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Gator Gameday (11/19): Hosting UAB
- Thread starter DRU2012
- Start date
Ok Ok I clearly haven't been drinking anywhere NEAR enough--just a coupla beers while doing WAY too much thumb-typing here. Sorry. I'll try and catch up.
Will keep me from yapping so much, anyway. More fun, too...
I'm back. Notice we let 'em score. Tsk tsk.
Really have nuthin' to add to my last comments before riding over to Hoboken Pies for some cheeze bread and ranch (total Texas thing, far as "pizza" goes).
Gonna stay with that, the hope I find in having it still in us to overwhelm a healthy and confident squad at our place--with OFFENSE.
It starts with small steps.
Really have nuthin' to add to my last comments before riding over to Hoboken Pies for some cheeze bread and ranch (total Texas thing, far as "pizza" goes).
Gonna stay with that, the hope I find in having it still in us to overwhelm a healthy and confident squad at our place--with OFFENSE.
It starts with small steps.
They are the losers with more points. What did they win?
Actually, I will say that Eddy Pineiro just became Florida's most accurate kicker beyond 35 yards.
Yes--and let's face it: That's part of "the bad news". Even we rabid Gator-lovers ARE somewhat surprised--at beating UAB, in what in truth amounted to a "workman-like" performance.
But stepping back from all that, looking at it in the context of everything that has happened leading up to this one, have to say that except for a single "let-down play" to start the 4th qrtr (right after a nice Gator drive--the D allowing their WR to get behind them), this same Florida team which has looked so across-the-board putrid so much of the time in every facet of their game, actually looked balanced and composed on both sides of scrimmage line yesterday. That is more and more the case in our running game--behind a proverbial "patchwork O-line" already down to 3rd string players after just losing its 2nd center.
Look, it's not like we beat the OTHER Alabama team to take the SEC yesterday. But after so much "nothing", I'd be an ungrateful grouch if I didn't acknowledge a clutch "come together, play-for-each-other" performance when it suddenly, finally materialized. And not coincidentally, the first to be anything LIKE an "entertaining" one in a very long time.
Look, if Shannon can lead this young, crippled team to another such performance NEXT week, even against a similarly wounded-AND-underachieving edition of our cross-state rivals , well, that would be another "really good sign" that maybe we have underlying potential, the foundation for future success after all.
From MY P.O.V. at least, it would also raise the idea that if we DON'T have a "true and only Guy-We-Want" target for our next Head Coach, or can't GET that guy right now, we at least CONSIDER retaining Randy Shannon in that role, with the behind-the-scenes understanding that he WILL likely retain the "interim" tag for now, no matter what. If done right, it may be an option that at the very least keeps us from rushing into another longterm mistake--buys time to get where (and WHO) we really want and need to eventually be.
Don't misunderstand me here: STILL be better if we had one clear target, went after him and got him NOW. But more and more I am getting the idea that isn't necessarily the case (and maybe THAT should open the door to a practical discussion as to "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?" who we keep relying on to MAKE these decisions, and keep getting it WRONG? Should we make changes THERE? And with them hardly even identified, how would we go about doing so, IF so?), so this may be a wise alternative. Better than forcing a 2nd or 3rd choice NOW because "they" (again, those who are charged with the task) feel they HAVE to, "NOW".
Agreed--ANOTHER "apparently GOOD thing" that may well REALLY be "a BAD sign", in the wider, "SETTLE for 3 all-too-often" context...with these and the above "closer look"/"wider context" notes attached...
(Of course: In managing so long an exposition in simple agreement and support of yours and Lf's somewhat sardonic comments, I suppose I am a satire of MYSELF...Well, at least I am consistent)
My last look back here:
For all my (relatively) "hopeful" comments regarding our latest, and search for even SMALL "signs" that that hope is warranted, I must inject this splash-in-the-face cold water that I was hit with at the end of this morning's day-after College Football wrap-up on the SEC network:
At the very end, they went over the relative placement and likely continued positions of the current "top 6" teams vying for places in the eventual "Final Four"--and for us it only "highlights" that rub our FACES in how far we truly are right now from even "eventually" being a part of all that again...
I could go on at great length about not only that (where we are at right now) but how far we were and are from where we thought, CONVINCED ourselves we were coming INTO this season.
Our first "reality check" came right from the start against Michigan. In fact, for us, how things REALLY were and are is in effect EMBODIED in Michigan: The "Top 10" team that mugged us to start the season are by now ranked lower than WE were when we played them (#24), having themselves again been exposed as barely-above-avg by ANOTHER team that wasn't nearly as hyped by the media machine back in Aug/Sept. It has been a strange season all around. The drive towards "fairer balance" across the board in college football continues to have at best "unpredictable results".
