Give It To Us Straight, Billy

[DRU2012]

That's the whole deal right there, as stated in the title to this thread...
"TO BILLY NAPIER & STAFF:
Give it to us straight--and build this team and program RIGHT...ie.: For the LONG haul.
No more pussy-footing around; Just do what you CAME here to do."
As for last night's debacle against UK, the one "not so terrible" thing (I sure as HELL can't, WON'T use the word "GOOD" here) about such an otherwise painfully disappointing event and experience is that it DOES in effect FREE us: After a week of unexpected attention from a fawning, overbearing and meddlesome crowd of basically ignorant and mainly late-joining "Me-TOO-ers" in both the media AND among the "trendiest" of our supposed "FANS", all posing as "joyful and knowledgeable BELIEVERS" upon whose shoulders we could and DID find ourselves raised high ABOVE any previously recognizable "realistic level of current potential", we now find ourselves quickly plunging BACK towards ignominy.
Both immediately and in the long run, this is probably an improved status, from a learning perspective, for AR AND the rest of this TEAM, AND from a TEACHING perspective for Billy Napier and his staff, going forward from HERE for the rest of this coming crucial and NECESSARY "transitional period of CHANGE" that this team and program is in--and were BOUND to complete and experience in ANY event!
As for US, the long-suffering and dedicated members of Gator Nation, it is a common enough, if inevitable refrain:
"WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!!!"
As the wave of "sudden attention and expectation" moves on, this Coach and staff are more or less FREED from its glaring, searing focus, and instead released to the quietly determined WORK of BUILDING A WINNER back in Gainesville once more.
The NEXT time The Light shines our way perhaps we will deserve and be CAPABLE of sustaining its attention!

PS. IF they can KEEP recruiting going in the direction it has been TRENDING in of late, and
IF we can establish and KEEP a general calm poise and steady, responsibly determined and PACED sense of mutual support and balanced consistency in our growth and steady advance as a united TEAM, then we might BEGIN to see and FEEL the true and lasting BENEFITS of our pending time of HARD WORK in the service, direction and EVENTUAL ACHIEVEMENT of the hard GOALS that are waiting for us to achieve BY NEXT SEASON, earliest, perhaps.
For now, though, that POSSIBILITY will just have to suffice: Relatively short BURSTS of dazzling flashes of "what will BE" from Richardson and all the various OTHER components of what will eventually be a COMPLETE UNSTOPABLE WHOLE of "The Story of BUILDING A WINNER under Billy Napier at University of Florida Football".

 

[Escambia94]

To be fair, Billy Napier's press conference was straightforward:

- "Coaching a lot like teaching... when the students do not perform well, you gotta look in the mirror..."
- "In football, you gotta tell the truth...between the lines you gotta earn the right to win..."
- "We did not earn the right to win...we made too many mistakes..."
- "As a leader, we will take ownership...[of our response to the loss]..."
- "We can coach better, we can play better...and that starts with me..."

Napier showed what the Gators can do when they are healthy and motivated using basically the same team from last year and some key additions from recruiting and the transfer portal. The win over Utah may have set expectations too high, so it will be up to Napier and his army to use this loss as a teaching moment. Iron out a few things before the next game.

 

[Escambia94]

My last point on this is that no other Gator QB has started his first three games like this:
- #2 Georgia
- #7 Utah
- #20 Kentucky (pre-season pick to be #2 in the SEC East)

He had zero preparation with unranked team or cupcakes that most other QBs get. We shall see how Richardson does against unranked USF before he has to face ranked Tennessee.

 

[Escambia94]

Not making excuses, but Richardson might have played through an injured ankle. Napier might not be ready to play Kitna or Engel, but every time Florida plays Kentucky we get shenanigans like this. Here is a Kentucky defender twisting Richardson’s ankle after the tackle. Richardson limped a little afterwards, but he might have understood what just happened.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1568786803767005184

 

[Leakfan12]

Richardson carried more weight than he should have. Napier should have ran the ball more especially in the first half.

 

[DRU2012]

Richardson carried more weight than he should have. Napier should have ran the ball more especially in the first half.

And E--'s "view"-link above goes a long way towards explaining how and why that was happening, AND the reason he couldn't respond as expected in the 2nd half.
No excuses--but I WILL say this:
For MANY reasons, there is a MULTI-TON WEIGHT COMING DOWN FROM THE SKY, a huge chunk of MASSIVE RECKONING headed quite deservedly and directly onto the University of Kentucky football Wildcats, right down on their heads courtesy of the University of Florida Fightin' Gators one day in the not TOO distant future--and not just ONCE. Had they won SOLELY with their superior play that would be different. But as things stand, there must be payback.

 

[DRU2012]

@Escambia94,
In reply to ALL your consecutive posts above, I am glad you commended everyone to Billy's pointed response/post-game presser--and DOUBLY appreciative of the CONTENT of said remarks!
The Coach SAID what NEEDED to be said.
Your subsequent comments filled a few MORE things in.
I WILL of course refrain from reactionary judgement, and yes, I'll be here with y'all for the games to come.
What I will probably greatly curtail is the degree I so easily slipped back into following the MEDIA'S "word-circus" concerning our team and program. I came INTO this season determined NOT to get caught up in all of that--but after that first big week I relapsed badly.
Hence the TITLE of this thread...and perhaps even more important, my follow-up declaration:
"WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!"

