Crappy, Useless Gator/FSU Game

[DRU2012]

Don't think I can watch this:
An O-line breakdown, backdoor blindside hit on Franks from behind (exactly the sorta thing that could well destroy our one remaining potential-"future QB" once and for all--and for no good reason or end in him being IN there in the FIRST place), scoop-and-score by FSU--basically to start the game.
We really DO suck.

 

[DRU2012]

To quote E-in such cases, "Poop."

 

[DRU2012]

(BTW, today we have 3rd-string O-linemen switched into new positions on line...ALWAYS a "promising sign"--when you're looking to get your QB KILLED, and further hamper your running game, even WITH a trio of decent running backs. I'm surprised Shannon even TRIED to "match up" in a conservative "man up" fashion coming into this one: I guess he isn't even THINKING about trying to show a little creativity. Just play it straight: "Not gonna be The Man here in the end anyway..."
Well, you're making it easy for them to keep thinking of you that way, Randy--if they think of you (beyond "Thanks for taking one for the TEAM") at all to begin with. Well, you're convincing ME to see it that way too...)

 

[DRU2012]

Dawson with another big play on D.
Be nice if we could cash this in, even it up after our OWN take away.

 

[DRU2012]

OK. Game bout to be tied.
I hate giving a damn--I thought I was armored AGAINST further pain for this one, but no...Did y'all see him almost give the TD away, dropping ball just after crossing goal line? He does a useless, unforced ball-switch, one side to the other at the worst possible moment and for no good reason.
Our season is over, really--aside from honoring our Seniors, the main GAME now is "Out There"--recruiting, coaching, etc: Above all CHANGE. GOD, do we ever need it, a LOT of it now, all over the field and in every nook and cranny of our program.
Crap, another Gator turnover deep.
WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE FRANKS THROWING SO MUCH NOW FROM DOWN THERE, DEEP IN OUR OWN END???
We have a thin, crippled and inexperienced O-line. Mistakes are already shaping this game: And you're seemingly TRYING to ignore that, "Interim Coach". Neither smart nor logical. I am about to turn away from this one--and I will say this much no matter WHAT, now:
Forget my proposal that if this "coaching-search" continues to founder we consider letting Shannon carry on in place for a season or so. Doesn't appear he is ready in any way shape or form.
TD for 'holes on 3rd down. I'll be turning off sound now--and unless our offense responds immediately with an actual drive, I will turn away. We cannot WIN with this offense GIVING AWAY THE BALL REPEATEDLY. We have difficulty on their BEST days (low enough as that standard is to begin with, and few and far between anything that deserves that description has been last few years).
We have been living on Defense since Meyer bailed--and even THAT has been somewhat of an "overrated illusion" that has itself steadily deteriorated over that time.
We are headed into an accelerated decline.
Chip Kelly (whom many think was far and away our best choice) was announced the next Coach at UCLA just before kickoff here, it seems Scott Frost is "our next target" (I personally think that is a mistake--the way the same thinking that brought our LAST 2 Coaches were HUGE mistakes), and here I am hoping we somehow DON'T get him now either.
More than ever, unless there is some previously unforeseen individual ready to be unveiled, ready to step in from OUTTA THE BLUE, to me the ONLY hope left is to go (go BACK?) to Charlie Strong, up the ante and PLEAD with him.
If not Charlie, then who? One of the 4th, 5th or beyond? Frost may well choose Nebraska over us. We are already starting to look like the place no one wants to go to any more. OTHER former Gators? Kerwin Bell ready? No--unless we can get someone we really want, were interested in, had at or near the top from the start of all this, then we gotta try something short-term and a bit of a crapshoot: Either they work out immediately after all, or we part ways with little consequence if/when they DON'T--while meanwhile "fate and timing" maybe brings us the guy we CAN'T GET (or didn't even consider) now.
Gator offense, Franks in particular collapsing--just gave a previously dormant FSU D their 4th takeaway of the half--this one a pick-6. Bad gameplan, poor play--and a supposed "QB-of-the-future" proving he is NOT.
Note how it all just fell apart here so quickly, just since the start of this post.
BAH! No more. Not for me.
Consider what I say above, lads: Never mind THIS mess...What can, SHOULD we do about The Coach and the FUTURE???

 

[Escambia94]

Poop.

