Dale J. Rodriguez
Gator Fan
We appreciate the ranking, but we are focused on USC this Saturday in Gainesville.
-
Welcome to Green Bay Packers NFL Football Forum & Community!
Packer Forum is one of the largest online communities for the Green Bay Packers.
You are currently viewing our community forums as a guest user.
Sign Up or
Having an account grants you additional privileges, such as creating and participating in discussions. Furthermore, we hide most of the ads once you register as a member! Furthermore, we hide most of the ads once you register as a member!
Gators #2 BCS
- Thread starter Dale J. Rodriguez
- Start date
I'm with you, Dale--and thankfully it seems clear (actually TRUE) that this team, taking its cue from the coaching staff, their own experience AND the team-leaders who have DEFINITELY been through it all before and mean to see the whole team really approach each week, each opponent "one game at a time", do not want to risk wasting the opportunity this growing momentum has played/is playing in the team's "early arrival" at the center of the action--as much as possible doing what they can to ignore, or failing that (since "ignoring it" is sometimes unrealistic, even impossible) limiting the impact of the media spotlight and resulting target on their backs for other teams to focus and aim at.
(Frankly, I'm just glad that some fluky calculations by the computers didn't place us FIRST, for a LOT of reasons--not least of which because I look at Alabama and see them as the best in OUR league right now, which clearly makes them the best, most balanced and well-rounded team in college football right now--which DOESN'T mean we couldn't beat them, even tomorrow with the team we have now if things went our way, and ESPECIALLY with growing confidence down the road in Atlanta, us steadily improving and expanding our game-tested options, PLUS whatever Pease is brewing behind-the-scenes, with more and more time to do so as the season goes along without anyone having seen it...But that's just an idle side-note I have the luxury of considering--I have no doubt any longer that our TEAM doesn't bother with ANY of that: After this past week's demonstration of single-minded focus and determination in the face of all the things that are SUPPOSED to "distract" or "catch" a young team, though we might get beaten, I am becoming a real fan of our poise as WELL as our toughness; I am finally becoming confident in this team's being "ready to play".)
(Frankly, I'm just glad that some fluky calculations by the computers didn't place us FIRST, for a LOT of reasons--not least of which because I look at Alabama and see them as the best in OUR league right now, which clearly makes them the best, most balanced and well-rounded team in college football right now--which DOESN'T mean we couldn't beat them, even tomorrow with the team we have now if things went our way, and ESPECIALLY with growing confidence down the road in Atlanta, us steadily improving and expanding our game-tested options, PLUS whatever Pease is brewing behind-the-scenes, with more and more time to do so as the season goes along without anyone having seen it...But that's just an idle side-note I have the luxury of considering--I have no doubt any longer that our TEAM doesn't bother with ANY of that: After this past week's demonstration of single-minded focus and determination in the face of all the things that are SUPPOSED to "distract" or "catch" a young team, though we might get beaten, I am becoming a real fan of our poise as WELL as our toughness; I am finally becoming confident in this team's being "ready to play".)
Actually, the computer portion of the BCS total ranking does have Florida first. It's the humans in the BCS ranking formula that bring Florida down to second. Not that it really matters. I have learned to take it one game at a time. The South Carolina Gamecocks are not afraid of the Swamp, especially with their head coach's name emblazoned on our Ring of Honor and their recent successes at BHG.
"...not afraid of the Swamp...head coach's name emblazoned..." --THAT'S for sure, and one of the reasons why, while I enjoyed his irascible personality during the years he was our coach and all he DID for our program in the past, I ALWAYS warned against our creating a "cult of personality" around the little smart@$$--all the MORE suspicious of his eagerness in continuing to fuel, even pander to it every chance he got, even after he had returned to the SEC East with another program: I had the feeling it would come back to haunt us, the demystification of our program and our Home-advantage at least for ONE team--paid for at our own expense, no less! Now we have to find a way to turn tables on him--make this the first lesson in why he and his "new family" shouldn't get too comfortable while they're here--in OUR house!