We could benefit though. With the right Coach, I now think that WE might well join the latter, rising programs sooner and higher than that Wolverine team with their high-profile Coach. But right NOW, it is for example (gritted-teeth GULP) U MIAMI that is "back". Back from 20 years plus of proven scandal of the highest order (violations far worse than the pretext for SMU's "Death Penalty", for example). Yet here they are (and though the talking-heads on ESPN love to SAY "UM is BACK!", no one mentions "back from WHERE", you'll note).
I HATE it.
But that's where things are at, why we have a LOT of work to do and have to be careful NOT to rush things, not force the issue and go get "a name" just because it is what "everyone KNOWS that's what we need to do, NOW"...
Will say it one more time here, the pitfall we have stepped blindly into twice in a row now and simply CANNOT do again:
Yes, we need "The Right Guy"...need to identify that one, clear "Right Fit" target, go after him--and if we can't get HIM, then maybe we WAIT: Short-to-mid-term, maybe we GET that guy within a manageable amount of time. Continue the nuts'n'bolts, hard work of our ongoing rebuild while we we wait for "someone in particular". Or the overall picture changes.
Again, yes, I'm beginning to think that maybe our "interim" Coach Shannon can keep things moving forward, get a lot of the hard, necessary but not-widely-or-publicly-appreciated work done for now--while behind the scenes we get whatever needs to be done to continue and eventually close-the-DEAL on the wider search for "THAT GUY" who will seal-the-deal longterm.
It has certainly felt like TIME is not on our side here. But when you step back and consider it (as "circumstances" have and continue to force us to do), the WORST thing we could do now is make another MISTAKE, hype OURSELVES into another poor choice.
We have already managed to TWICE enthrone individuals who were poor fits, on relatively scant empirical evidence accepted the latest "image" the media had created around them... We ended up with men who weren't what we thought they were: They got rich while our whole program slipped deeper and deeper into a hole it was going to be harder to climb out of, longer to fix and put behind us.
I know this is all over-simplified--neither as good NOR bad as any of the various fans or pundits (myself included) insist at various times, for various reasons with varying degrees of insight and/or emotion.
By now, it doesn't matter so much HOW or WHY: I think we HAD a "first choice", didn't happen quickly like our "braintrust"/money men hoped/expected, but at this point the waters are muddied, there is a certain amount of conflicting concern and disaggreement, somewhat of a standoff among "factions"--and at this point, in effect there is now an unintended, ENFORCED "step back and consider" period under way...and as I say, for a number of reasons that may not be a "BAD thing" for us here. As long as it ultimately "bears fruit", whatever that turns out to be:
There's a REASON "they" are at some sort of impasse: Think about it, "Mr. New AD". Do your thing, consult and consider, find "consensus" if you can--but in the end YOU are the one person who has the very real power to break up any impasse, turf war or stubborn hold out: Make a MOVE. Whatever that is--a particular current candidate, a "pause and hold for now", OR a shake up somehow in who and HOW the people and process that has produced such (lets face it) poor, even ultimately disastrous results last coupla times--They should ALL at least be "on the table", and possible to SETTLE by YOU.
For all my (relatively) "hopeful" comments regarding our latest, and search for even SMALL "signs" that that hope is warranted, I must inject this splash-in-the-face cold water that I was hit with at the end of this morning's day-after College Football wrap-up on the SEC network:
At the very end, they went over the relative placement and likely continued positions of the current "top 6" teams vying for places in the eventual "Final Four"--and for us it only "highlights" that rub our FACES in how far we truly are right now from even "eventually" being a part of all that again...
I could go on at great length about not only that (where we are at right now) but how far we were and are from where we thought, CONVINCED ourselves we were coming INTO this season.
Our first "reality check" came right from the start against Michigan. In fact, for us, how things REALLY were and are is in effect EMBODIED in Michigan: The "Top 10" team that mugged us to start the season are by now ranked lower than WE were when we played them (#24), having themselves again been exposed as barely-above-avg by ANOTHER team that wasn't nearly as hyped by the media machine back in Aug/Sept. It has been a strange season all around. The drive towards "fairer balance" across the board in college football continues to have at best "unpredictable results".
We could benefit though. With the right Coach, I now think that WE might well join the latter, rising programs sooner and higher than that Wolverine team with their high-profile Coach. But right NOW, it is for example (gritted-teeth GULP) U MIAMI that is "back". Back from 20 years plus of proven scandal of the highest order (violations far worse than the pretext for SMU's "Death Penalty", for example). Yet here they are (and though the talking-heads on ESPN love to SAY "UM is BACK!", no one mentions "back from WHERE", you'll note).