 

[Leakfan12]

Did Franks decide to play Santa Claus because he's giving them three touchdowns.

 

[DRU2012]

Did Franks decide to play Santa Claus because he's giving them three touchdowns.

Poop.

Double "Yup."
(...and another thing: Santa has a stronger arm AND a more fearsome air game)

 

[Escambia94]

No commentary necessary. 2017 is in the books. Everyone, stick around for basketball and baseball season, but for crying out loud abandon football talk until April. We will have a coach. We will have some kind of recruiting class (currently #10 and falling).

 

[DRU2012]

No commentary necessary. 2017 is in the books. Everyone, stick around for basketball and baseball season, but for crying out loud abandon football talk until April. We will have a coach. We will have some kind of recruiting class (currently #10 and falling).

I understand, but must sadly disagree--and that disagreement manifests in the following way...
I have a different reaction to the same disappointing and painful set of facts, as things stand at the end of THIS day:
It has been further proven that we are in even worse shape than we thought. Not only have we sunk lower already than I'd hoped, but that downward spiral continues to accelerate and expand beyond even that falling rank in our current recruiting class (bad as that may be).
We are headed in the wrong direction in every facet of our program. This Coaching search is now clearly a fiasco that the incompetent fools in charge of it have already botched, in the same way they have made a tangled mess of everything else. Only a fluky sudden reversal that brings a powerful leader who is somehow able to see and effect enormous, for a time hugely painful set of changes NOW: bad as things are, they will almost certainly get worse from here no matter WHAT is done. Sooner or later now we will have to jettison the whole lot of those idiots-in-charge who have gotten us here, and are still running things--are in fact well-entrenched.
To do what must be done, a TRUE and complete "house cleaning" is needed--and THAT probably won't happen until we (our program) are in complete disgrace, for all intents and purposes having let them take our whole program, image and reputation down with them.
In my view, that is the stark truth of where "we" are at and where we are headed.
No matter what, our "future" is on the line right here, right now. As I said, the people we are counting on to "right the ship" are the same fools and selfish incompetents who GOT us here--and they are not only in complete and ignorant denial at the seriousness of the problem, they have no clue of how to do a damn thing about ANY of it.
Our only hope at this point is a miniscule one: That some sort of "EXACT RIGHT GUY" emerges; that these guys somehow stumble into finding and hiring him for their own blind and lame reasons; That this person wants and TAKES the job, steps up and into the role and, before our "confederacy of dunces" even realizes it, this man, through guile and public support, effectively userps enough of their power to truly take over and begin to remake the program's shape and form from the very foundation up and forward.
Talk about "long odds". But failing THAT, I believe we are looking at a LOOOONG fall, complete disgrace, and only then a bottom-up rebuild that altogether will take at LEAST two decades to cycle thru, back to where we mistakenly still believe we are but "a season or two away from where we'll be with a better offensive guru hired at Head Coach".
Sorry, but if there's ANY hope other than the above, it'll have to come soon--and not from anyone or anything we've seen or heard from or about thus far.
Or maybe I'M missing that person too.
Maybe he's right there, through "chance or fate" about to arise.
I sure hope so; the alternate scenario described above is depressing as hell.

 

[Escambia94]

It is too early to call the coaching search a fiasco. UF has multiple vetting teams, and we do not know which was the preferred option, just as we have never really known the entire set of options, except in 2002 when we leaked out that Stoops turned down the offer and we went with Zook--but he was a safe option anyway as a personal friend to Jeremy Foley and former assistant head coach under Spurrier. If all the options fail this time, Randy Shannon is our safe option, which is fine as long as we hire a top notch offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, QB coordinator, WR coordinator, and strength and conditioning coach.

 

[Leakfan12]

No commentary necessary. 2017 is in the books. Everyone, stick around for basketball and baseball season, but for crying out loud abandon football talk until April. We will have a coach. We will have some kind of recruiting class (currently #10 and falling).

Well I going to talk about the new coach here. Unsure about the recruiting class probably not. Also how about Bama and Satan (Saban) losing?

 

[Escambia94]

Today I think we lost two recruits, and I am sure that number will go up unless Florida hires a coach before the end of next week. It could be worse.

Most analysts I have listened to these past few weeks somewhat expected Alabama to lose, but they also predicted a scenario where Alabama lost to Auburn, Auburn beat Georgia, Ohio State beat Wisconsin, and Miami beat Clemson, which might open the back door for Alabama in to CFP.