Right now, I'm watching the replay of the Vandy game here in the wee hours Sun night/Mon. morn.,and have several post-game observations: Vanderbilt played a heck of a game, for one thing...They had a good plan to shut us down and executed it well. Though we DID mainly stick to our "this is what we do--stop us!" game plan on offense, we DID take some shots downfield AND had a short-to-midrange ball-control passing game ready to go, even used it a few times and would have used it more had circumstances demanded it. As things played out, it actually looked better than the stats will show, the misses (maybe on half the attempts) coming mostly on rushed throws (one consequence of our suddenly patch-work O-line for this game) and outright drops by receivers--the good news is we got a number of chances to run that part of our offense, it looked quite "viable" after all, and we both know now what needs to be worked on AND that once we do, we can make it work. There's no replacement for in-game experience. Meanwhile, anyone scouting our "tendencies" learned very little new about ANYTHING regarding our offense from this game, the little revealed of a pending passing-game serving only to warn them that we probably indeed have one. That only goes double for our special teams, where we popped at least one big surprise (and one "smaller one" too, on that early 2-pointer) and a couple of possessional/flip the field plays on them. Anyone facing us who doesn't think each squad has a plethora of such catch-you-sleeping game-changers among their options ready to go at any time (especially Pease, who has as creatively aggressive an imagination on offense as anyone in college football right now) is leaving us an opportunity and themselves wide-open to frustration and embarrassment after-the-fact. What has been most interesting here the 2nd time through (this time without stress or judgment fueled by fear of failure) has been the way we have been able to exert our dominance by force-of-will and a confident awareness of our superiority despite an "off"-day with a lot of our starters out--the opposing team rising to the occasion, well-coached and staying disciplined, playing near the top of its own capabilities, WE appear to mainly stick to the plan, pull a few surprises and finally find some ways to score some points, take and stretch the lead THIS time without hardly grinding out 1st downs OR time-of-possession, and somehow do what we came to do without showing our next opponent much of ANYTHING, let alone "anything new".
Let's TALK about that "next opponent" that next game against SS and his now no doubt angry-as-he-is (and angry as the Tigers were this past Saturday after we beat them) Gamecocks...The last few games have more and more taken on a certain identity for us: It seemed we went into several early SEC games with a chance for a "Signature Win" for our Head Coach and his program, but though we won every one it seems it wasn't "REALLY" so until we beat LSU. Then came this past Saturday, and a clear "TRAP Game"--but we slipped that "trap". Well, I'm giving THIS one coming up against South Carolina our own label: THIS game is our "Measuring Stick". Here's where we find out if we really ARE "ready for the Show", prepared to carry on in similar fashion as we run the gauntlet that will be the remainder of this season with the lights on and a target on our backs. At the start of the year, for example, we went into that first game against TAMU on the road in the SEC just hoping to "show well", keep it close and not be embarrassed--in games against A&M in College Station and tough ones after that "at least make a game of it" we told ourselves...We have certainly raised our expectations for this team and this season since then--and more important, this TEAM expects more of itself than we knew, and so far has made GOOD as much as anything because it DOES NOT look ahead or get caught up in anything anyone ELSE, anyone outside of their coaches are telling them about preparation for the team and game right in front of them. This team is about winning, and concentrating only on that and itself, what they have to do as individuals, squads and a TEAM to achieve it. Though they don't get caught up in the hype, how it all fits in the larger discussion of what's up the road or what their chances are for "running the gauntlet" and eventually playing for a National Championship, their coaches having well-convinced them that their best chance of achieving ANY of the goals they hold close, have shared with themselves and each other and no one else since the beginning of their hard work on the long road that began last spring, has been and continues to be dependent on that collective single-minded focus on the next challenge, the hurdle right in front of them. We are going to find out right here whether ANY of this talk about contending for an SEC-, then National Championship has any validity, any basis in reality at ALL...Win this one, and though our team (from the coaches down to the practice squad walk-ons) will be focused still only on the next team they face in the next game they play, we fans can perhaps no longer be AFRAID of such discussion: Victory in this "Measuring Stick" game can free us as fans to begin to relax, openly feel pride in our team and try to ENJOY what we'll probably be the last to admit may be a special season--the one that announced our "Return", at least a year before even we dared hope or believe would be the case.