I HATE it.
But that's where things are at, why we have a LOT of work to do and have to be careful NOT to rush things, not force the issue and go get "a name" just because it is what "everyone KNOWS that's what we need to do, NOW"...
Will say it one more time here, the pitfall we have stepped blindly into twice in a row now and simply CANNOT do again:
Yes, we need "The Right Guy"...need to identify that one, clear "Right Fit" target, go after him--and if we can't get HIM, then maybe we WAIT: Short-to-mid-term, maybe we GET that guy within a manageable amount of time. Continue the nuts'n'bolts, hard work of our ongoing rebuild while we we wait for "someone in particular". Or the overall picture changes.
Again, yes, I'm beginning to think that maybe our "interim" Coach Shannon can keep things moving forward, get a lot of the hard, necessary but not-widely-or-publicly-appreciated work done for now--while behind the scenes we get whatever needs to be done to continue and eventually close-the-DEAL on the wider search for "THAT GUY" who will seal-the-deal longterm.
It has certainly felt like TIME is not on our side here. But when you step back and consider it (as "circumstances" have and continue to force us to do), the WORST thing we could do now is make another MISTAKE, hype OURSELVES into another poor choice.
We have already managed to TWICE enthrone individuals who were poor fits, on relatively scant empirical evidence accepted the latest "image" the media had created around them... We ended up with men who weren't what we thought they were: They got rich while our whole program slipped deeper and deeper into a hole it was going to be harder to climb out of, longer to fix and put behind us.
I know this is all over-simplified--neither as good NOR bad as any of the various fans or pundits (myself included) insist at various times, for various reasons with varying degrees of insight and/or emotion.
By now, it doesn't matter so much HOW or WHY: I think we HAD a "first choice", didn't happen quickly like our "braintrust"/money men hoped/expected, but at this point the waters are muddied, there is a certain amount of conflicting concern and disaggreement, somewhat of a standoff among "factions"--and at this point, in effect there is now an unintended, ENFORCED "step back and consider" period under way...and as I say, for a number of reasons that may not be a "BAD thing" for us here. As long as it ultimately "bears fruit", whatever that turns out to be:
There's a REASON "they" are at some sort of impasse: Think about it, "Mr. New AD". Do your thing, consult and consider, find "consensus" if you can--but in the end YOU are the one person who has the very real power to break up any impasse, turf war or stubborn hold out: Make a MOVE. Whatever that is--a particular current candidate, a "pause and hold for now", OR a shake up somehow in who and HOW the people and process that has produced such (lets face it) poor, even ultimately disastrous results last coupla times--They should ALL at least be "on the table", and possible to SETTLE by YOU.
(DID like how our crowd showed up and REPRESENTED in The Swamp, btw. Randy was right in his post game comments. We take a slightly different approach here at GE, of course: We hurt, so we tell ouselves and each other how little hope we have and how little we care--but WE WATCH, right til the end, when the TEAM is clearly doing the same--but I was glad to see that similarly, the fans (especially the student side, which was PACKED) showed up at Ben Griffen, were wildly enthusiastic as their Gators finally began to show consistent power and drive on BOTH sides of the ball (especially on offense, for a startling change), and STAYED right through.
The BEST part (for me as much or MORE even than the TD drives), was the TP singalong after "We Are the Boys", between the 3rd and 4th qrtrs. Did ya notice how the officials tried to whistle the game back in, but then stopped and let them carry it on for a little while longer after the (commercial) break before eventually restarting play? I wonder if someone said something to someone, or they figured it out themselves...
The BEST part (for me as much or MORE even than the TD drives), was the TP singalong after "We Are the Boys", between the 3rd and 4th qrtrs. Did ya notice how the officials tried to whistle the game back in, but then stopped and let them carry it on for a little while longer after the (commercial) break before eventually restarting play? I wonder if someone said something to someone, or they figured it out themselves...
The new tradition of singing Tom Petty along with "We Are the Boys" is throwing off the officiating crews, camera crews, and the visiting band. As the tradition becomes engrained over time, maybe another year, everyone will figure out how to make it work.
The fact that this seems to have started and now carried forward by the fans (much as I imagine "We Are the Boys" must once have been), together and without some sort of organized "proclamation", is the best part--and another, maybe the biggest, sign of and reason for "HOPE".
For the first time since the season got under way, I found myself filled with pride.
GATORS FOREVER!