 

[Leakfan12]

Double "Yup."
(...and another thing: Santa has a stronger arm AND a more fearsome air game)

Also guessing his Reindeers are better blockers.

 

[DRU2012]

Today I think we lost two recruits, and I am sure that number will go up unless Florida hires a coach before the end of next week. It could be worse.

Most analysts I have listened to these past few weeks somewhat expected Alabama to lose, but they also predicted a scenario where Alabama lost to Auburn, Auburn beat Georgia, Ohio State beat Wisconsin, and Miami beat Clemson, which might open the back door for Alabama in to CFP.

...and friggin' Miami, too.
Like twin-Frankensteims, these two media-created LOSERS could rise from the dead (with the help and to the delight of the very same media A-holes who built then up as "invincible" in the first place)

 

[Escambia94]

The jury was still out on Miami. Most would agree that this Miami team finishing 11-1 or 10-2 is ahead of schedule, which is bad for UF over the next couple years.

 

[DRU2012]

Also guessing his Reindeers are better blockers.

In our case, tha's not saying much.

 

[DRU2012]

It is too early to call the coaching search a fiasco. UF has multiple vetting teams, and we do not know which was the preferred option, just as we have never really known the entire set of options, except in 2002 when we leaked out that Stoops turned down the offer and we went with Zook--but he was a safe option anyway as a personal friend to Jeremy Foley and former assistant head coach under Spurrier. If all the options fail this time, Randy Shannon is our safe option, which is fine as long as we hire a top notch offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, QB coordinator, WR coordinator, and strength and conditioning coach.

From where I'm sitting (a pretty dark and dismal place, I admit), your arguments (until the last day or two very close to my own) now only seem to underline and further support my doomsday scenario above.
To me, it seems obvious that "fiasco" is the ONLY way to describe everything that has and/or hasn't been done in regards to our "Coaching change", from Day 1 on. The details (including the ones you yourself note comparing this to 2002 and the "Stoops to Zook"..., well, "FIASCO" applied pretty damn accurately THERE too!) only make my point from another angle: Extending that comparison, you are more or less implying that we MIGHT be ok IF history and fate repeat themselves, that IF WE'RE "LUCKY" we'll probably next get some (putting it nicely) "poor fit" as Coach--but it won't matter in the end because THAT will only lead eventually to the next Urban Meyer, a mercenary Outsider who will come in here with Carte Blanche and turn the whole thing around--recruit stars and playmakers all over the field (INCUDING at QB--and of course there are ALWAYS "Tim Tebows", lifelong Gator fans with great heart and spirit, not to mention freakish size and skills, at that position).
NOT that I'm against all that, of course--we'd all gladly take that trip again, eyes-wide-OPEN. No, only that I won't count on it. It isn't LIKELY to work out that way...

I'm sorry, E--, I know that ISN'T what you're saying, only that "the wheel is still turning and the little ball hasn't fallen into its slot yet"...But the fact remains, more than ever we are depending on luck, AND the work and wisdom of a handful of "men-in-the-shadows" who have botched EVERYTHING so far. Men who don't DESERVE our confidence OR trust.
Even "good fortune" requires one to "help oneself"--we need to at the very least put ourselves in POSITIONS that increase the odds, the positive possibilities and potential for good things to eventually come our way. We can think and discuss what we will, throw it out there and hope that, in addition to venting our frustration, we might in some small way help to shape the future. And modern physics supports that view, of a "quantum reality" that amounts to a shared vision created in our individually imagining that future, then sharing and acting it out in the world around us in various ways ("collapsing the waveform", in the language of current theory).
I'm not sure I am making it better by alerting y'all to where we're at and where I see us heading, or making it WORSE in sharing that view. But this AD and the guys around him are blindly blowing it for ALL of us! In the final analysis, they care only about themselves: The rest of us are NOTHING to them: They put their power, position and personal prestige ahead of all else.
None of us knows the future, even less the daily details. But we CAN recognize the motives, where we are and who will keep doing what they've BEEN doing so far--and in turn the likely consequences.
In the direction we are headed now, the BEST CASE future is a bad one for us. I see us gathering speed and momentum headlong towards disaster. Let's at least recognize it, begin to think in terms of what might be done to change that. Not just "Who to look for?" in the coaching search right now but anything that can be done to change how we go about it--and maybe how we affect who is currently in charge of that search. If we can't yet get that itself changed, what might put pressure on them to open things up, affect change in their thinking, maybe create an opening for fresh ideas, new people in there that might short circuit a hidebound system that will otherwise continue to fail us, will inevitably, inexorably sweep us on to the sad fate I see ahead.

