if the plays were well drawn-up Mr. Checkdown will take the short/safe pass. Say it with me; he's a GAME MANAGER.

A generational QB makes everything better but Napier has a lot to learn when it comes to drawing up pass plays. I hope he's a fast learner.

I'm not going to argue that the passing game playbook needs help. But there are lots of reasons we lost to Utah besides that, many of which can be and hopefully are corrected (i.e., penalties and other self-inflicted miscues). This poor passing playbook also torched UT for over 400 yards through the air. I think we'll move the ball well enough through the air, but the success of the offense will be dependent on the running game. Usually in this rivalry, the team with the most rushing yards wins with 2020 being one of the few exceptions.

UT not punting last year was the biggest problem. If our defense is improved like we think, and if UT's offense has regressed cause of Milton, then that could be what swings this game in our favor compared to last year. Truthfully, special teams could be the biggest influence on the game this Saturday.

But to your point on the offensive scheme, I'm not sure how big a roll Rob Sale plays since he's the official OC, but perhaps Napier should move him to running game coordinator and have someone else (Billy G?) as passing game coordinator. He probably needs someone not currently on staff for that role, but hopefully in the meantime Billy G can help them implement some of the 2020 playbook that worked well. Who knows? Maybe they'll throw (pun intended) a few things at UT that they haven't shown much on film yet.

 

[aka]

Hansen over Zanders on the chart for this game. Good. Don't be dropping TD's.

 

[Theologator]

Spurrier said he didn’t have to say or do anything different for rivalry games because the players knew they were big weeks. But he preached UGA as job #1 from the start. He had Gene Ellenson talk up the rivalry and fire the team up for that game every year. He gigged Ut and f$u all the time.

He also said usually the defensive coaches lit the fires in the locker room and sidelines, and thinks AA’s energy is really good for the team.

 

[TN G8tr]

Spurrier said he didn’t have to say or do anything different for rivalry games because the players knew they were big weeks. But he preached UGA as job #1 from the start. He had Gene Ellenson talk up the rivalry and fire the team up for that game every year. He gigged Ut and f$u all the time.

He also said usually the defensive coaches lit the fires in the locker room and sidelines, and thinks AA’s energy is really good for the team.

I do think the signifigance of the rivalries will be more prominent for the players as their careers progress. Let's face it, this team is soooooo young they'll have to be educated to it as well. I think Saturday that is a huge step in the process.

From reading some of the bio stuff on AA, he no doubt knows UF. Hell anyone who dresses up as Spurrier for Halloween has got to know a good bit on him and his teams. I'll take it. No doubt that Armstrong doesn't have an issue getting fired up. I really have a good feeling about his defense this week. As someone mentioned earlier in the week, I am ready for them (the D) to go Alex Brown all over Milton's azz.

 

[GatorTruth133]

I'm not going to argue that the passing game playbook needs help. But there are lots of reasons we lost to Utah besides that, many of which can be and hopefully are corrected (i.e., penalties and other self-inflicted miscues). This poor passing playbook also torched UT for over 400 yards through the air. I think we'll move the ball well enough through the air, but the success of the offense will be dependent on the running game. Usually in this rivalry, the team with the most rushing yards wins with 2020 being one of the few exceptions.

The passing game playbook needing help is a decent to big contributing factor for our poor running game in 3 of our last 4 FBS games (FSU aside because they played D different than the other 3 and we ran well because of it). Teams are putting 7-9 in the box and daring us to punish them for it. Without quick routes throwing to where LB's used to be and hitting them to force guys out of the box, doesn't matter how good the OL and RB's are. The thing is we were not punishing Utah enough to unstack the boxes. We'd hit one downfield here and there, but then fall apart. Yes, in part due to penalties, and in part because we couldn't run against the stacked box. Evidence, Graham Mertz had 119 passing yards before we were down 3 scores and 214 after we went down by 21 (yes, I did the math from the play by play for the game). At that point, they were happy to let us pick up yards on screens and run down the clock. As sec14gator found 30 of 44 were 4 yards or less vertical thrown. More quick slants, and similar routes where we can catch and run quickly will open up the run. Yes, we did hit one or two down the field, but teams seem to be willing to let one or two big throws go because they know we have a hard time following up after them.