Right now, I'm watching the replay of the Vandy game here in the wee hours Sun night/Mon. morn.,and have several post-game observations: Vanderbilt played a heck of a game, for one thing...They had a good plan to shut us down and executed it well. Though we DID mainly stick to our "this is what we do--stop us!" game plan on offense, we DID take some shots downfield AND had a short-to-midrange ball-control passing game ready to go, even used it a few times and would have used it more had circumstances demanded it. As things played out, it actually looked better than the stats will show, the misses (maybe on half the attempts) coming mostly on rushed throws (one consequence of our suddenly patch-work O-line for this game) and outright drops by receivers--the good news is we got a number of chances to run that part of our offense, it looked quite "viable" after all, and we both know now what needs to be worked on AND that once we do, we can make it work. There's no replacement for in-game experience. Meanwhile, anyone scouting our "tendencies" learned very little new about ANYTHING regarding our offense from this game, the little revealed of a pending passing-game serving only to warn them that we probably indeed have one. That only goes double for our special teams, where we popped at least one big surprise (and one "smaller one" too, on that early 2-pointer) and a couple of possessional/flip the field plays on them. Anyone facing us who doesn't think each squad has a plethora of such catch-you-sleeping game-changers among their options ready to go at any time (especially Pease, who has as creatively aggressive an imagination on offense as anyone in college football right now) is leaving us an opportunity and themselves wide-open to frustration and embarrassment after-the-fact. What has been most interesting here the 2nd time through (this time without stress or judgment fueled by fear of failure) has been the way we have been able to exert our dominance by force-of-will and a confident awareness of our superiority despite an "off"-day with a lot of our starters out--the opposing team rising to the occasion, well-coached and staying disciplined, playing near the top of its own capabilities, WE appear to mainly stick to the plan, pull a few surprises and finally find some ways to score some points, take and stretch the lead THIS time without hardly grinding out 1st downs OR time-of-possession, and somehow do what we came to do without showing our next opponent much of ANYTHING, let alone "anything new".
Let's TALK about that "next opponent" that next game against SS and his now no doubt angry-as-he-is (and angry as the Tigers were this past Saturday after we beat them) Gamecocks...The last few games have more and more taken on a certain identity for us: It seemed we went into several early SEC games with a chance for a "Signature Win" for our Head Coach and his program, but though we won every one it seems it wasn't "REALLY" so until we beat LSU. Then came this past Saturday, and a clear "TRAP Game"--but we slipped that "trap". Well, I'm giving THIS one coming up against South Carolina our own label: THIS game is our "Measuring Stick". Here's where we find out if we really ARE "ready for the Show", prepared to carry on in similar fashion as we run the gauntlet that will be the remainder of this season with the lights on and a target on our backs. At the start of the year, for example, we went into that first game against TAMU on the road in the SEC just hoping to "show well", keep it close and not be embarrassed--in games against A&M in College Station and tough ones after that "at least make a game of it" we told ourselves...We have certainly raised our expectations for this team and this season since then--and more important, this TEAM expects more of itself than we knew, and so far has made GOOD as much as anything because it DOES NOT look ahead or get caught up in anything anyone ELSE, anyone outside of their coaches are telling them about preparation for the team and game right in front of them. This team is about winning, and concentrating only on that and itself, what they have to do as individuals, squads and a TEAM to achieve it. Though they don't get caught up in the hype, how it all fits in the larger discussion of what's up the road or what their chances are for "running the gauntlet" and eventually playing for a National Championship, their coaches having well-convinced them that their best chance of achieving ANY of the goals they hold close, have shared with themselves and each other and no one else since the beginning of their hard work on the long road that began last spring, has been and continues to be dependent on that collective single-minded focus on the next challenge, the hurdle right in front of them. We are going to find out right here whether ANY of this talk about contending for an SEC-, then National Championship has any validity, any basis in reality at ALL...Win this one, and though our team (from the coaches down to the practice squad walk-ons) will be focused still only on the next team they face in the next game they play, we fans can perhaps no longer be AFRAID of such discussion: Victory in this "Measuring Stick" game can free us as fans to begin to relax, openly feel pride in our team and try to ENJOY what we'll probably be the last to admit may be a special season--the one that announced our "Return", at least a year before even we dared hope or believe would be the case.
The video that NaffGutts posted makes the Gators look very good. I can tell you that they sounded bad over XM Radio. When I say "bad", I mean "like the past couple years of Alabama football that won ugly but in a very boring manner". Then when I see the highlights and read about the plays that were called back due to penalties I think that Florida may have a decent formula going on. The formula needs a deep-strike passing attack just to keep opponents honest, and it needs fewer costly penalties. Fix those two things, and the Gators have an edge over South Carolina. Stay healthy, win in the trenches, win the turnover game, feed Gilly, and on occasion, go deep. It may not be exciting like the Fun N' Gun or the peak of the Urban Attack, but I think another year or two under Pease will fix that.
