AFTERMATH: Worse Than We Thought

[DRU2012]

It is pretty damn clear at THIS point:
We just aren't very GOOD.
The numbers certainly support that point;
Myself, I am confident in staying with "the Eyetest"...which certainly does not bode well in terms of trends as far as success and how the rest of this season threatens to go.
For the moment. we are committed to this Coach and his staff in doing the most possible with what we've GOT here now, and eventually gathering the talent they can mold and build into a WINNER here over time.
For now, the one thing required of US is PATIENCE; Now, that hasn't exactly been a traditional "strength" here in "Gator Nation". Having been forwarned, either we now heed those warnings THIS time or suffer accordingly at least in coming weeks! Let us hope our Coach has some inkling of (and is thus READY for) the likely crescendo of complaint ahead!
It will neither be pleasant nor particularly constructive. He will somehow have to carry on with his laid back yet at same time determined HIGH ENERGY campaign to bring us along, no matter HOW vitriolic the growing ABUSE turns out to be.
We are going to lose some games, make no mistake--and if there is one thing LAST night's game should have shown us, bad as a WIN can look or feel (and THAT one was AMAZING in its effect on ME--I was driven to nearly abandoning the game and personal responsibility here at GE entirely, ready to simply shut it all down and just accept whatever "result" LATER--"AFTER-THE-FACT"!!!), a LOSS only INTENSIFIES all that and MORE! Big surprise: ANY kind of WIN is better than any kind of LOSS. But there CAN be "Bad WINS", it seems.
As it in fact played out, I DIDN'T quite ENTIRELY withdraw: I pulled a sort of "PSEUDO-Check-Out". I announced my withdrawal, stopped participating for a while down the stretch, but remained online, switched away from the game but asked to be alerted should we somehow retake the lead late.
I sure didn't EXPECT that, NOT the way our defense was (NOT)performing and how our young QB had seemed to throw away our last chance at the opposing goalline with a crucially bad INT!
As it developed, a call came in from out of town, a friend letting me know that we had gotten the ball back in quick fashion and marched down the field once more--and RAN it in this time!
(I have since WATCHED the whole sequence in replay mode...) So I DID tune back in to witness the final minute-plus, their frantic drive (AGAIN thrashing our defense with their running game, until THIS contest statistically one of the worst in the nation!) downfield and into our red zone, 1st-and-goal--and THEN the mis-snap, THEN the mis-HOLD leading ultimately to the miraculously CLOSE miss on the would-be TYING fg...
But for a coupla breaks to end 2 of the first 3 games to open the season in the Swamp, we could (maybe SHOULD) so EASILY be 0-and-3 now. And what I am saying here and now is, THAT is pretty well the truly telling "level-of-PLAY" we have shown thus far.
This sort of thing has a way of "evening OUT" in the course of an SEC schedule; it'd be a good idea I think to prepare ourselves for THAT in the weeks ahead; Even with "improvement", we've a "headstart" on mediocrity, on MAYBE that ".500, plus-or-minus 7.5 WINS" record that so many were projecting for us BEFORE the season.
Even with good luck and a certain "determined resiliency" we still appear to be on track for that, and perhaps not a whole lot more.
Not yet--not without time, work, more luck and a WHOLE lot more added talent.
We can GET there. But it will be done "the old-fashioned way":
Time, work, and a determined, unified TEAM.

 

[Escambia94]

We just need to recalibrate our expectations. Kentucky and Missouri have established reputations of winning ugly this past decade, and they have suffered less program churn than Florida. This is what we are: a program under constant churn since 2010 that refuses to accept the fact that Kentucky has surpassed them. We should embrace the role of underdog with no chance to win without making the game ugly. Maybe in a couple years we can get back to that Gator swagger where wet look good blowing our opponents or grinding them into the ground. For now we need to embrace the possibility of winning with ugliness and luck.

 

[Leakfan12]

Also, is it too soon to give up on AR? Three games and no passing touchdowns not to mention two picks against USF. If I recall, I trashed Emory Jones for that against the same opponent and now that's what AR did. Not to mention Jones actually threw a TD pass and no picks though he's 1-2. I don't know if it's on Richardson, Napier, the offensive system, combo of all three. I know we weren't expecting Fun N' Gun 2.0 but Crap. Things better be fixed soon or the season will a bumpy ride.

