Gator Bites, Week 12: NR Florida Gators vs #11 South Carolina Gamecocks

[DRU2012]

The Gators definitely could have won that one. The defense did play better, but they need better coaching for the DBs. The corners missed out on INTs and got PI penalties just because they never turn around to spot the ball. The OL still sucks, but was decent enough for USCe. It may have come down to the lack of a kicker.

Yes--a kicker` would have meant THEY'RE scrambling into OUR D at the end...but that was the diff only because our OC and his master calling the shots, Muschamp, thought a couple of early TDS that their "scripted first 25 plays" managed to produce thanx mainly to TAYLOR'S brilliant, intuitive performance (before the Gamaecocks' coaches realized all they had to do was key on HIM--that OUR coaches weren't gonna run anyone or anything ELSE) amounted to "plenty of offense", anyway enough to win. Our bad luck was that actually seemed to work out for us last year...In a sense, we're still paying for the extended run of good-fortune that season amounted to. All in all, over BOTH seasons we're running up the relatively mediocre record this staff's level-of-coaching proficiency and imagination was likely to produce in the first place.

 

[Escambia94]

I hope Clowney wasn't an excuse to not throwing the ball much because HE ONLY HAS TWO SACKS. Shoot I would have taken my chances.

Clowney was not the excuse for not throwing. The coaches did not trust Skyler throwing. If you look at his passing, you can see why. He may have thrown a lot in high school, but in SEC play he is a liability unless one of the receivers can break open and help. That is another problem--we only have two pro-style receivers with any catches, and they are both freshmen. Granted, with different coaching this entire offense *might* be different, but this is what we have. This sounds a lot like 2010.

 

[Escambia94]

When I look at bad luck this year versus good luck last year, I am reminded of Will Muschamp's statement in 2012 that the Gators have a thin margin for error with the personnel on hand. He said that last year when we had better players (11 of them now in the NFL or graduated) and fewer injuries. This year our margin for error rested on Driskel, Jones, Easley, Debose (arguably), Christie, and a Sturgis replacement. Four of those six elements were gone by week 3. Christie's punting woes has befuddled everyone. Austin Hardin is woefully underwhelming at kicker after being the top kicker projected by ESPN. End result: Florida had zero margin for error since week 3. Reminder: we are on week 13.

 

[Ga8or22]

In fact--and after this, I promise to cool it, shut up even--but in final, honest response to this whole "love my team" (and I DO), look for the positives (and I DID), thing that I really did give a shot at tryin' to be a part of, I just gotta say "FUCK IT!" to that too...
I mean, WTF, my bro's??? We just shouldn't be this bad in the first OR last place--and as for the injuries, which yes, set us back and have had their inevitable (enormous) impact, our 2nd string should STILL have been enough for a better showing in most cases than has been the case--there are other things, OTHER "failures" going on there, as we've discussed.
ANYWAY, how DID all those injuries just "happen" to us in the first place?!! We were already getting more than our share of season-ending ACLs and the like the last couple/few years, since Muschamp arrived: THIS season's "rash", bloody AFFLICTION of such serious ones for so many (10!!!) significant players just defies the "bad luck" scenario.
Won't bother even trying to analyze the possible reasons, but know enough to say that there could be controllable "causes" after all.
Why is Foley so bent on making explanations, EXCUSES for this Head Coach? Why is the HC likewise so attached to this OC? Why should WE bother "accepting" and/or supporting any of it??!
ANOTHER YEAR! Unless something is done I've gotta wait at least 9 months of it in deep-down pessimistic foreboding and cynical resignation, mixed in with vain hope, that it MAY be better but probably NOT, not a whole lot anyway. And WHY, ultimately? 'CAUSE WE HAVE ONE OF THE MOST IMPOTENT, MORIBUND OFFENSES, not just in the SEC, NOT just in Gator history (even on the '79 team we had "The Cadillac", Cris Collinsworth playing almost every playmaker's position on the offense and giving us a couple of thrills at LEAST every game), but IN ALL OF CURRENT COLLEGE FOOTBALL.
When you think about it, the only questions appear to be, (1) "Who is ultimately to blame?", and/or (2) "Who do you actually fire replace to best and MOST QUICKLY turn things around?"
I expect a decisive answer from Foley's office by the first or second week of December, at the latest--or see Foley himself topping the LIST of "FORMER Gators" by the New Year. No Shit.

As the old saying goes, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken poop." And the Gators tried and almost succeeded in doing that versus the Gamecocks. The head coach isn't the entire problem. He's just a chef who was expecting to make a 5-star meal but has been given Taco Bell-caliber ingredients to work with. And some of the other chefs are McDonalds quality not elite restaurant quality.

