Okay. Sober now. I take back what I said about Zook. That was a silly statement. This is one way to purge ourselves of those over rated divas from the old regime. This will take a couple years to fix.
I do not see us climbing out of this quicksand. Georgia is better than Auburn, and we looked silly against them. South Carolina and FSU are looking scary unless something changes in the bye week. One man can raise this team up. John Walter Brantley IV. Damn, I wish I could take back everything I said about him. We need a leader. Easley leads our defense, along with Elam. Rainey is sucking as a leader. Gillislee is a captain, but he needs more carries.
I don't know what else to say. Buckle up and hope we get to .500.
You've got nothing to apologize for, man--I'm just glad you feel the way you actually DO.
"This will take a couple of years to fix": Ain't THAT the truth? I came in saying (and believing) we'd be "good next year and GREAT the one after that"...Saturday's game confirmed my worst fears, those that began to stir during those back-to-back slaughters: given how MUCH is wrong, the wholesale housecleaning that is required among our players, this group comprised of a few hardworking TEAMmates and what turns out to be a large number of talented losers out for themselves, we must add at LEAST another year onto that estimate. THAT'S assuming the Coach begins the process now, goes with those TEAMmembers he's got, and where possible starts moving the head cases aside THIS season. If they don't like it, let 'em walk--more openings for this next recruiting cycle--his first full one and now even more important than it already WAS. Even so, next season is bound to be the "reload" we were HOPING this one would be last spring, making 2013 our next shot at challenging for BCS contention, and the year after THAT the year we regain our full, "unstoppable might".
There's lots to say about the nuts'n'bolts of "keeping it together", getting the most out of the rest of this year while beginning the work I refer to above--and facing squarely the stark realities of how badly we suck right now, and why. I've got a couple of harsh judgments to make in that regard, but I'll do it elsewhere. There are a number of related questions about who should or shouldn't be seeing more time on the field. What HAVE we learned about the two freshman QBs? Why ISN'T Gillislee getting more carries, even now? What's with all the careless mistakes, foolish penalties, missed INTs, sh*tty tackling, and so on--but these can all wait, too, for now. A lot of it we've vented about piecemeal, in a lot of different places and different ways, all over our site here already.
Bottom line: we're not a good TEAM right now, in fact we are difficult to watch! I don't know about y'all, but where the previous 2 weeks left me in pain, this last one left me angry--and rather than lessening over the last 24-plus hours or so, that anger has strengthened, deepened as I thought about our play. I'm thinking about putting up a separate thread here just for venting called, "What I HATE About Our Current Florida Gator Team"--not just to give an outlet to our rage and frustration, but to let us all see our common concerns and insights, and begin to see what can be done about it all.
I've got a bunch of things I'D say on such a thread, but here's the most important thing I'll leave y'all with here: it isn't so much WINS that concern me the rest of this season (though I KNOW that we are capable of beating every one of the teams we meet the rest of the way--and just as liable to lose to them), it is the degree to which we play as a team, the players on that team playing with head, heart and fearless passion.
ALL the major programs recruit a lot of talented individuals. Any of the top 2 or 3 dozen of such schools get their share of the ones with the dazzling highlight reels, and they all will have extensive modern facilities, strength and conditioning coaches and year round programs getting these young men into the best physical condition possible--FOOTBALL-strong and ready. They all go out and get experienced, successful, "well regarded" coaches to run their programs. What sets the very best of these, the perennial Championship-contenders apart?
It is these very "intangibles": "Head, heart and fearless passion", forged together through hard work, commitment and self-discipline to form a team: a group that is greater than the sum of its parts.
That is exactly what Coach M has had in mind from the moment he got here. How could he know how much work there REALLY was to be done?--Not even WE knew that, and we were HERE the whole time. Not that I believe it would have made any difference--as it turns out, this was his "secret DREAM job", not Texas, and he would have jumped at it regardless. But now he knows, as we do, that this is a bigger job, a longer, rougher road to be walked: there is rot in the very foundation. He'll get it done, and do it right. I just want to see that he gets the chance to see it through--and the only thing I can think of that we might be able to do to help is to answer the inevitable impatience, frustration and ignorance that will come out as howling calls for the coaches' scalps. Answer them each in our own way in comments and contributions on the various public sites out there. Don't let the Big Mouths and the Trolls set the tone.