A Painful Exercise

I actually watched the play-by-play replay of that Michigan game earlier this aft (Sunday)--THAT'S the "painful exercise" referred to in the above title.
"Painful" because it essentially recaps all the problems extent when Mac GOT here--indeed: all the things that we brought him here for are apparently unchanged. Sad, and PAINFUL indeed.
We still have a fine defense, even WITHOUT a defense-minded Head Coach as before. Thanks to that unit we'll be in most games most of the way. We'll probably win what other programs might see as a respectable-seeming share (if we get back our stars on offense, maybe 8 wins; without them, well, fewer than that, I think)--but don't count on it getting us the SEC East once more. And whether it does or not, we are stagnating, at best.
No, if we are to catch ourselves before plunging headlong to the bottom, if we are still to even HOPE for a timely turn-around, to begin a climb back to the top anytime soon, it will either have to begin soon (like, NOW) and completely under this coaching staff, or that regime swept away, a total revamping on AND off the field begun by the end of this season, LATEST.
Cold, hard, bitter medicine--but fooling ourselves while we slowly fade away is the alternative.
Hands in the air for THAT?!!

The defensive players are fine. Our problem is defensive coaching. The players we have are well suited to the 4-3/3-4 hybrid, but are being coached as if they were standard 4-3. I would look at the strengths of this roster and switch to 3-3-5 or 3-5-3. The difference between a 3-3-5 and a true nickel is that the hybrid DBs are always on the field and constantly switching roles. The coaching would be different, because it requires practicing nickelbacks against all plays, not just in passing situations. To most offensive coordinators, they will see this as a Cover 0 or Cover 1 in zone and attack the hybrid DBs, so the defensive coordinator needs to teach the DB how to lure the offense into the right zones. The Gator DBs seem to be able to do this, but they get beat when they are forced to play 1-on-1 or deep zone.

On offense, they have trust issues. I would fix it by letting Del Rio call the plays. He knows the system, and maybe his on field experience will help him fix Nussmeier's play calling.

The offensive line is once again a liability, because the players do not trust one another with blocking assignments. I have no idea how the Gators can fix that. Maybe having "one of their own", Del Rio, calling the plays it will instill trust throughout the offense.

Somewhere in that locker room, a leader must take charge. The leader must bring the team together in the locker room before they come together on the field. That leader must also be the coach and the counselor when the players are not on the field, which means making sure the players are getting along and staying out of trouble.

Escambia94 said:

The defensive players are fine. Our problem is defensive coaching. The players we have are well suited to the 4-3/3-4 hybrid, but are being coached as if they were standard 4-3. I would look at the strengths of this roster and switch to 3-3-5 or 3-5-3. The difference between a 3-3-5 and a true nickel is that the hybrid DBs are always on the field and constantly switching roles. The coaching would be different, because it requires practicing nickelbacks against all plays, not just in passing situations. To most offensive coordinators, they will see this as a Cover 0 or Cover 1 in zone and attack the hybrid DBs, so the defensive coordinator needs to teach the DB how to lure the offense into the right zones. The Gator DBs seem to be able to do this, but they get beat when they are forced to play 1-on-1 or deep zone.

On offense, they have trust issues. I would fix it by letting Del Rio call the plays. He knows the system, and maybe his on field experience will help him fix Nussmeier's play calling.

The offensive line is once again a liability, because the players do not trust one another with blocking assignments. I have no idea how the Gators can fix that. Maybe having "one of their own", Del Rio, calling the plays it will instill trust throughout the offense.

Somewhere in that locker room, a leader must take charge. The leader must bring the team together in the locker room before they come together on the field. That leader must also be the coach and the counselor when the players are not on the field, which means making sure the players are getting along and staying out of trouble.

Click to expand...

Superb, detailed analysis, man.
Trouble is, amounts to one more good case for how and why Coach Mac, more and more, is looking like "the wrong guy"...
The unit he is adding NOTHING to is the only thing standing between he and "COMPLETE BUST".