Week 11: Florida Gators vs Samford Bulldogs 11/13/2021

[Escambia94]

On the bright side, FSU no longer holds a record for most points scored against the Gators in a half.

The following teams have put 50 points on Florida:
- 2021 Samford
- 2020 Alabama - National champion
- 2016 Alabama
- 1995 Nebraska - National champion
- 1988 FSU
- 1972 Auburn
- 1942 Georgia

 

[DRU2012]

A travesty.
No matter what, right or wrong, I think that Mullen is now on the outward-bound conveyor belt.
The real question now is whether it is STRICKLIN who OUGHT to be...
(I wonder what Spurrier has to say about it—and how MUCH his views carry, even now).

 

[Escambia94]

A travesty.
No matter what, right or wrong, I think that Mullen is now on the outward-bound conveyor belt.
The real question now is whether it is STRICKLIN who OUGHT to be...
(I wonder what Spurrier has to say about it—and how MUCH his views carry, even now).

The opinions that matter are Kent Fuchs, Scott Stricklin, and the Board of Trustees. Yes, the boosters’ opinions matter, but the biggest boosters are also on the board. Spurrier’s opinion really does not matter, which is why he does not express an opinion in public. He is just an ambassador.

 

[Leakfan12]

On the bright side, FSU no longer holds a record for most points scored against the Gators in a half.

The following teams have put 50 points on Florida:
- 2021 Samford
- 2020 Alabama - National champion
- 2016 Alabama
- 1995 Nebraska - National champion
- 1988 FSU
- 1972 Auburn
- 1942 Georgia

2016 Bama: National Runner-Ups
1942 Georgia: National Champion

I miss the game because I work Saturday Afternoons. We can't blame Jones for this one, He played his best game.

 

[Escambia94]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1459649467620093954

 

[Leakfan12]

Also, I saw that the Basketball Team's score was close to this game (74-61 against Elon).

 

[DRU2012]

2016 Bama: National Runner-Ups
1942 Georgia: National Champion

I miss the game because I work Saturday Afternoons. We can't blame Jones for this one, He played his best game.

You didn’t miss much, from what I could see, Lf!
Mind you, I “missed” the first 3/4 of it myself—more a matter of (cringing, fearful, and as it turned out: well-FOUNDED) CHOICE!
I tuned in to watch the “Won’t Back Down” singing by the crowd (figured it might be the best “gauge” of how far fan-support has really fallen)...then stayed with it just about long enough to be fairly sure that we would indeed actually pull it out.
Against SAMFORD.
But it was otherwise just as ugly and essentially unwatchable as I’d feared—and shut it down as soon as we had that (what turned out to be the) “final score” with I think under-seven minutes left.
Mullen’s postgame comments were likewise unwatchable/unlistenable too!
I’m beyond balanced, rational judgement at this point.
I only hope I can now manage to refrain from further emotional outbursts.
The truth is, I just have no real hope nor insight into what can or is LIKELY to come next.
At this point, I am depending upon YOU guys to comment on (at least the more well-reasoned of) my comments and projections this far.
More than anything, I am hoping that YOU will have a more positive outlook than my own.
To me, right now it appears that a gaping, empty HOLE has appeared at the center of our program—and all balance, hope and sense-of-future-success is collapsing into it!
Yes: As a longtime, loyal Gator,
I HURT.

 

[Escambia94]

I am not going to lie: the first half was hard to watch. The second half looked surprisingly good once I calibrated my expectations by reminding myself that they are playing without a defensive coordinator.

 

[DRU2012]

I am not going to lie: the first half was hard to watch. The second half looked surprisingly good once I calibrated my expectations by reminding myself that they are playing without a defensive coordinator.

BUT:
THEY WERE PLAYING SAMFORD, E—!

 

[Escambia94]

BUT:
THEY WERE PLAYING SAMFORD, E—!

Without a defensive coordinator. Or an offensive line coach.

In what world does a team get better in less than a week after firing assistant coaches? The only two times it makes sense to fire coaches are after the season ends (actually or statistically) or before an FCS game. FCS opponents have real players and coaches to deal with.

 

[DRU2012]

Without a defensive coordinator. Or an offensive line coach.

In what world does a team get better in less than a week after firing assistant coaches? The only two times it makes sense to fire coaches are after the season ends (actually or statistically) or before an FCS game. FCS opponents have real players and coaches to deal with.