 

[DRU2012]

Also, is it too soon to give up on AR? Three games and no passing touchdowns not to mention two picks against USF. If I recall, I trashed Emory Jones for that against the same opponent and now that's what AR did. Not to mention Jones actually threw a TD pass and no picks though he's 1-2. I don't know if it's on Richardson, Napier, the offensive system, combo of all three. I know we weren't expecting Fun N' Gun 2.0 but Crap. Things better be fixed soon or the season will a bumpy ride.

First, my brother, THIS season WILL be "a bumpy ride" from here REGARDLESS--Starting next week at Tennessee:
I will WATCH (of COURSE--What else can I DO?), but I am TRYING to swallow that one as a LOSS already. I haven't felt quite that way for DECADES--not since PRE-SPURRIER. But if I CAN'T manage that, I fully expect it to be a multi-curse, throw-the-remote type of experience.
Now, as for AR in particular, and this program under Billy Napier, I honestly recommend PATIENCE and insight...I still believe in BOTH.
I could still be wrong about Anthony (so many unknowns, uncertainties and unfathomables--how HE responds to play, the vagaries of experience and "fate", does he stay healthy?).
I am LESS uncertain about Napier's longterm success here with us. I know that is inherently a more shakey proposal, given our history AND the standards and expectations here at UF--not to mention how many ways there are to BLOW IT, plus all the talented Coaches and programs who have a headstart--all GUNNING for us and HIM.
However, I already BELIEVE in this guy. I have LOTS of solid reasons, but it all really comes down to INTANGIBLES; All the accumulated YEARS, all the players and COACHES and situational experiences themselves have all ultimately come together to somehow translate into a sort of "GESTALT" of what-I'm-LOOKING-for--After all I'd seen and all the guys WE'D seen on our sideline and the other, I didn't even KNOW that "I would KNOW him when I saw him...and I DIDN'T at first, even when he first was announced and showed up here.
It took a little while, and it WASN'T all-at-ONCE--but it didn't take all that long either: Came a point early on when I somehow crossed a line: "This guy chose US for a REASON. I'm ready to give him BACK the SAME commitment, and trust." I don't care for another "merc", a flashy "gun for hire"--and that isn't how he presents himself. He arrived prrsenting himself as a GATOR. He INTENDS to BE here for a LONG WHILE. He PLANS a stable and secure program that, once properly rebuilt, will annually contend for inclusion and consideration among the ELITE.
THAT is what we have been WAITING for. Some have made false claims, others haven't even tried.
So: Never MIND what the pundits and YouTubers are saying...Billy is our guy, and ANTHONY should benefit from finding himself under his tutelage. MY only concerns are mainly to do with all that talk about his being some "sure thing high-1st-round draft pick", regardless of whatever happened here and now...I think that was always "premature" at BEST; My HOPE is that that is by NOW at least "TBD", and that PERHAPS his NIL deal here at UF PLUS maybe some sort of insurance protection against serious injury should he stay in college one more year might, all told, see him DO just that--give this team and staff time and experience to see him fully perfect and realize his potential, warrant and RECEIVE all the rewards that are waiting for him.
Now, we don't currently HAVE a healthy "true alternative" backup at QB who has the level of talent OR development currently to sub for him, it seems--so for now at least he'll get every opportunity to play THROUGH whatever he is going through at the moment, and it sure seems he is "going through" something.
It's TRUE that it hasn't been pretty the last coupla weeks, and I HATE that his next chance to "work THROUGH it" is going on the road to a resurgent Rocky Top. If ever "Patience" was required, this is likely IT.

 

[DRU2012]

We just need to recalibrate our expectations. Kentucky and Missouri have established reputations of winning ugly this past decade, and they have suffered less program churn than Florida. This is what we are: a program under constant churn since 2010 that refuses to accept the fact that Kentucky has surpassed them. We should embrace the role of underdog with no chance to win without making the game ugly. Maybe in a couple years we can get back to that Gator swagger where wet look good blowing our opponents or grinding them into the ground. For now we need to embrace the possibility of winning with ugliness and luck.

