Florida Gators vs Appalachian State Mountaineers

[DRU2012]

Justin Williams looks like another stud we haven't seen enough of. Then of course Brantley heaves a BAD overthrow, intercepted in the endzone. I thought they had finally learned: Reed or Burton inside the 20, hatd and fast rule!. THERE! Almost a TD.
I LIKE it! Beemer with the TD--O-Lineman! THAT'S senior day!

 

[DRU2012]

Doh! The game feed has been frozen for a couple minutes now.

Are you on "channelsurfing.net"? Mine did it too: ya gotta play around with the play/pause button(s) to short-circuit whatever cycle it's going through (part of the penalty for not paying them, I guess--that and the banner across part of the screen).
Eventually it resets itself, but who wants to wait? You can always relaunch, but try the buttons first...

 

[Escambia94]

And he was a walk-on. Did you see Jordan Reed push Beemer through the end zone? That's teamwork.

 

[DRU2012]

That's ALSO what you call a MAJOR LOAD.
Williams a walk-on? No wonder we haven't seen him--but they gave him this chance 'cause he showed 'em something...it wasn't "garbage time" to the App.St. defense, so we need to give this kid some more "looks" the rest of the season, don't y'all agree?

 

[Escambia94]

Whew! Enjoy the win, but don't forget about SOW next week.

 

[Leakfan12]

WOW I thought the game would have been closer than 48-10. Congrats Seniors winning the last game in the swamp.

 

[Ufgatorfan]

I was at work so I couldn't watch the game will check it out tomorrow on sun network. Sounds like we did good. I would hope so. I know its a well coached team and all but still a sub division team which we should always beat. Good win gators lets carry it in to next weak.

 

[DRU2012]

Whew! Enjoy the win, but don't forget about SOW next week.

I talk about this in response to something you say on another thread, but I want to say it here:
If there's one thing we should take from this game, finally, it's that Brantley HAS to be taken out when we're inside the redzone. We've seen the evidence piling up all season and it was perfectly and repeatedly demonstrated today, so I won't list all the reasons and examples, but against a team more evenly matched with us talent, speed and depth-wise with respect to each teams playmakers his mistakes, failures and ineptitude in just those situations will lead not just to "missed opportunities" but full-on disasters, 14-point-turn-around-type disasters that turn potential victories into defeats.
It's NOT like we have no alternative--more than one, in fact.
Again: it's been a source of frustration (as in "Why isn't Reed in there?!!"), but it's also cause for HOPE: just this one basic change in tactics could eliminate a whole slew of problems AND get us positive scoring opportunities.

 

[Escambia94]

Agreed. Remember, this was Appy State. That other pretty game was Vanderbilt. The other pretty win was Kentucky. We have the galaxy's longest streak with a winning season, so we should not be afraid of Appy State, yet I was genuinely worried about losing. I know I was not the only Gator fan that was worried.

Next week is going to be rough. We have not beaten a ranked team all year. Sheesh, even in our worst years in the 1980s we pulled one out of our @$$3$ and beat a ranked team! FSU needs to stay ranked next week so we can beat them as a ranked opponent.

 

[DRU2012]

Want to repeat, though: all in all, this was a good win for a lot of reasons--not just 'cause "any win...",etc. but because we saw so many things that went right and could be staples of the future Gator offense, and have a lot to learn and take even from the things that DIDN'T work out.
It was great for the Seniors to go out "like champions" (this time it's not sarcastic) in The Swamp, and meanwhile we got to see some of the youngest Gators, future DOMINATORS in some cases, begin to "show their wares". We've got some BEASTS coming into their own on offense AND defense, and more on the way. There IS cause for hope.
Now if the coaching can come as far as the playing has...

 

[Escambia94]

Some of those kids took the field for the first time all season, and performed well. If Deonte Thompson keeps dropping balls, we have a couple beast freshmen to throw in...especially if Urban Meyer is serious about that spread attack that we lined up in with five wideouts.

Want to know what scares me? The FSU pass rush and blitzing. They are GOOD at it. They are going to eat up John Brantley. Mark my words. With Reed and Burton back there, we might fare better against the pass rush. Knowing how much FSU hates us, I would not be surprised if they targeted Brantley or Rainey for injury as they did against Tebow.

 

[ShortBus]

Knowing how much FSU hates us, I would not be surprised if they targeted Brantley or Rainey for injury as they did against Tebow.

doubt they'll go after brantley.. they know as long as he stays in the chances of them (SOW) goes up 600%.... brantley gets injured and reed/burton only sharing snaps, they know its game over for them.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

doubt they'll go after brantley.. they know as long as he stays in the chances of them (SOW) goes up 600%.... brantley gets injured and reed/burton only sharing snaps, they know its game over for them.

LOL ya brantley is our handicap they dont want to take him out

 

[Leakfan12]

Some of those kids took the field for the first time all season, and performed well. If Deonte Thompson keeps dropping balls, we have a couple beast freshmen to throw in...especially if Urban Meyer is serious about that spread attack that we lined up in with five wideouts.

Want to know what scares me? The FSU pass rush and blitzing. They are GOOD at it. They are going to eat up John Brantley. Mark my words. With Reed and Burton back there, we might fare better against the pass rush. Knowing how much FSU hates us, I would not be surprised if they targeted Brantley or Rainey for injury as they did against Tebow.

