Wheres the faithful...

[Bean]

Wheres the gator faithful, yeah we lost but its not the end of the world. We are doing better this year, than we have the last three. Things will turn around. Just give it time.

[GatorHunter]

Wheres the gator faithful, yeah we lost but its not the end of the world. We are doing better this year, than we have the last three. Things will turn around. Just give it time.

I have no doubt of this Bean...I posted before the season started that I expected us to lose 3-4 games....if we beat UT, UGA and FSU in the same season...I will be very pleased about this season. I never expected us to make it to the SECCG...but we were within 9 points of it...not bad for a transitional season....look at Les Miles he too is in a transitional year but he kept a lot of the same staff...same OC I think....our staff is completely new, completely new offense...and let's face it, we don't have the personel offensively to make this thing work yet....but judging by UF recruiting thus far, we will soon enough.

[GeauxTo]

Wow! Is this the epitome of optimism, or what?! The dad-gummed glass is almost full, isn't it boys!
:p

[GATORFAN2005]

Yeah we're alright, we know year two with Urban is the year he gets things rolling. I had high expectation for Florida this season, but that's every year. We've done good for a transistion year, you're right. Next season you can expect a lot of improvement! Improvement from a 3 loss season means contending for championships! Can't wait till our next game and hope we finish the season strong. It has been a very exciting season for Gator fans, wins and loses have been awesome games to watch!
Since the key to the offense is the QB what will the deal be with Chris Leak next year? I can't see a sophomore QB (Josh Portis) passing a Sr. up on the depth chart. . . (even if he proves to be better by next season) imagine how that would feel to Leak. Do you guys think Leak will catch on and get more comfortable doing what Meyer does best? or will they need to continue next season with the tweeked form of his offense? This season we learned that road games are tough and I'm glad the three teams we have lost to will be visiting the Swamp next year ;) . I've seen how big of a difference that can make in a game this season. Next years schedule will be much more favorable.

[GATORFAN2005]

Wow! Is this the epitome of optimism, or what?! The dad-gummed glass is almost full, isn't it boys!
:p

GoTo, don't make me dig through and find your pitiful posts after the Tennessee game. Yeah the ones where you were flirting with suicide and wanting to fire the whole staff haha predicting tons of loses for LSU. Come on give us a break. Anyways glad you found your optimism back too GoTo! haha :D

[scunyon]

Don't worry, UF will be straight. It just shows that now, you are gonna have to bring your "A" game, no matter who you play. As long as the Gators don't wear those funky jersey's anymore, you'll be good to go :p

[GatorHunter]

Yea GoTO....do you have to flame every Gator Post? Sounds like O&B envy to me....sure hope it's not penus envy!

[GatorNation]

Wheres the gator faithful, yeah we lost but its not the end of the world. We are doing better this year, than we have the last three. Things will turn around. Just give it time.

We're here, but it's been a bad, bad weekend.....losing to the Visored One--a game that was totally, completely winnable--and losing Snead to Texass.

We need to smack free-shoes, win our bowl game, and land a top-5 class. Landing Tebow or Schaeffer will help ease the loss. If Leak leaves, and (as of now) I don't see that being the case, Portis isn't ready. And even if he was, there's no depth behind him.

_________________

Some other random notes:

As an aside, I've also revised my assessment of the spread-option. I think it can revolutionize the offensive attack in the conference IF IF IF IF it uses a serious passing attack that stretches the field--along with play-action, rolling the pocket, etc.--and the option as an occasional component designed to add another dimension to the offense and keep the defenses honest.

Unfortunately, that's not Meyer's vision. We've been talking a lot about the offense on GB, and I really think if Meyer is trying to recreate Utah's type of offense in the SEC (i.e., QB left, QB right, HB-belly, and 5-to-10 yard dink and dunk passes), we're screwed. Meyer will get his a$$ handed to him every year by the more-talented SEC defenses. We'll never see Atlanta while Meyer is here running that offense. And "quick-strike" doesn't mean Utah's version of "quick-strike," which simply means a 3 yard curl turns into a 30 yard gain because the slower players cannot compensate for the space created by the called zone coverage or because of missed tackles, blah, blah. That crap isn't going to work in the SEC....deep threat, quick-strike elements need to be part of the fundamental design. If it's not, if teams can take away our passing game by simply playing Dime and nickle cover-2 and cover-3, we're in serious trouble and Meyer has 2 more years. Three years at the most, in that case.

