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Week 12 Reaction: Gators lose the game, lose their quarterback

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
Ouch.
FLAMIZ
1st Downs2220
3rd down efficiency5-119-16
4th down efficiency1-11-1
Total Yards483503
Passing222326
Comp-Att17-2420-35
Yards per pass9.39.3
Interceptions thrown10
Rushing261177
Rushing Attempts4032
Yards per rush6.55.5
Penalties9-477-59
Turnovers20
Fumbles lost10
Interceptions thrown10
Possession33:0325:21
 

DRU2012

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Our Coach HAD to see that with their kicker and that much time, he SHOULD have been going for the TOUCHDOWN there--especially with Brown having the hot hand.
I don't wanna HEAR all his BS about the "situation with backups" and all that...I coukd see this very ending coming back k before Brown even ran it inside the 20! THAT was their opportunity to take the KICKER out of this. But he "went by the numbers", and lost.
I will no longer support Billy Napier.
As far as I'm concerned, that is TWO GAMES WE SURELY WOULD HAVE WON with a better GAME-Coach.
So much for "bowl eligible".
So much for being a "hopeful sucker" once again.
I wish I had just stayed away after the first half, then only seen the final score.
Here's a question:
Watching Billy there on the sidelines at the end (and for those of you who bother to watch his postgame presser, in his demeanor THERE),
"Do you think he is himself by now aware that this may all be coming to an end sooner than expected after all?"
 

DRU2012

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I didn't see the Mertz injury: How bad IS it, do we know yet? He was there on the sidelines at tge end.
I still say that the way Napier handled and called that last series inside the 20, pretty well (badly) playing for the field goal pretty well DOOMED us to this, one more "close, but NO!" -LOSS.
AREN'T YOU ALL AS SICK OF THESE AS I AM??!
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
Yep. Napier is a horrible game coach. Nice guy. Good at scripting plays. Sucks at managing the flow of live football games.
 

DRU2012

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
University of Florida:
Where Mediocre Coaches go to get set up for life.
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
I didn't see the Mertz injury: How bad IS it, do we know yet? He was there on the sidelines at tge end.
I still say that the way Napier handled and called that last series inside the 20, pretty well (badly) playing for the field goal pretty well DOOMED us to this, one more "close, but NO!" -LOSS.
AREN'T YOU ALL AS SICK OF THESE AS I AM??!
Mertz is out for the rest of the year. Jesse Palmer had a similar injury and he said it took 2 months to recover.

This game was winnable, but Napier coached scared. Scared money don’t make money.
 

DRU2012

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Mertz is out for the rest of the year. Jesse Palmer had a similar injury and he said it took 2 months to recover.

This game was winnable, but Napier coached scared. Scared money don’t make money.
That really sucks about Mertz--but we are only talking about ONE actual "missed game" then, as it likely turns out right?
Gonna NEED him next season no matter what, assuming that "2 months" is an accurate estimation of his healing time.
And boy, are you ever right about Napier "coaching scared"...and you know? I didn't really grab the full meaning of that "scared money..." line back when he was hired--BUT I SURE AS HELL DO NOW! And it really does APPLY--to HIM, repeatedly in the course of this season...No more than EVER in the way THIS one played out!
I just cannot watch or listen to his excuses anymore.
 

DRU2012

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@Escambia94,
I don't know how this will or CAN GO from here:
Unless they fire Strickland as well, I suppose they STILL won't fire Billy (STRICKLAND won't fire him) after just two seasons...As I have hinted/had it "hinted" to ME, it IS "being discussed": He will be "strongly encouraged" (read "FORCED") to hire a strong ("assertively visionary"--though I neither know exactly who or WHAT that means) OC AND Special Teams Specialist...the fact that he has RESISTED these "suggestions" in the face of (if anything GROWING) evidence that BOTH are starkly missing has only emphasized his lack of humility and perspective here.
Again: I supported and defended him much of the way--but things have gone too far.
The outrageous part is that Billy HIMSELF still doesn't GET IT...His inate pride and stubborness has seemingly (if ANYTHING) only forced him to dig in his HEELS on the subject, but it has come to the point where the problem has arisen GAME AFTER GAME!
There IS apparently an "OUT" for the Athletic Department, a certain "firing for cause" that COULD negate the buyout--but ONLY if he were to "refuse a reasonable request or required adjustment"--those of course difficult to prove from LEGAL STANDPOINT, so probably WON'T be risked or brought into play by EITHER SIDE--But at least gives SOME leverage to the money people to get him some "immediate" (well, not quite) sideline help...It will be interesting to see how that manifests off the field between now and the Spring. Maybe it makes a DIFFERENCE.
I can't say I am filled with positve hope and optimism--but if we could at the very LEAST keep this guy confined to the few general MANAGEMENT tasks he seems to actually be GOOD at, meanwhile find and hire the right up'n'comers to whip all this talent into a tightly-run, disciplined unit ON THE FIELD--or more to the point, THREE PROPER UNITS: Offense, Defense, and Special Teams--well, things might change around here very quickly.
But CAN this be accomplished??!
It means Billy ALLOWING himself to be moved into more of a mostly "figurehead role"--something he will no doubt see happening himself, and not like it--even as he remains "the boss" as far as recruits and even veterans before and during games are concerned, while the Coordinators and Positional Coaches have more direct onfield, in-game responsibility.
That's how Saban, and now Kirby too does things with THEIR guys--which is how and WHY so many young, talented Coaches move through their (clearly successful) systems and on to greater responsibility elsewhere--and eventually their OWN Head Coaching jobs.
If Billy has any of the wisdom he himself preaches, he will allow that to happen HERE--AND WE ALL WILL PERHAPS BENEFIT BY IT.
There is my "BEST CASE SCENARIO".
Can't say I am particularly optimistic of its realization, but it is NOT "beyond all hope of coming to pass" either.
All it takes is folks coming to their srnse abd then coming together in a full on, joined effort at abd for the common good of ALL...
Um, YEAH...That happens all the TIME...
(laughing at my own naivete!)
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
@Escambia94,
I don't know how this will or CAN GO from here:
Unless they fire Strickland as well,,,