"Recalibrate our expectations" perhaps--but NOT our standards, our actual EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE of what "QUALITY" and "DETERMINATION" look like, what its resulting reality FEELS like, how VICTORY naturally FLOWS from the application of all the rest!
One of our advantages is our recent enough memory of the HABIT of winning, what it takes and what it FEELS like--Though fading perhaps, is still quite real and manifest in our recent memory:
WE MUST NOT LET GO!
Lets hold it CLOSE, even NOW!
OTHERS who are PRETENDING to feel it may be easily swayed, to be convinced that this ISN'T somehow "a reality to be fought for, RETURNED to". But not US.

 

[Escambia94]

The standard is still the same, but the expectations need to be lowered. Remember that 60 of these athletes played on a team that lost 7 games and fired its head coach. Changing out coaches does not fix skill or depth in a year.

 

[DRU2012]

The standard is still the same, but the expectations need to be lowered. Remember that 60 of these athletes played on a team that lost 7 games and fired its head coach. Changing out coaches does not fix skill or depth in a year.

That IS the proverbial "bottom line", right there.
All the rest is "window dressing":
There are still an OCEAN of changes and additions to be made--and we are merely seeing the consequences of PREVIOUS coaching failure. Gotta give THIS one TIME, a proper chance.

 

[Escambia94]

That IS the proverbial "bottom line", right there.
All the rest is "window dressing":
There are still an OCEAN of changes and additions to be made--and we are merely seeing the consequences of PREVIOUS coaching failure. Gotta give THIS one TIME, a proper chance.

Next year we come out with pitchforks if Florida does not beat Utah 55-10.

 

[DRU2012]

Stack the wood; Bring the feathers...I'll set up the iron bucket of tar!

 

[condolawyer]

I was there Charley Pell's first year. 0-10-1. We need to adopt a better way of looking at things, Not to say "At least we aren't the Huskers" (true) but to know that BN left a million $ plus on the table to hire assistants and specialists. See, e.g., @katieturner0087, @CoachRobSale, @UF_CoachRaymond, @coachmhocke and @CoachMPeterson, @PToney and many others. A+ rating by 247 Sports. We have been to the top and will be there again....

 

[DRU2012]

I was there Charley Pell's first year. 0-10-1. We need to adopt a better way of looking at things, Not to say "At least we aren't the Huskers" (true) but to know that BN left a million $ plus on the table to hire assistants and specialists. See, e.g., @katieturner0087, @CoachRobSale, @UF_CoachRaymond, @coachmhocke and @CoachMPeterson, @PToney and many others. A+ rating by 247 Sports. We have been to the top and will be there again....

Good points.
I was there for Pell's first year too (those first coupla years AFTER that season, the joke you'll recall, when asked about our record, was to say,
"Oh, 10-and-1 last year..."). We had a good time at home games that season though--nothing was on the line!
But yes, as you say, "We've been to the top!" (and then some--reoeatedly) since then--to see us deteriorate as much as we have in recent years, while perhaps nowhere NEAR as far a fall as we saw then, is still not something we are prepared to endure.
And we won't have to; Billy has already begun to have a wide-ranging positive impact here. He has begun to establish a new standard of discipline, responsibility, resiliency and mutual respect.
This will be I think both fun AND satisfying.

 

[Leakfan12]

I was there Charley Pell's first year. 0-10-1. We need to adopt a better way of looking at things, Not to say "At least we aren't the Huskers" (true) but to know that BN left a million $ plus on the table to hire assistants and specialists. See, e.g., @katieturner0087, @CoachRobSale, @UF_CoachRaymond, @coachmhocke and @CoachMPeterson, @PToney and many others. A+ rating by 247 Sports. We have been to the top and will be there again....

Not sure if you want to bring up Charley Pell because of what happened during his tenure in G-Ville.

 

[DRU2012]

Not sure if you want to bring up Charley Pell because of what happened during his tenure in G-Ville.