 

[DRU2012]

As the old saying goes, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken poop." And the Gators tried and almost succeeded in doing that versus the Gamecocks. The head coach isn't the entire problem. He's just a chef who was expecting to make a 5-star meal but has been given Taco Bell-caliber ingredients to work with. And some of the other chefs are McDonalds quality not elite restaurant quality.

Look--your point is well-taken...--but it immediately begs the question, "Who made the decisions regarding who we brought in here?"...Why ARE we so devoid of playmakers when it comes to the passing game? At a certain point, the cause-effect equation HAS to be questioned, turned on its head: I'm more and more convinced that this Head Coach and his OC aren't "working with what they've got", resulting in a "run-only offense", but consciously, WILLFULLY getting what Muschamp values with intent to make THAT work, no matter what. We've been heading more and more in this direction on offense since he got here, and with Pease, by now it's nothing BUT run, run, run...With Taylor, that IS gonna work some of the time, even with teams keying on him--he's that good. But even he can't fight a whole defense keying on him with no regard for the forward pass, as they are (correctly) more and more convinced they can do as the games wear on. Result: Injuries or no, we continue to have and become even more deeply embedded as "THE WORST OFFENSE IN THE SEC"--one of the worst in the COUNTRY, statistically. I just don't see this changing anymore, not without a change at the top. I therefore must revoke my support of this Head Coach and his OC until such time, by whatever means it happens (voluntary or not), that the OC is gone, and at the very LEAST, the HC no longer exerts control over that offense.
That WAS the original idea--by Muschamp's own admission. Of course, the guy he brought in and claimed to defer to on that side of the ball, Weis, didn't work out--and it seemed a "lucky break" when the Fat Man ("I'm here to stay...I'm a Gator now...") bailed for the first Head Coaching job offered to him (at Kansas) after one bumbling season as our OC...Who would have thought that Pease would turn out worse? Thing is, our Head Coach has no apparent problem with it--more and more seemingly because he APPROVES of its direction, dictated its "philosophy" and much of the specific stress on that moribund running game. Do you really believe that with a healthy offensive line and all our backs available it would somehow all work out "fine"? Are we to play for "just enough points", week in week out, and eschew the forward pass, exciting play and a certain amount of unpredictability out there for ever more? Does anyone think we'll EVER be some latter-day reincarnation of the 1960 Green Bay Packers (who had Bart Starr, btw, and who took their shots downfield from time-to-time themselves, keeping defenses "honest" AND producing sudden points themselves when needed)???

 

[Dale J. Rodriguez]

Dru2012, I understand your sentiments. I believe something has change, you cannot win in this game without a passing game.

Even Alabama has a shotgun formation I am just saying:



Exactly, Dale

 

[DRU2012]

Dru2012, I understand your sentiments. I believe something has change, you cannot win in this game without a passing game.

Even Alabama has a shotgun formation I am just saying:
Exactly, Dale.

Exactly, Dale.

 

[Escambia94]

What does everyone think of Skyler's passing? He was 10 of 13 for 107 yards with an INT. Statistically that is nothing to brag about, but he does not control the plays that are called. Here are his downfield passes at the end of the game:

• 1st and 10 at FLA 26 Skyler Mornhinweg pass incomplete to Ahmad Fulwood.
• 2nd and 10 at FLA 26 Skyler Mornhinweg pass complete to Kelvin Taylor for 15 yards to the Fla 41 for a 1ST down.
• 1st and 10 at FLA 41 Skyler Mornhinweg pass complete to Trey Burton for 4 yards to the Fla 45.
• 2nd and 6 at FLA 45 Skyler Mornhinweg pass complete to Quinton Dunbar for 7 yards to the SCaro 48 for a 1ST down.
• 1st and 10 at SCAR 48 Skyler Mornhinweg pass intercepted by Jimmy Legree at the SCaro 36, returned for 7 yards to the SCaro 43.

His best passing was very Wayne Peace-like: short passes to running backs Taylor and Brown, dump-offs to Burton, and screens or short passes to Dunbar.

The receivers need to help by getting open very quickly, and the OC and WR coach need to help by not having receivers run out of the play when the pocket is collapsing.

 

[Dale J. Rodriguez]

His Passing was not bad for what he was given, I think the problem is that we have WR's that are in an incompatible offense.

Our offense needs to allow the receivers better routes, thanthese short routes, they need to throw in some mid-range routes, skinny posts and the like.

 

[Escambia94]

His Passing was not bad for what he was given, I think the problem is that we have WR's that are in an incompatible offense.

Our offense needs to allow the receivers better routes, thanthese short routes, they need to throw in some mid-range routes, skinny posts and the like.

I agree. Skinny post, quick slant, and buttonhook. Keep it simple and quick.

 

[Dale J. Rodriguez]

Escambia, great mind's think alike, I was thinking a buttonhook route too.

 

[Ga8or22]

His arm strength needs to improve