Should I add Thompson did get 100 receiving yards today.

 

[Escambia94]

Should I add Thompson did get 100 receiving yards today.

True. Somebody figured out that Deonte's T-Rex arms are perfect for short drag routes across the middle, rather than deep post routes. If you map Deonte's route tree versus his drops you will see that he can get serious yardage if you use him correctly. I'm no OC, but lay his route tree on top of the FSU aggressive pass rush and you will see we may have a chance if we throw at Deonte in front of FSU's fast corners, but behind the pass rush. Let Hammond and Williams go deep on occasion if our veteran deep-out WRs can't get open.

 

[DRU2012]

True. Somebody figured out that Deonte's T-Rex arms are perfect for short drag routes across the middle, rather than deep post routes. If you map Deonte's route tree versus his drops you will see that he can get serious yardage if you use him correctly. I'm no OC, but lay his route tree on top of the FSU aggressive pass rush and you will see we may have a chance if we throw at Deonte in front of FSU's fast corners, but behind the pass rush. Let Hammond and Williams go deep on occasion if our veteran deep-out WRs can't get open.

Exactly right. One thing that worried ME watching the game was that folks (most importantly, COACHES) might take the wrong lesson from Thompson's decent day: he has ALWAYS looked OK on those short and medium "drag" routes. YOU got it right; I was HOPING the coaches had finally gotten it and were purposefully using him that way. Like in yesterday's game (if for different reasons), Carl Moore will be gone next year: it's time to start looking at and getting in-game experience FOR the young, fast WRs we've got on this team, if we ever want to "stretch the field"--something this offense is STILL sorely lacking.
Of course, that still leaves the question of whether we've even got a quarterback who can THROW the long ball effectively--and if we had one and it WASN'T Brantley, would this coaching staff USE him?

 

[Escambia94]

Exactly right. One thing that worried ME watching the game was that folks (most importantly, COACHES) might take the wrong lesson from Thompson's decent day: he has ALWAYS looked OK on those short and medium "drag" routes. YOU got it right; I was HOPING the coaches had finally gotten it and were purposefully using him that way. Like in yesterday's game (if for different reasons), Carl Moore will be gone next year: it's time to start looking at and getting in-game experience FOR the young, fast WRs we've got on this team, if we ever want to "stretch the field"--something this offense is STILL sorely lacking.
Of course, that still leaves the question of whether we've even got a quarterback who can THROW the long ball effectively--and if we had one and it WASN'T Brantley, would this coaching staff USE him?

There is something else going on with JB and the coaches. What on earth has happened to JB's spiral, zip, and accuracy? That kid is regressing. Badly. We have seen plenty of proof that the coaching will not improve, but I expected Brantley to get the hint--figure out a way to survive in this offense. Reed has a lower completion rate, but then again, he has a better YPA, INT ratio, and TD ratio. Also, there is more to quarterbacking than passing, especially in a SO/ZR offense. Speaking of the SO/ZR, the point of the offense is to spread the defense with the run and the pass. The offense just does not spread anything with him under center, regardless of the excuse. Whether JB plays like Leak or Tebow, whether he has a worse o-line or not, whether he is injured or frustrates, and whether he has a worse OC or not, the 2010 offense is more efficient with anybody but Brantley under center. If that does not change, then the receivers need to be used better using the route trees they have practiced, assuming Azzani can see the strengths and weaknesses on film.

 

[GoGators01]

Why do they always use creative plays against these teams? Why not save the pass to Brantley for next week?

 

[DRU2012]

I've read and heard so many excuses and arguments made on both Brantley's and (believe it or not) Addazio's behalf (though considerably fewer in the latter case) elsewhere on the 'net that I find myself sometimes shaking my head and loudly proclaiming "No, no, NO!" to an otherwise empty room.
You just want to "cut thru' the sh*t" sometimes and get these folks to face FACTS--and maybe a compilation-sequence of "JB's Greatest Misses"! (As far as I can decipher, those few watching--besides Urban Meyer--who don't see ADDAZIO'S abject failure and ineptitude as our OC believe that, aside from injuries, it is essentially everyone ELSE'S fault.)
You're right, of course: Brantley hasn't cut it, by ANY measure, and he has HAD his opportunities--if not to win, always, certainly to show at least FLASHES of his much-hyped skills. Hasn't happened. No sign.
And yes, he IS regressing. I don't understand the reasons that Meyer, Addazio, WHOMEVER continue to accept this trend (All together: "He grades out a Champion!"), indeed to insist that it will continue in some form right into next season. That 3-headed-thing turns out to be just another way to keep Brantley on the field with the better choices, seems to me--wastes an otherwise useful spot most of the time, too (how often are you going to throw that Reed-to-Brantley pass, and does the threat of it make the rest worthwhile?).
Sorry, I could keep on going but I know y'all see and have your own versions of most of this...
The main point is that we can see these problems and downward trends--but can see little sign that the coaches do, or are doing much about any of them. In fact, to the contrary: they ignore them and keep heading in the same (what seems to most Gators clearly) wrong direction.