No use ducking it. BOTH are "notable" points in our history: The regrettable record ("OH, ten and one...") his first year here AND the subsequent NCAA sanctions incurred (just a matter of "what was DONE back-in-tbe-bad-old-days" in college football, in Charlie's case all learned at the feet of his mentor, the Man-in-the-Tweed Fedora HIMSELF at Alabama, long before Pell got to Gainesville). He was at the top of college football, and it was BIG NEWS when he came here from Clemsen to be Florida's Head Coach...This was right at what was to be the END of our long rep of "The Sleeping Giant"--soon to finally change when the confluence of a string of factors led one Steve Spurrier, Gator Hero-at-Large to ride in from Duke to ultimately CHANGE ALL THAT, to Save the Day and start a NEW "Storyline" here.

 

[Leakfan12]

No use ducking it. BOTH are "notable" points in our history: The regrettable record ("OH, ten and one...") his first year here AND the subsequent NCAA sanctions incurred (just a matter of "what was DONE back-in-tbe-bad-old-days" in college football, in Charlie's case all learned at the feet of his mentor, the Man-in-the-Tweed Fedora HIMSELF at Alabama, long before Pell got to Gainesville). He was at the top of college football, and it was BIG NEWS when he came here from Clemsen to be Florida's Head Coach...This was right at what was to be the END of our long rep of "The Sleeping Giant"--soon to finally change when the confluence of a string of factors led one Steve Spurrier, Gator Hero-at-Large to ride in from Duke to ultimately CHANGE ALL THAT, to Save the Day and start a NEW "Storyline" here.

Still think the 1984 Gators should have been national champ but the NCAA and the SEC decided to be petty.

 

[Escambia94]

Still think the 1984 Gators should have been national champ but the NCAA and the SEC decided to be petty.

If we used the same criteria as several other schools we could definitely claim a national championship in 1984. Due to the multiple media polls it is possible to dig through obscure history and claim quite a few, as Texas A&M has. If Florida wanted to be petty they could be like aTM and claim the following (even if nobody else agrees):
- 1911 (5-0-1), coach: G. Pyle. Penn State (8-0-1), Princeton (8-0-2), Minnesota (6-0-1), and Florida could lay claim as national champion, since there was no national selector. In 1936, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively chose Princeton as the best team of 1911.
- 1984 (9-1-1), coach: C. Pell. DeS, DuS, MGR, NYT, R(FACT), SN, SR chose Florida as national champion.
- 1985 (9-1-1), coach: G. Hall. SR chose Florida as national champion.

1911 is an interesting year. That was the first year that the Florida football team officially went by the nickname "Florida Gators", even though there are competing stories as to when they started using the nickname unofficially. This is the only Florida team that has gone undefeated. At the time, Florida was an independent school. This was the first year that the Gators played home games on campus, at the University Athletic Field on University Avenue. Before 1911, they played at the Gainesville Municipal Ballpark. The Gators claimed themselves the state champions of South Carolina and Florida that year.

FYI: Texas A&M claims national championships in 1919, 1927, 1939, but only the 1919 and 1939 claims are realistic. Arguably, only the 1939 claim is realistic using Florida's standard, because in 1919 each of the major selectors chose a different national champion among Centre, Harvard, Illinois, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M. Texas A&M began claiming the 1919 championship when they joined the SEC in 2012.

 

[DRU2012]

There IS "ONE MORE POINT TO CONSIDER"...
One more criteria by which to follow, watch and JUDGE this Gator team and program now in this, the 2022 college football season...
"What can we accomplish with the rest of that season??!"
Growth? Discipline? Greater cohesion?
Can we somehow "HUNKER DOWN", emerge as something "dangerously NEW" NEXT year?
I do not know--but these are things that might be accomplished. Give this Coach and staff THAT much "benefit of the doubt": They DO have ambitious PLANS.
And that's what it takes. That, and flexibility--to adapt and change ON THE FLY as reality and the activities of others conflict with our own out there, after all.
OUR growth...The ability for US to "adapt and overcome": Right here, right now if and when it is required.
Or not. THAT is the challenge....ALWAYS.