Tee It Up: High Time To Talk Gator Football

[DRU2012]

Alright--5 more days and we're into prep-week for Florida Atlantic. Good time to maybe throw a few guesses of my own out there in answer to all the OTHER groundless crap most "experts" have been slingin' our way.
Most of it is in the category of "Yeah? Well, we'll see...", at best, and not worth answering or arguing with. However, this latest from Kirk Herbstreit (one of the better ESPN-guys, one I don't always agree with but don't generally find ignorant or stupid--even when I think he's wrong) is reasonable and may possibly turn out to be right, with one important caveat.
He sees a Gator team improved over last year's, but one whose noticeable strides under Muschamp and Co. will NOT be reflected in their won/loss record due to "their brutal schedule, one that includes road games against LSU, Auburn and South Carolina, and home against Alabama and Florida State".
While I had pretty well the same take last spring when I first considered this schedule, my impressions of the Head Coach, the coaches he has brought in and the apparent changes surrounding the players' attitudes and chip-on-the-shoulder, workmanlike approach has made me at least consider the possibility that they could win maybe 3 of those games--giving us a real shot at a 10-2 regular season. I'm not basing that on anything more (or LESS) concrete than Kirk Herbstreit is, and we'll know a lot more by the time we even START that stretch, but somehow going IN it just doesn't seem undoable at this point, not anymore.
I know, I know, there's a list of things in the "have to happen"-column and just as many in the "CAN'T happen"-one, but it wouldn't be such a bad season after all, if it turned out that way. We'll expect more in the seasons ahead, but given all the changes and uncertainties, not to mention the way we've been dismissed from all serious attention and discussion this summer, it might be enough to give us satisfaction now and confirm our long term hopes and expectations--especially if it included wins over UGA at the Cocktail Party AND FSU in The Swamp.
OK, there's my hope-filled "shot-in-the-dark". I choose NOT to get into my many fears, concerns and dark expectations here, the ones that come rushing in when I actually consider each opponent in detail, not until we at least begin to see what we've got, first. Not until we know what kind of team we'll be fielding (and as the season goes on, BUILDING) will we really begin to know what kind of season this can be.

 

[Leakfan12]

I think 10-2 is possible (well make that 11-2).

 

[DRU2012]

I'm with you, Lf12.
How about the rest of our hardcore Envy-crowd? This is just OUR view now...I'd really like to hear where we're all at going in...Do I need to "calm down", be more "realistic", go back to where I was at in March? Leakfan12 doesn't think so.
How 'bout y'all?

 

[Escambia94]

Without injuries, we go 10-2. With moderate injuries or underestimation of main rivals we go 7-5.

 

[Leakfan12]

I'm hoping it's better than last season.

 

[DRU2012]

"Good as 10-and-2, bad as 7-and-5"...yeah, that about covers it: our hopes, fears and everything we DON'T know yet.

 

[Escambia94]

My only fears are lack of depth and improvement from our rivals. By the end of the season people will be talking about our coaches being best in SEC and our players being the most under rated. Despite that, we are too thin in depth to survive without serious luck or rapid improvement from freshmen and sophomores. For example, Coach wants 18 defensive linemen, but only has 11. Teams do not always use 18 unless there are injuries. That means we can squeak by with 11, but we need to stay conditioned to play extra downs at the end of a.d. close game. Boise State does this. They may have 18, but only a dozen are good enough to play. Those dozen survive because they do not have SEC caliber players beating them up, and the offense puts the game away early. SEC teams are deeper than Little 12 or Pac-n teams..SEC teams are notorious for beating one another up. We have the talent to go 10-2 in any conference, but the depth to expect 2 to 5 losses.

 

[DRU2012]

You really covered it. It's pretty well what Coach has said, too, if we listen closely.
Right on about the aptly-named BS, too--"...and the offense puts the game away early." Remember how that used to be? THERE'S a Gator-tradition worth reviving.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

I think it's hard to make a prediction until we see who coach will be playing...if he sticks with brantley then we r 0-10

 

[Escambia94]

In a spread offense, bench JB4. In a pro style, give him a shot at redemption.

 

[Swamp Person]

I agree with letting Brantley give it a try.Just dont let him sink the team.

 

[robdog]

At least our first game "should" be a cake walk. I am looking forward to seeing the new offense and how it performs. I am expecting the defense to crush FA.