NaffGutts
Gator Fan
agreed on everything mostly, although i will compare these few things.
South Carolina had a 4th quarter TD pass to beat Vandy, and barely
LSU was able to shut down their run and establish theirs
Conner Shaw doesn't do well when pressured
Also, the one that I'm most keen on, is South Carolina has had 3 road games:
Vandy - which they barely pulled off
Kentucky - which they were trailing at half
LSU - we all know what happens here
They are not a road team, historically speaking, they are horrible on the road and rally around their own home crowd. If they think the Swamp will be any less quite, they are in for a rude awakening.
I got our Gators winning 21-10
South Carolina had a 4th quarter TD pass to beat Vandy, and barely
LSU was able to shut down their run and establish theirs
Conner Shaw doesn't do well when pressured
Also, the one that I'm most keen on, is South Carolina has had 3 road games:
Vandy - which they barely pulled off
Kentucky - which they were trailing at half
LSU - we all know what happens here
They are not a road team, historically speaking, they are horrible on the road and rally around their own home crowd. If they think the Swamp will be any less quite, they are in for a rude awakening.
I got our Gators winning 21-10
FrozenGator
Gator Fan
DRU has no idea what that means.Damn DRU2012, we need some line breaks in that beefy bit of text.
One of the reasons we love him.
Damn DRU2012, we need some line breaks in that beefy bit of text.
(laughing--what choice do I have?) OK OK--...But that means no more posting in the middle-of-the-night, I guess...DRU has no idea what that means.
Still stand by everything I said there--just said too MUCH, I guess: Gotta remember to reread-and-edit more ruthlessly under those circumstances--was tempted to cut it down NOW, but what-the-hell--Sorry...)
My main point was that aside from injuries, WE are in control of everything that needs to happen in order for us to beat Carolina this Saturday, and carry on from there. What I'm most sorry for above is DROWNING that "main point", the idea that this game could be thought of as our "Measuring Stick"-game, the pivotal one in which we determine how good we are, how far we can go THIS SEASON, after all.
Clearly we are CAPABLE of winning the game this Saturday against the Gamecocks. It will require our best, most complete game so far, but I think we've come far enough ourselves and seen enough of them to know that it is at least doable. After that, the teams we face will have to more and more worry about handling US...as we continue to refine what we already do well, with each game (especially on offense) revealing more things we CAN do, we'll become a more fully balanced team--by the end of the season a formidable match-up for ANYONE. Whether that will include the current best team in OUR league, Alabama, well, that won't even be an issue unless and until we actually GET to Atlanta--which we can only do by traversing that "One game at a time"-route that MUST be our mantra the rest of the way.
I won't bother returning to the details of how we might go about DOING that--believe it or not, there's already a pretty thorough breakdown from everything I have observed buried in that "beefy bit of text" above--and y'all have a good handle on it anyway, far as I can see...I think we can safely assume that the Coaches see the same things we do and, while tightlipped and showing as little as necessary to get wins up 'til now, have planned for and prepared their young team to respond to new challenges in each game they play.
To a certain extent, this South Carolina team mirrors ours in the way they get the job done, with a running game and good defense. That's EXACTLY why I have a feeling that The Trickster, SS, will try to bust open a passing game and the lead early, shut US down and force us to go to a passing game we haven't shown we have before now. Wouldn't it be great if that backfired on him, if it turned out we were READY for just that eventuality? As the season has unfolded, we have all seen and commented that it seemed inevitable that SOMEONE tried pulling something like that sooner or later. It's why we've worried at what seemed "missed opportunities" for our gaining "in-game-experience" in the passing game before now--but as E- notes above (and I have said here and elsewhere), in truth we have been doing just that to some extent, albeit in about the most low-key manner possible: we haven't taken many "shots downfield", perhaps, but we HAVE been attempting more, and more COMPLEX passing plays in the course of each game. I suspect we by now have a fairly versatile short-to-mid-range passing attack "ready for primetime", when it comes--and a few well-practiced "bombs" in our arsenal as well.
