We owe AR a HUGE apology

[gingerlover]

This was as bad as any Butters game after Grier

 

[Bait'n Gator]

Mertz threw for over 300 yards and completed 70% of his passes. He played more then good enough to win. We lost because the stupid penalties, the OL is shyt and sling blade went full sling blade everytime we got in the red zone.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Mertz threw for over 300 yards and completed 70% of his passes. He played more then good enough to win. We lost because the stupid penalties, the OL is shyt and sling blade went full sling blade everytime we got in the red zone.

We had the ball the entire 2nd half yet never tried to establish a tempo running attack on what should have been a very tired defense......EVERY coach in the country besides ours would have gone to that especially since our 2 best play makers are RB's.

 

[SGG]

Mertz threw for over 300 yards and completed 70% of his passes. He played more then good enough to win. We lost because the stupid penalties, the OL is shyt and sling blade went full sling blade everytime we got in the red zone.

Mertz isn’t the issue. The OL was a hot mess, the penalties were backbreaking and the play calling was mind boggling for the most part.

 

[Gatorbait25]

8 quarters without Anthony and we’ve managed one score against the mighty beavers and the Utah JV. Future is bright under Billy

 

[EyeDocGator]

The defense was better than last year, and their numerous mistakes looked like inexperience. Mertz was adequate, but not great. Decision-making was not great. He could have escaped a couple of those sacks. The offensive line was terrible. They hadn't practiced together much and they looked it. I have no words for special teams. We looked better when we were blocking ourselves. I've known since Junior High School not to field a punt at your own 5 when you're running full speed toward your own goal line.

We will have Napier for at least three more years regardless of the outcome on the field. At least he can recruit. There's only one thing to do. Be patient and hope for some changes in the offensive coaching staff.

 

[Tunaboat]

If we had any semblance of a real O-line last night we easily win this game. Utah never respected the downfield throw and stacked the line to overwhelm Mertz in the pocket and it worked like a charm. Barnyard Billy looked at this and thought dump-offs out of the backfield was the answer with Utah's D cheating UP and nobody behind them that would have been big gainers if SlingBlade had just gotten it downfield. But we've already seen his myopic vision, Billy seems to have no ability to make calls that any decent high school coaches make all the time. Where is Rob Sale? Is he still employed here?

 

[Avenger48c]

Play calling and OL were the problem, not Mertz. He almost never had time to let something develop if it was there. Even when he had time, if you looked at the receivers, it was clear they were only running short routes most of the time. There was rarely a deep pass thrown because there was rarely a guy on a deep route to throw it to. It was all short hooks, slants, and swing routes short of the sticks.

If Mertz played exactly the same but we had, say, Spurrier calling plays and last year's OL, we would've won by 3 TDs. Calling small ball only works when you don't get penalties - as soon as you end up 3rd and 6+, you're punting.

Things aren't getting much better on the offense until Napier changes his offensive philosophy or UF hires a different play caller, be it at OC or HC.

 

[oxrageous]

Thread title is ridiculous. AR would have come up limping on the first drive and been a rattled, sulky mess the rest of the game. He would have thrown for about 90 yards.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Thread title is ridiculous. AR would have come up limping on the first drive and been a rattled, sulky mess the rest of the game. He would have thrown for about 90 yards.

AR would have run for 150 yards

 

[oxrageous]

AR would have run for 150 yards

No he wouldn't have. Do I have to go over some box scores from last year with you? And that was with a much better OL.

AR hated to run. If he had loved to run, he may have won the friggin' Heisman Trophy.

 

[HumbleGator]

As much as I appreciated His contributions and accepted his deficiencies, we don't owe him squat; let's call it even. Now, Mullen, McElwain, and Muschamp are the ones who owe Gator Nation an abundance of apologies and gratitude for making them millionaires and setting the program years back. As a matter of fact, add to the UAA and Jeremy Foley to the list of failure.

 

[GatorInKnox]

Blaming the QB is the lazy take here. He threw for >300 on the road at more than 70% completion. Utah was stacking the box to make Billy’s passing attack beat them. Good on Billy for not running into that over and over but 6 yard crossers and swing routes all game aren’t going to beat anyone. Blame the passing scheme, not the QB.

 

[deuce]

We owe AR15 nothing.......... He got what he earned.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

No he wouldn't have. Do I have to go over some box scores from last year with you? And that was with a much better OL.

AR hated to run. If he had loved to run, he may have won the friggin' Heisman Trophy.

Sure. Go over some box scores. AR ran for over 100 last year against the exact same defense.

The line was a little better, but in a lot of ways AR made that line look better than it really was.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Mertz was not and is not the problem.
The problem areas are obvious.

Mertz took a beating last night and kept on fighting looonnnnnggggg after AR would have limped over to the sidelines and be done for the day only to make a miraculous recovery by the next Saturday.

 

[MertzJay26]

No he wouldn't have. Do I have to go over some box scores from last year with you? And that was with a much better OL.

AR hated to run. If he had loved to run, he may have won the friggin' Heisman Trophy.

OL was much better because of AR, either it be escaping sacks or making defenses respect his legs. He opened up the run game a ton too.

We’ve played two games post AR and OL has looked terrible. Not a coincidence imo

Mertz wasn’t bad, he was average at best while put in a terrible position by Billy

 

[Bushmaster]

I like this Mertz guy. He probably won't win much here, probably won't make the NFL, but goddammit, the MFer hung in there to the last second, wasn't a mopey vagina on the sidelines, and kept swinging for 60 minutes.

He can't help his physical limitations and I won't ever fault a player for that. You shouldn't either. What I do call out is when a player quits giving full effort or just quits. AR did a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT of that last year. I didn't see any of that negative BS from Mertz last night.

Give him a life trophy because in the big scheme of things, that is going to matter more to him. Kid is a winner even when he doesn't win.

 

[MertzJay26]

I know everybody likes to pin last season’s woes on AR, but we averaged 29 a game. Any semblance of a defense and we win 8+ games.

 

[MertzJay26]

Blaming the QB is the lazy take here. He threw for >300 on the road at more than 70% completion. Utah was stacking the box to make Billy’s passing attack beat them. Good on Billy for not running into that over and over but 6 yard crossers and swing routes all game aren’t going to beat anyone. Blame the passing scheme, not the QB.

Here’s a good read to support my “lazy take” assuming you were insinuating I was the one blaming Mertz (I wasn’t)

Florida looks unprepared, overmatched in 24-11 loss to Utah - Read & Reaction

Florida looks unprepared - The Gators lost to Utah in catastrophic fashion, casting doubt on the entire season and on Billy Napier.

www.readandreaction.com