Recommended (with reservations)

[DRU2012]

For a hope-rising, pride-filling view of this year's Gators and the season ahead, see Bill Connelly's "2011 Season Preview: Fear, Invisibility and the Florida Gators" at SBNation.
You'll love this if you haven't run across it already. The reason for any hesitation on my part has to do with letting things happen in their own way, at their own speed, not getting ahead of ourselves, and, let's face it, the secret hope that yes, maybe we CAN be very good, and let's not let THAT cat out of the bag, not this early in the process...

(PS--Bill C. is NOT a Gator-columnist, specifically, but rather a football-analyst, a good one, who uses his own statistical approach in comparing teams' relative strengths and weaknesses; for a more in-depth breakdown of that approach and the meaning behind certain terms and numbers he uses in the Gator-piece, you can go to his "Football Studyhall", also at SBNation)

 

[CaliZona_Gator]

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/8/25/2382240/florida-gators-football-preview-2011

pretty interesting article, but I think the dude is looking waaaay too much into weird stats.

 

[DRU2012]

Agreed. Still, after weeks, MONTHS of being ignored or dismissed as a rebuilding, third-in-the-SEC-East-team at BEST, it sure was a kick reading stuff like "...get ready to feel really silly come October, when The Gators beat Alabama...", and a general warning to sports writers about how stupid they're gonna look and feel as they scramble to explain how they missed so bad on a team that by then may be scaring everyone.
Again, don't want to get ahead of ourselves--I don't claim to have fully grasped his statistical rationale, and am not one to rely on numbers for confidence in the first place--hence, the "reservations". I am trying hard to be patient, practical, "realistic", but deep down there's still that proud Gator inside me that wants so badly to shove it all back in their faces and down their throats. The sooner the better: I'll wait 'til next year if I have to, and I do understand that I may have to, but that doesn't change how good it felt to see it out there, like a ray of light bursting through the clouds.
For now it's just one voice, and no one's listening--which is just as well, 'cause we haven't DONE anything yet.
If there's gonna be a"story", this is how it has to start.

 

[Escambia94]

I actually like the weird stats. If you learn those, it helps you understand what is going on without the orange and blue bias. When comparing dissimilar players, it evens the comparison. I use similar numbers when comparing, say, Tim Tebow's impact to Percy Harvin or Steve Spurrier's quarterbacking to Danny Wuerffel. Unfortunately, these S & P numbers do not work well for one year at a time predictions unless comparing to several years of past or projected performance.

 

[robdog]

Thanks for the heads up Dru. Was a nice read...

 

[ShortBus]

the problem is.. we have Johnny "can't throw for shit" brantley coming back as qb and Deonte "couldn't catch a bucket of KFC" Thompson back as wide receiver.. i see a repeat of 2010's debacle of a season... Unless Weis is wise and benches these two incompetent retards at the first signs of buckling under pressure (first snap of saturday's game)

 

[Escambia94]

the problem is.. we have Johnny "can't throw for shit" brantley coming back as qb and Deonte "couldn't catch a bucket of KFC" Thompson back as wide receiver.. i see a repeat of 2010's debacle of a season... Unless Weis is wise and benches these two incompetent retards at the first signs of buckling under pressure (first snap of saturday's game)

Give them both a chance. Spread option football is an entirely different brand of offense. In the spread option, zone read the quarterback must be mobile, must throw to a helmet instead of a spot, can get away with staring down a receiver waiting for a window, and rarely passes in the post. In the pro style the quarterback does all the things that we understand about quarterbacking--drop back, make reads, draw plays, play action, throw to a spot, only run when the play is broken, etc. JB4 will be expected to do well in this style of offense. These are things he tried to do in the spread that just did not work. As for Deonte, my only defense for him is that he was not built for the blocking he had to do under Meyer, and he might have been too tight from blocking to loosen up, switch gears, and catch. Maybe. Either way, it is a new year in. a new offense. Lets give them a shot at redemption.

 

[robdog]

Damn SB, you down on the upcoming season or what?

Lets see how the game goes this weekend and then move on from there. (even if it is a powder puff team)

 

[DRU2012]

I'm tellin' ya, just like last year in the first qtr. of the first game, Brantley drops a bomb into a WR's hands--I'm just PRAYING it's to someone, ANYONE other than "c*ckfingers": it's got to be CAUGHT this time. Looking back, it seems like 2010 all started going wrong right there early in game 1, so this feels important to me. As I've said elsewhere, the idea is to CHANGE it all this time.