I know, I know.
But it is just very hard to get too jazzed about a “promising performance” against a team that ought to be trounced by our relative size, speed and talent-differential in the first place—and of course YOU KNOW THAT.
And BECAUSE I know you DO, I am trying to see things in more moderate and hopeful terms, as you are clearly making an effort to do yourself here in the first place. (For eg.: I was READY to be reminded of Pasqualone and his still-to-be-heard-and-felt practical impact on all of this when you mentioned it on the other thread—and it is a “lifeline” I personally am willing to grab, clutch tightly in iron-grip and RIDE as it whips around for the moment...let’s see where it lands us!)
But it is very difficult—and understandable that so much of the fan base, further inflamed by the short-on-insight, long-on-impatient-sensationalism media mob, are at present (a la David Bowie) “putting out the fire with gasoline”.

 

[DRU2012]

All in all, at least here in OUR small corner of Gator Nation a sort of “common ground” of rational conclusion appears as if it is beginning to emerge—something along the lines it seems of, “Let it be, and let it RIDE for now, at least as far as the Head Coach is concerned.”
I won’t grind through the gears of difficult, unhappy “situational reasoning” again here now; only reiterate the obvious caveat that this all rests uneasily on certain assumptions about further moves and effort finding a certain encouraging traction in the areas already repeatedly noted.
But we give him, and the still elusively mythical “THEM” who presumably will be brought IN, TIME to raise the standards and general level of HOPE here, SOON and to a notable degree!
There’ll be plenty of heads to roll, and time on our long road back, if this doesn’t work...
But the fact still remains:
It wasn’t THAT long ago that we were a program on its way UP; it seems worth at least TRYING to find a way back on that track, if it’s out there.
It’s easy to tear down—and even EASIER to make a big MESS of it! To rebalance a derailed train that hasn’t yet torn itself apart getting there is, or at least MIGHT be, a different matter.
One that takes strength, subtlety, and a strong, firm and patient hand—a FEW of the same, working TOGETHER!
Little more to lose, at this point—but potentially at least, much to gain, it seems.

 

[Escambia94]

There is not much common ground in the Gator Nation, especially on the Internet (where most of us have little idea how the real world works) and social media (where emotion-drive clicks matter). All I am trying to do on this forum is not pollute the Internet any further with emotionally-drive BS. There are plenty of other places for that.

Am I happy that the Gators are setting the wrong kind of records under Mullen? No. I was also not happy that Muschamp and McDeathThreats set new, bad records. The only difference between Mullen and those guys is that Mullen has an upside. This is Mullen's second tenure as a head coach at an SEC school. The other two guys were new to coaching in the SEC or new to coaching in general. Also look at the market of head coaches. Any other head coach we grab puts us 4-8 years behind. Mullen is either 1-2 years away from fixing the program or he is never going to fix it. I would like to take the higher probability with the 1-2 years to fix the problem.

 

[DRU2012]

@Escambia94,
Well put:
The above well-encapsulates where we are at—at least, a well-summarized version of the emerging consensus here at GE:
And to that “bottom line summary” that is coming down on the P.O.V., “We keep our Coach—for NOW”, we add this,
ONE MORE TIME:
“RECRUITING, RECRUITING, RECRUITING !!!”
And by the way:
Did I mention “recruiting”, too?
With it, we are BACK. Without it (or, to be more precise, continue to LOSE ground in what has been already at best a shrinking crop for us of late) we are pretty well GUARANTEED failure—and the inevitable heads-roll ending so many “out there” are calling for.
Personally, I don’t mind, even somewhat relish the role of “us-against-THEM” contrarians who are led by a Coach and team who do things their own WAY—but without a certain amount in the way of “positive results”, and soon, we may well never get the chance to see if it can happen. The long, hard, “worse-before-it-gets-better”-road will be the one we are condemned to—by default.
Things are getting away from us that quickly here!

 

[Escambia94]

There are only two weeks between the end of the regular season and ESD. There is no way Mullen can fix this recruiting class. Maybe he announces a home run hire and that bumps the class up by a couple points, but we are talking about a class that may be ranked in the 30s. Maybe a home run hire can get the class bumped into the 20s by NSD. That is a lot of maybes.

Recruiting absolutely needs to get fixed in the 2023 class.

 

[DRU2012]

So we are screwed.
Unless he can somehow find some “diamonds” in the rough of the transfer portal again, we are absolutely handcuffed for a coupla seasons regardless; and we’ll be in a deeper hole, season by season meanwhile.
I must tell you then, E—:
THAT ALONE now tends to nudge me towards the last notch towards the conclusion that Mullen’s soon end here is inevitable after all.
If he stayed after this season, it would likely be as much to “buy time”—arrest the slide, recover a portion of “respectability” (for the team and program, yes—but maybe driven for himself as well), while the field of promising new candidates expands and sharpens, and ground is laid for a talented, more apt replacement to arise.
From an objective point of view, your estimation of our recruiting bind doesn’t really change that—but the likely consequences on the field and in results in the scoreboard will almost certainly intensify the pressure to see him off.