Also, one of the most upsetting storylines this season has been our secondary play. We MUST do something with the Heater/Holliday combination. Why would you hire one of the nation's most talented WR coaches (Holliday) and then make him coach safeties? Why not get someone else to help Heater in the deep secondary (he needs it) and have two WR coaches? Dumb. And it shows. Kyle Jackson was supposed to have a HUGE year in '05. So much for that.....by the time the Vandy game rolled around, Nelson was starting in his place <<shaking head>>. Kyle was a BIG reason for the bama collapse, btw. I understand you want Holliday on your staff because he's one of the very best recruiters out there, but there are better, more advantageous, ways to use him.

And don't get me started on Webb. He was supposed to be one of the SEC's best cover guys. Instead, he's been victimized nearly every game....sometimes multiple times per game. Brown held his own this year before his injury, but Heater needs to coach 'em up better. It has cost us some games....and almost a few others. Tough to tell whether it's Webb, Heater, or Holliday....I'll know more next year.

Mullen needs to learn to call a better game. I'll give him this year, since it's his first, but he needs to get drastically better in year two. Mullen's marriage to the running game in the second half of the usc game basically ran the clock down, running us right out of a comeback on Saturday. Spurrier said as much in the post-game. TOP offenses with 7-, 8-, and 9-minute drives are only effective when you're up by 20+ points. It doesn't work when you're behind, when your defense is struggling, or when the team you're playing has quick-strike capabilities. About the only benefit to a TOP offense is that your defense gets plenty of rest. Florida NEEDS to find a quick-strink passing attack in this system, but Mullen has to come out of his second half shell. We can have all of the best passing routes in the world; none of it matters if Mullen keeps calling HB bellys. The hard truth is simple: if Zook/Fedora called the offense on Saturday, usc loses by a pretty wide margin. Food for thought, at least.

Last thing: Meyer's in-game adjustments/football IQ. Now, I'm not saying I know more football than Meyer, but the first play of each game against UT, jaw-juh, and (I think) bama was a.......? Anyone?

Play-action pass.

And why not? All we heard about were these great running games, huge OLs, Riggs Jr., Ware, Lumpkin, Darby, and on and on. Meyer/Strong/Mattison sold out on the run each time we stepped on the field. UT overthrew their WR streaking down the sideline behind our secondary, Tereshinski hit their other TE on the hands....and he just dropped it, and the play-action to Prothro (?) fooled everyone for a huge TD and a momentum shift. How can this be? I called play-action as the first play EVERY TIME. How Meyer didn't think that Fulmer, Richt, or Shula would switch it up and go against expectations is beyond me. To top it all off, Spurrier did it to Meyer, too. Usc....no running game, evil genius, passing attack, fun-n-gun....what does he do? He runs. Meyer said he planned all week for the pass, but when the pass didn't come, Meyer didn't/couldn't adjust. Spurrier called 17 passes. S-E-V-E-N-T-E-E-N. And yet usc gashed us time and time again with the run. Where were the in-game adjustments? Where was the chess match? Where were the disguised coverages that coaxed Spurrier into calling the draw and then blowing it up? I'll tell you.

Nowhere.

Maybe you chalk it up to his first year in a "real" conference, but being surprised by a gameplan is not the same thing as not adjusting to a surprising gameplan. Meyer has no excuses, either. I'm pretty sure Charlie Strong coached against Spurrier...if so, there's certainly context/experience with SOS's tendencies. And if Meyer really studied so much gamefilm on Spurrier at UF (as he said he did), he HAD to see the draw plays. It's one of SOS's offensive staples. Another reason Meyer has no excuses: Charlie Weis. He came in and, with less talented players, installed a more complex offense and generated more (and more consistent) production. No way UF hangs with USC on any field this year....what Weis has done (yes, minus the MSU game) is simply incredible. That alone shrinks Meyer's margin of error considerably.

So, 9-3 (if we beat f$u and the bowl) isn't too bad. One more loss than I expected. There are a lot of things to be excited about....and 9-3, 8-4 is about where Meyer lands in his first year, but there are certainly enough things that warrant potential concern....the lack of discipline on the field, as another thing I didn't address, is another fine example. Discipline was supposed to be the team's strongest attribute this year. Kind of ironic that we lost the usc game because of a (12-man) penalty....and after a TO, too.

:rolleyes:

Beat f$u.

[SteveMcd217]

I’ve watched every SEC game I could this year (as every year) and I don’t believe the Gators have anything to be worried about. They had a bad game, it happens, but overall the Gators have played with passion all year and will continue to do so. The mark of a great team and its fans is to overcome adversity and I don’t see any reason this will not be the case for the Gators.