 

[DRU2012]

This Head Coach will accept nothing less than effort and execution. While it can get tricky at QB, where you don't want to "ruin" a young talent by throwing him into chaos and confusion that is beyond ANYONE'S single-handed retrieval, I believe this staff has clear standards and minimum expectations for JB IV. How he responds to actual game experience these next few weeks will determine whether this will be a year of "Gator Surprise" from the offense, or a "transitional" one after all, a "learning year" for young Driskoll while he "faces the fire" earlier than expected or intended.
Ideally, of course, Brantley will be able to finally duplicate whatever he has shown in practice that has seemed to fill coaches, teammates, and (for the first time) HIMSELF with confidence, allowing them to bring the others along apace. LAST year, despite our various rationales, that frustrating display of erratic ineptitude in the first game really WAS a harbinger of everything that team was and wasn't going to be--a warning about who was and wasn't in CHARGE, too, and how that might affect all aspects of the team's performance, "potential" be damned.
Look, we won't see anything LIKE perfection out there this Saturday, but there will definitely be things the coaches will be looking for while the team establishes itself and carries out basic tasks set out for it on BOTH sides of the ball. Me, I'm looking for a certain smooth efficiency from our offense; I have a feeling the defense will shut down FAU from the start. Weis will have (at LEAST) the first couple of possessions scripted, so we should get an idea of where they're headed and the work in front of them pretty early on.

 

[Swamp Person]

I love hearing the views posted on here.Could i get either one of you to go out on a limb to give a guess of win- loses for this year?Remember this is just a guess....Nothing to go to Vegas on lol.....

 

[Escambia94]

8-4, with a bowl game 9-4. I do not normally go out on a limb, but I think we should all have fun with the mystery. We have an excuse to be wrong this year.

 

[CaliZona_Gator]

At least our first game "should" be a cake walk. I am looking forward to seeing the new offense and how it performs. I am expecting the defense to crush FA.

I'm not sure we will show too much offensively or defensively in the first two games. A lot of coaches just like to run basic offensive formations and basic defensive coverages in these games.

Of course, even a limited offense and defense will be very different than last year, and very exciting to watch for all of us salivating Gator fans.

 

[Leakfan12]

Just hope that the FAU game is better than last year's Miami of OH game.

 

[Escambia94]

I'm not sure we will show too much offensively or defensively in the first two games. A lot of coaches just like to run basic offensive formations and basic defensive coverages in these games.

Of course, even a limited offense and defense will be very different than last year, and very exciting to watch for all of us salivating Gator fans.

I read that FAU thinks their pro style offense is similar enough to their where they will not be surprised, and they are mostly south Florida and Miami area athletes that can keep up with our players. We shall see. They are coached by our old enemy coach, Schnellenberger, who is 6-0 in bowl games. He could treat this like a bowl game or a throwback to his days at Miami and coach a good game against the Gators.

 

[robdog]

9-3 with 10-3 being a bowl win. (just not sure if it is going to be a BCS bowl )

 

[DRU2012]

Game 1: For all the reasons already noted, they play us fairly close the first quarter-and-a-half or so (though I have this strong suspicion we'll be at LEAST a TD up early thanks to a Brantley-to-someone bomb that actually gets caught this time--remember last year? Please-oh-please don't throw it to "c*ckfingers" again; the idea is to CHANGE things this time), then we begin to pull away. Make no mistake: we ARE more talented than they are, our Muschamp- and SEC-tough "D" will frustrate and wear them down, and even the mostly vanilla version of a Weis-designed (and yes, even Brantley-led) offense will begin to roll up yards and points as the game progresses. look for the back-ups and beyond to finish the 4th quarter.
Season: If I WERE picking for Vegas, I'd probably go with E-94's 8-and-4 regular, plus bowl to 9-and-4...with a decent shot at that 9-3 (to 10-3 w/bowl) RobDog bids, knowing we should take it and turn proudly, hopefully towards 2012.
(However, not meaning to lay "unrealistic expectations" on a team that has so many unanswered questions going in, I admit to a kind of "double-secret OVER-hope" that's been growing inside: the more I hear all the put-downs and nay-saying coming from "experts" who know nothing more than any of us, after all, the more a part of me offers reasons that the rest of me is willing to at least fantasize about--the idea being that maybe, just maybe things line up right with talent, health and GOOD coaching the way last year they all lined up wrong with BAD coaching, and the hilariously satisfying outcome of, oh say, 10 wins, including the SEC-title, heading into January?)

PS By the way, S- P-, great pic!