Playing tight formations or 12 personnel (we play tight in 11 personnel and other grouping too) invites stacked boxes.

I would like to point out last year UT was 127th in the nation in pass defense last year (and yes many passing yards were during the comeback), Vandy was 128th (who we threw for 400 on, but started this stack the box stretch we've had).

So yes, it will come down to running, but if we do not do anything to unstack the boxes with the pass game, it will be last year's poor running performance in Knoxville (UT was 21st against the run).

 

[MidwestChomp]

I'd rather stick pins under my finger nails than listen to that crap

 

[GatorJ]

Wide receiver room shaking out.

 

[MidwestChomp]

Kid at the 2:00 mark takes the day. The dismissal in his tone is perfect and should be the standard.

The guy at 1:46 and 4:22 have the right idea.

 

[jdh5484]

Spurrier said he didn’t have to say or do anything different for rivalry games because the players knew they were big weeks. But he preached UGA as job #1 from the start. He had Gene Ellenson talk up the rivalry and fire the team up for that game every year. He gigged Ut and f$u all the time.

He also said usually the defensive coaches lit the fires in the locker room and sidelines, and thinks AA’s energy is really good for the team.

I miss Spurriers hatred for everything Leghumper.

 

[soflagator]

I miss Spurriers hatred for everything Leghumper.

I really don’t want to derail this, but his hatred of uga wasn’t the only thing that helped him in that series. It was about as bad a stretch of bulldog football as we’ve seen in our lifetimes, with the exception of ‘92 and ‘97 and 2000, one of which was a loss. He hated fsu as well, but that didn’t help him much in that rivalry.

 

[Gulfstream]

From bowl cut, Spikes is doing his part...

Brandon Spikes has been yelling ‘Beat Tennessee!’ in practice all week

Former Florida linebacker and student assistant coach Brandon Spikes has been yelling "Beat Tennessee!" during Gators' practices this week.

www.on3.com

 

[oxrageous]

Billy Napier emphasized history of Florida Gators Tennessee Vols rivalry

The Florida Gators rivalry with the Tennessee Volunteers is something that head coach Billy Napier stressed to his football team.

www.on3.com

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

With all the talk about Spurrier doing things this way and that way it reminds me of the Bear Bryant talk from Alabama until Nick Saban came along. It's all fine for fans to have their opinions on message boards. You can be a hater or a pumper, I don't care, but we all know Billy Napier is not reading GatorChatter or listening to podcasts for pointers on how to coach his football team. There's more than one way to skin a vol, dwag, or 'nole or a varmint for that matter.

 

[GatorTruth133]

From bowl cut, Spikes is doing his part...

Brandon Spikes has been yelling ‘Beat Tennessee!’ in practice all week

Former Florida linebacker and student assistant coach Brandon Spikes has been yelling "Beat Tennessee!" during Gators' practices this week.

www.on3.com

The thing I like most is Brandon, like Gator, don't play no sh*t.

Someone more tech savvy put Brandon Spikes face on this gif and let's make it part of the board.

I don't know who remembers, but I think it was before 2021 he was asked to talk to the team by Mullen and he asked if the team could handle what he wanted to say (I'm paraphrasing what was said of course). I think his presence has had a decent role in some of the turnaround we've seen from the D.

 

[itsgr82bag8r]

 

[URGatorBait]

View attachment 61854

"I swear to god if you fuch up the Two-Bits cheer YOU'RE DONE!!!" /chump prolly

 

[aka]

From bowl cut, Spikes is doing his part...

Brandon Spikes has been yelling ‘Beat Tennessee!’ in practice all week

Former Florida linebacker and student assistant coach Brandon Spikes has been yelling "Beat Tennessee!" during Gators' practices this week.

www.on3.com

Oh no, can't be. This staff doesn't care anything about rivalry games, haven't you heard?