 

[Escambia94]

Here is another perspective: Alabama. I predict that under Nick Satan, Alabama will never go below 8 wins. Why is that? Saban's approach to team building is holistic. Florida's is sporadic, as is just about anyone else's who is not winning championships. With McElwain we thought that all we had to do was hire an offense-minded head coach and it would fix all our problems. With Muschamp we thought we could pluck a talented coach without a coaching staff and he would continue/ restore the glory of Urban Meyer. What we failed to see is that even Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier faltered when they lost key assistants. Spurrier did not win another national championship without a defense as good as Bobby Stoops'. Urban Meyer's offense was stale without Dan Mullen and the locker room went rampant without a disciplinarian like Charlie Strong. Florida does not have the best coaching staff now, but the defensive coaches and the recruiting staff seem to get along. Unless there is an offense minded head coach who happens to bring an entire defense and recruiting staff an S&C team, I am okay with cutting Nussmeier, Davis, and Nord and letting the new head coach bring his offensive coaches--or keeping Shannon as head coach and focusing resources on the offense and S&C.

 

[DRU2012]

Here is another perspective: Alabama. I predict that under Nick Satan, Alabama will never go below 8 wins. Why is that? Saban's approach to team building is holistic. Florida's is sporadic, as is just about anyone else's who is not winning championships. With McElwain we thought that all we had to do was hire an offense-minded head coach and it would fix all our problems. With Muschamp we thought we could pluck a talented coach without a coaching staff and he would continue/ restore the glory of Urban Meyer. What we failed to see is that even Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier faltered when they lost key assistants. Spurrier did not win another national championship without a defense as good as Bobby Stoops'. Urban Meyer's offense was stale without Dan Mullen and the locker room went rampant without a disciplinarian like Charlie Strong. Florida does not have the best coaching staff now, but the defensive coaches and the recruiting staff seem to get along. Unless there is an offense minded head coach who happens to bring an entire defense and recruiting staff an S&C team, I am okay with cutting Nussmeier, Davis, and Nord and letting the new head coach bring his offensive coaches--or keeping Shannon as head coach and focusing resources on the offense and S&C.

Minus a true and talented "holistic Coach" (such a fine summary-term, embodying so much of what we clearly need and have mean missing for so long, I will henceforth be using it as my go-to "shorthand" here for "what WE are looking for in a Head Coach"), a little way back I myself proposed that Shannon might be a good "placeholder" at Head Coach for now--ALSO provided he had competent people who could work with each other while running their discrete areas of responsibility with responsible efficiency.
Now, I admit that in frustration and (in retrospect, impatient and unworthy) disgust, I recalled and dismissed that option in the course of the first half yesterday...but the truth remains that if it can be managed, it may well be the best of a bad set of choices.
Sometimes "no move" is better than ANY BAD moves. Making desperate, "gotta-do-SOMETHING" changes, when they're your 4th- or 5th- or LOWER (in some "List" you started with and are working down under pressure from outside, especially) are almost SURE to go wrong.
So yes, unless there is someone we clearly want, NEED--and can GET, I would support that for now. In the current climate and actual situation we are in, it could be the wisest (NON-) move--a "placeholder" leaving us flexible and most prepared for new opportunities.
But do the people who would have to sign off on that, have the wisdom, reason OR courage to do that? People who always have to see themselves as "in control", "in charge", even more BE SEEN that way, would be required to actually go "hands off", LEAVE IT ALONE--RELINQUISH control. Risk blame if we continue to lose--with little chance for credit if it somehow WORKS. Color ME "dubious"...But when it comes to our Gators and my "half-empty"-nature, I am ALWAYS ready, hopeful, GLAD to be wrong. Of course, among the definitions of "working" here I include simply as a kind of "bridge", keeping us moving forward and in "rebuilding/restocking"mode, "not getting WORSE" while we search for and finally find that "RIGHT Guy" up the road...It isn't the ONLY possibility, but one that would be, for the moment, a suitable one.