A predictable rant

[News Bot]

You could almost see it coming, that mini-meltdown Florida coach Will Muschamp had after the Gators’ final preseason scrimmage Wednesday.
This is what happens at the end of camp, when a coach feels the need to get the attention of a team that has pretty much been hearing nothing but good things about it for weeks. Nothing like a little buzz kill to get everyone refocused and back to reality with the season about to start.
When Steve Spurrier was at Florida, he used to get on the media boys occasionally if he felt there were too many positive stories coming out about the Gators. He feared his players would believe everything they were reading and grow complacent. He said that had been a big problem at UF in the past, when the great expectations were never reached, including when Spurrier was playing for the Gators.
I think this is where Muschamp was at heading into that final scrimmage. Up until that point, almost all camp headlines were positive (as were most of the quotes from Muschamp). John Brantley is on fire, the offense is clicking, the defensive line is dominant, the offensive line has come around, the offense is game ready … and on and on and on.
I think Mushcamp was starting to sense that the players were starting to almost feel too good about themselves and might lose their edge, their focus. Maybe he felt it was time to grab the Gators by the shoulder pads and shake some sense into them — which he apparently did with his post-scrimmage comments Wednesday night.
Here’s another thing that I think irked Muschamp a little bit: information leaking that he did not want out there, like the revelation last week that Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps and Trey Burton were lining up at quarterback in the Wildcat formation.
Muschamp said before the start of camp that UF football would have one voice — his. That voice spoke loud and clear Wednesday night, telling the Gators it’s time to get serious, time to get focused, time to stoke the competitive fire because the season is here now.

Source: GatorSports.com - Robbie's Playbook

 

[DRU2012]

If it WAS a "tactical buzz kill", it was well-timed--almost LATE. I've got to admit, I was JUST starting to get a bit worried with all the "hope and happiness" we were hearing, for the sake of the players AND the fans (myself included). We were ALL losing our focus, losing that edge. For the team, that chip-on-the-shoulder was well-deserved; they need to hold it close and let it help to drive them. For us, well, it's easy to forget sometimes that we haven't actually seen ANYTHING so far ourselves; the signs are there, but a LOT of teams (and their fans) get to looking and feeling that way late in a well-run, mostly injury-free camp. We'll still have to be patient with this team: even if we stay relatively healthy (a huge condition for this talented-but-thin squad's chances for success), youth and lack-of-experience, as individuals and as a unit, will inevitably mean a certain amount of inconsistency, especially in the early going.
That may be Coach's main concern now, and the source of his tirade. Only time (and battle) can heal that weakness (with a bit of luck on the aforementioned injury front, this team could be quite formidable by mid-season), and in the meantime we've got to remember to temper our expectations. There may be some sloppy wins, but that won't necessarily be such a bad thing if it gives the coaches plenty of "meat to tear into" in their performances--and WE may need to remember to get neither too high or too low at the product on the field through September. "As long as we win" may be the refrain NOW, but you know as well as I do that against weaker competition we could see lopsided final scores, and there will STILL be those who think we're world-beaters while the rest worry at all the warts.
This is where COACHING comes in, and our Head Coach is operating I think with skill and precision, following a careful, subtle and detailed plan.

 

[CaliZona_Gator]

damn this gave me a reality check, I bet it worked just as good on the players.