That one you mentioned last was part of the longest segment (I believe it was the better part of an "extended coverage" version of the show, "First Take") I saw--and the BEST. The whole segment you saw a portion of (I think that short piece of the longer coverage was part of "College Football Live" Monday) had Muschamp jumping all over the field while two different squads from each side of the ball went at it under the watch and "guidance" of the position coaches; as you saw a good example of, Muschamp seemed to be everywhere, right in there screaming encouragement and/or criticism as needed--and not seeming to miss ANYTHING, even when it happened over at the "other" squad-match-up across the field (you saw how he was ALL OVER the RB's whenever they got stripped of the ball--"Hold onto the BALL, #33--or you won't play!!!" to Mack Brown, and when an RB across the field at the other exercise fumbles, "No! Get him out of there! He needs to stand aside and watch! You cannot drop the ball!"...Yeah, turnovers ARE a major focus with our Head Coach, just as he's said). He was COACHING.
Just as interesting (in a different sort of way) was a segment where we got to sit in on Weis' meeting with the QB's in the morning, where he goes into detail regarding what everyone ELSE is doing in a particular offensive set, the different plays they'll run off of it, especially the blocking schemes and the QB's alternatives and what can happen if it's done wrong AND when it's done right...by the way, later we see them on the field, probably applying the very lessons covered in the meeting, but we catch only confusing glimpses of the actual set-ups, what they're really doing and/or how it's progressing. I'm sure that was intentional: it was actually pretty amazing how they could seemingly show so MUCH, but "give away" so little. Pretty cool, actually. Way to go, guys.
Anyway, we'll have to be happy with and take what we got--it's pretty well gonna have to hold us another 3 weeks or so. A lot of belly-aching among the trolls and haters out there, though, have ya noticed? "What is this--ESPNUF all day on all their channels?!!" Made me laugh, but truth is we go back to being virtually ignored now. Only way out is to sweep through the early schedule "like a hot knife thru' butter", go into the Alabama game undefeated, and then at LEAST make game of it (I will NOT talk about how things would change if we were to actually--no, shut up, don't say it--not superstitious but you don't "tempt the fates" under the BEST of circumstances, and this isn't one of those). The thing is NOT to let the media and casual fans' inevitably overheated excitement and overblown expectations if/when we DO go into that "October Blackhole"-stretch of the schedule undefeated. It's painful to say this (and will be even more painful to go through, in all likelihood), but realistically, from here it feels like we'd be pretty fortunate to get to the other side of "The Cocktail Party" with "just" 2 losses (quotes there because these will be SEC-losses, after all--that's always serious, and they always hurt).
I see everything we'd want to see in both the details and overall pulse of this team, judging by yesterday's coverage, though. IF we can stay healthy, IF there's enough TIME left between now and the SEC-portion of our schedule to mold collections of talented individuals into tight squads (with some interchangeable parts to give them depth), IF John Brantley can actually, FINALLY perform well in real games when the outcome is still in doubt, then this (pick one) "transitional", "under-the-radar", "wildcard" edition of the Fightin' Gators could make it a fun and mainly satisfying season. That's a lot of "moving parts" (to use Coach Chomp's own description) still pending to rest our hopes on, though; best to be patient, hopeful but ready for disappointments and set-backs this year. Too much has to go just right; too many of the details that will determine the ultimate outcome are dependent on luck and factors beyond our direct control.
