Gator Bites - FLA vs Jacksonville State

Can't see them doing much against our D--but then again, well, NOTHING should shock us by now...No, I'm gonna stick with my feeling that we'll see the Gator team we SHOULD have seen last week show up for this one. The only remaining question for me here is whether or not ANY version of our offense can put together a whole and consistent game, once and for all--which , for us, really means "Will the O-line play in a tight and consistent manner that ALLOWS the other parts of that offense to work in anything approaching a smooth and efficient way?" That's what has to begin to happen for us to finish strongly here this season--regardless of WHO is at QB this week, btw.

(laughing) That your idea of "FUN", E-?!! Haven't had enough of that sort of thing after last week? Gee, and so relaxing a way to pass a Saturday, too...
Btw: You see where the NCAA , in analyzing, rating and ranking relative schedules, has put us with a by now untouchable lead at #1, "The Most Difficult Schedule" in the nation this season? ..."Untouchable", because we already have faced 4 of the Top 10 teams, and will in all likelihood face a 5th (which we don't even need to retain the #1 rating among the other teams in the Top 10) in FSU (who are currently 10th, and will at least stay there with a win over Md. this weekend). When you stop to consider that despite this, two 1-loss SEC-teams (the only teams, btw, who even begin to come close to us in overall difficulty) with not-as-difficult schedules are ranked ahead of us, perhaps there IS something to the idea that, rather than be OVER-rated, in fact we aren't getting ENOUGH respect from the voters. No WONDER the computers rank us so highly: we are a STRONG #2 according to the machine-polls, even within striking distance of #1 before it's all settled. (I'm not saying they're right, but it does raise the argument that maybe, just maybe, even with our "smoke-and-mirrors-offense", this Gator team IS something special...)

Yeah, I saw that line ("...worst greatest team in America!" was how it read where I saw it)...had to give it a "teeth-clenched grin", in spite of myself...

Here's what has both driven us NUTS this year and given us (underneath it all) great hope for the future: The simple realization/certainty that with anything approaching a "decent Gator "O", the kind of offense we can expect in the next couple of years, ONE way or the other, to match the defense we have already established (and all signs already say we will continue to hold and elaborate on over the same period ahead, and beyond, with Muschamp as our Head Coach, Quinn as the DC, and the players we already have and those on-the-way), our Gators WILL be a MOST formidably balanced power in seasons ahead--maybe THE most formidable team, ultimately, not JUST in the SEC, either. Hell, with just 1/2 the offense most of us thought we had on hand here already, we could have ROLLED through this season, as it turns out. We'll be better next year and beyond--but so will a lot of OTHER teams in the SEC.
(Still, if our offense improves enough, I honestly believe that it won't make enough difference what anyone else tries to do to stop us from having OUR "time of dominance"--and one that will make that "2 of 3 years" under Meyer seem only "preface" to a true "Great Gator Era"...I MEAN that: With a real SEC "power-offense" to go with the defensive dynasty we are already poised to hold for some time, there will be a number of seasons during which it will be BIG NEWS nation-wide when we lose.)

I know you're being sarcastic, E- (which means I don't have to be, for a moment), but I'm actually going to be serious about this here, even if it means "re-stating the obvious": We have access to talent (to go with the "talent" we already have that injury, under-achievement and lack of continuity--specifically along the O-line and generally at OC--have rendered null and void THIS season) that should, can and (I still believe) soon WILL give us the kind of offense that we need and expect--and NOT just some "moderate gains" to, say 50th or something, which I grant you, all sarcasm aside, WOULD have made a difference THIS season, at least. Pretty sad when a Florida Gator team cannot even manage a mediocre offense--especially when, in retrospect, that may well have been all that was needed to have garnered us a very real shot at a National Championship, as may well have been the case in THIS very strange year. It would certainly have made our chances in our traditional "last game of the regular season" look better...At the same time, of course, that likewise makes the possibility of our pulling things together THAT much on offense seem doable, even in these last couple of weeks, and therefore gives us some remaining hope that we could still somehow just pull this off.
For now, we aren't asking our offense to blow ANYONE off the field--just hold its own, not lose the ball OR the game, and maybe just manage to put a whole-game effort together, even if it isn't a particularly dazzling one. We have defense, special teams and a habit of STEPPING UP SOMEWHERE to manage the rest.

You may NOT have, IA...I have since seen it re-reported in other headlines in various ways, including yours: Great, all we needed--a cute little short-hand way for the national media to dismiss the very real and amazing things this WAY underrated Gator squad ("WAY underrated" by THEM, btw) has managed to accomplish this season, in spite of even more obstacles, weaknesses, and bad luck than the most pessimistic of its fans could anticipate. (Have to admit it, though: It DOES sort of seem to sum up our strange tale of stumbling success in this VERY WEIRD YEAR of college football.)
What are ya gonna do, though? What do we EXPECT? I mean, in a media world where a reporter, Rachel George, who got her start and whatever chances she now has at a national career in following and being granted access TO the UF football program, is right now "making her name" on that national stage with a "hard-hitting expose" on Sharrif Floyd, and his being adopted by a wealthy family that in turn gave him his own bedroom in what became HIS home (it's a BIG "home"--she spends a lot of time, attention, and adjectives on THAT), a steady and safe environment, and (horror of horrors--the SHAME of it all) a used car when he went away to college and became a starter on the Gator defense. He's now poised to enter the NFL-draft early, none of these opportunities ever likely having materialized without his adoptive family's help. The story, as I say, is done in "exposing a loophole in the NCAA rules", and reads like it was ALL just a big scam, never mind how much a difference it truly made in ONE young man's life. Yep--there's EVIL afoot here--but it ISN'T in Sherrif Floyd's story...Anyway, THAT'S the world we live in, as citizens and especially as GATORS. Yeah, you have really done the world a FAVOR, Rachel...

@Escambia94
Somewhere between the two? Keep switching back and forth for a series or two here, then (FLIP!) back to the other there, etc.? Throw Burton and the wildcat at 'em one series out of every 1/2 dozen, ...all we have to do is have them guess wrong enough times and they WILL be chasing their tails by the second half. Wouldn't do against an SEC-level defense, but just might open things up here--maybe get some offense rolling WITHOUT giving much away for NEXT week. You know, I started this reply with an exasperated tongue-in-cheek, but I wonder if some such "looks-complicated-but-really-simple", pea-under-cups/three-card-monty offense wouldn't just be the one to dial up in this situation. It doesn't require anything we didn't already have ready to go coming into the week, and is easily adaptable to Brisset's skill-set. Wattayathink?

THAT was the loss, THE "one loss", that triggered the Tebow "Promise..." Speech--and everything changed for that team from that point on...I remember just TURNING MY BACK on the media--especially Bianchi (and even Pat Dooley, too, homer that he usually is)--a LOT of us just HURT, but TT had said it all FOR us, and we just all elected to FOLLOW HIS LEAD, rally together and follow HIM, after that...it really felt like there was just no stopping us, everyone, everything and every obstacle fell before us after that, and we all just took it in stride. Now THAT was "magic".