 

[Escambia94]

Another way to put it:
- The Gators learned to win ugly against Utah
- Kentucky is better at winning ugly—this is how Stoops became the winningest coach at Kentucky
- The Gators still have room to improve, and they need to make big improvements with USF as their training dummy
- All mistakes are the fault of the leaders, and they are holding themselves accountable. In two weeks we shall see what adjustments they make

 

[DRU2012]

Another way to put it:
- The Gators learned to win ugly against Utah
- Kentucky is better at winning ugly—this is how Stoops became the winningest coach at Kentucky
- The Gators still have room to improve, and they need to make big improvements with USF as their training dummy
- All mistakes are the fault of the leaders, and they are holding themselves accountable. In two weeks we shall see what adjustments they make

I have watched Billy's post-game presser a number of times now (once again right now).
I've not only been impressed with his forthright "OWNING UP" from the very start, but like yourself E-- I have found additional important admission, responsibility and clarity "between the lines" actually voiced.
This was always GOING to be a "season of learning"--as much turmoil as "transition" as a result, and though we learned a few good and valuable things about our team and future in Week 1, it is certainly just as true that as always, a loss, especially one as full of mistakes, set backs, inexperience and reversion as we showed in Week 2, have at least the POTENTIAL to teach us much more--and it is entirely encouraging and reassuring to realize that our staff, from the Head Coach on down, sees it that way and if his remarks hold any sincerity, this is exactly how it will all be analyzed and applied.
So we WON'T likely "shock the world" with some driving streak back towards "elite status" this season after all. Back to "reality": This will be at best a day-by-day, week-by-week uneven slog through a typically difficult SEC schedule--one that will test AND teach us. THANKFULLY so.
For that is exactly what this program NEEDS for now. We knew that by the time Dan Mullen was fired last year. The very fact that one game, with a young and quite inexperienced QB at the helm out there could fool everyone so well into thinking otherwise, no matter HOW embarrassingly "OFF THE MARK" in retrospect, is also pretty encouraging, from a longterm P.O.V.
That is how I am trying to "realign" my view, going forward from here.
This team, like our quarterback, will almost certainly dazzle us, bring hope, optimism, even great joy again in WAVES before even THIS, his and their first season together under the new regime, is over. COUNT on it--but beware:
There'll be more setbacks too.
There is so much growth and learning to be accomplished, life and wisdom to be experienced and absorbed. And there are no shortcuts, no easy alternative, no "other road" to travel.
Our Coach at least sees it...Let's try to bear it all in mind, try to enjoy the details and the view as we the follow the long hard March ahead, in solidarity and support.

 

[Escambia94]

We as fans will learn a lot about this staff and these players in the loss. It helps that we have USF to be our training dummy this week.

 

[DRU2012]

@Escambia94,
Yes--but having someone closer to USF in relative talent, skill and toughness BEFORE this string of stern tests (especially the double-barreled emotional AND physical strain of opening up with a much-hyped, highly ranked, experienced and favored Utah squad, then riding the emotional high and resultant national attention of an unexpected win into and against another ranked opponent--this one a growing conference rival with a definite chip on its shoulder!
In a way, it was akin to being SET UP for a "fall".
I have a feeling "NEXT year's Anthony Richardson" (if there were to BE one in a Gator uniform) wouldn't have been nearly so susceptible to such an experience.
However:
What's done is DONE...And now that it is, "we" (team, Coach, fans, young Richardson himself) cannot just try to forget it, "sweep it under the rug". We all very much need to LEARN from it--Billy and Anthony above all more than everyone else!
Approached and examined from THAT P.O.V., this indeed may well be an OPPORTUNITY: a chance to backtrack and fill in a valuable set of learning experiences, life LESSONS that he needed, was somehow missing before now.
I can't speak to or FOR all the coaches and situations he faced BEFORE getting here, but damnit, we can sure see and fault Dan Mullen, the supposed "great qb whisperer", with uniformly MISSING on this one. Not gonna dwell on that now--but it's TRUE. I don't know if it was the job of "Head Coach" at UF itself, or somehow the actual details of developing young quarterbacks (something he was reputed to be UNIQUELY good at!), but Mullen appears to have somehow completely eschewed his responsibilities in this particular instance. More or less stuck AR in the "background/doghouse" and FORGOT about him...ignored him--did NOTHING-in-the-SLIGHTEST to further develop him, at any rate.
WEIRD, considering the man's "main claim to fame"
...Looking back on it all now, this may be the "WEIRDest" of a whole LOT of "weird stuff" that Mullen displayed his last year or so here...
And maybe all that continues even now; the job he went on to take directly AFTER being fired by UF; some of the otherwise sparsely isolated comments since. I really bought into his self-professed guise of "Gator through-and-through", that he positively "came back here" to "return to finish a job", etc. It sure doesn't look that way NOW. But no matter how you regard that last illusory link to our past, it is probably best for me to follow my own advice here:
Time to leave all that behind...At least "set it aside", let it GO, and MOVE ON.
Yes, I have some "angry issues" that perhaps one day we can voice--maybe even do some "finger pointing" after all! But I also know it'll do us little good (certainly not now), beyond maybe exorcize some pesky "demons"! Not all that "useful", from a practical perspective--but still possibly a relief. Oh well. Not today.

 

[Leakfan12]

It was a bad weekend for the Gators because the Gators didn't do well in the College Bowl losing to Georgia and the other two schools got more points than the Gators.

 

[DRU2012]

It was a bad weekend for the Gators because the Gators didn't do well in the College Bowl losing to Georgia and the other two schools got more points than the Gators.

I was so preoccupied with the Football team and game, the new season and all, that I missed the above entirely. Frankly, glad I did: That alone was MORE than enough for me.