Stop. Just stop. Firing Stricklin, Napier, the janitor, or your mom is not going to solve anything. You stopped watching the game when the team was showing the most fight, but there is a reason that Missouri is ranked #9 and Florida is not. The Missouri coach, Eli Drinkwitz, went 5-5, 6-7, and 6-7 in 2020-2022, with two bowl losses. Imagine if Missouri had fired Drinkwitz after year 2. Imagine if Missouri had fired their athletic director because of the football team.

I will be blunt here: the offensive scheme and the defensive scheme are good schemes that are used throughout college and the NFL. Unlike the NFL, college athletes only get 20 hours of practice per week. In the NFL that number is 60 to 72 hours per week. The players are not executing because they are young. Swapping out coaches, athletic directors, janitors, and moms will not make these players tackle better, read the defense better, or take better pursuit angles.

Also remember that Missouri is the #9 team in America, and Florida is around #45. I am not optimistic about the team miracling itself into the 1985 Chicago Bears just by listening to a speech. Their best case scenario is just to play better.
 

DRU2012

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I'M not saying "Fire Strickland", I am just telling you that in the back offices where the money people discuss such things, it HAS been at least considered that at THIS point, that's the only way NAPIER would also get canned after just 2 seasons.
I THOUGHT I made that clear. But patience with BILLY'S mounting list of clumsy, dumbass, never-seems-to-LEARN MOMENTS, the very same inept "in-game-coaching" that you yourself deride, E--, IS wearing thin with these same people--that is what I am finally hearing (and it must be pretty getting pretty damn strong and loud in that regard in there now for ME to hear THIS much...This person has NEVER blurted so much explicit impatience before).
To which, if any of us are being honest, by now HAVE to be saying, "It's about TIME!".
I used to think there was no chance he'd even be considered for firing before 2026 the EARLIEST--AND I thought that was a GOOD thing.
Now I'm not so sure--not only that it can happen earlier than that now after all, but that even with all the clear drawbacks/SETbacks, without the sorts of upfront organizational changes I discussed in DETAIL above and elsewhere, things would continue "the same and WORSE" in this downward spiral in 2024...
In which case, like it or NOT...
How can I best put this?
We will be in a hole so deep that you will look back on today and wish we HAD done SOMETHING--Something MORE than accept more excuses and "logical reasons" why this or that MIGHT "only make matters WORSE"!
YOU saw what happened out there AGAIN tonight. No matter WHAT might have been done here or there, ANOTHER game was lost by a series of sideline-origined mistakes, poor judgement, lousy clock management--and just poor understanding of both general in-game circumstances AND the strengths and weaknesses of our own team and the opponent's. That shouldn't be happening at this level--and with US it is happening virtually EVERY WEEK!
Look, I am NOT one of those "hotheads" screaming blindly for his head because we lost.
I AM normally reasonable, but coming to be a "FORMER"-supporter who has TRIED to spell out a practical "WAY FORWARD" WITH this Coach in more of the kind of "CEO" role I can envision him still being effective in... Maybe if we just stay AWAY from the word "figurehead" we can get a full on visionary OC AND Special Teams Coach in there, people who are well-paid and free to get it done THEIR WAY.
Billy MAY have littke choice...He can go on recruiting, inspiring, and maybe learning how to run a team IN-GAME without everyone (including HIMSELF) tripping over their own FEET!
 

DRU2012

Super Moderator
Staff member
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Anyway, I'm exhausted and deeply disturbed and disappointed--DESPITE all my efforts to NOT allow myself to be drawn into CARING like this again.
@Escambia94,
E--, I must tell you that I am quite close to needing a complete BREAK from Gator Football--from COLLEGE FOOTBALL (as it is coming to be) in GENERAL. I am that disillusioned by what its form appears to be developing towards, AND in particular what it is encouraging among its "student athletes"--no longer "fellow students" but mercenaries, "hired guns".
When at UF, I actually TUTORED many Gator athletes, including some bigtime Gator star players during our shared time there. They WERE expected to attend and do decently in classes, but they were also given whatever tutoring help they felt they needed. A few thought that this meant you were going to DO THE WORK FOR THEM--but I quickly disabused them of this notion. Some never learned--and were soon gone, "academically ineligible"...off to "Directional U", right? But the rest eventually buckled down and (I like to think) were ultimately BETTER for the experience.
Today I suspect we are headed to a situation where EVERY school will tum the academic side of things to the way (we heard) UM (and to a certain extent, though they at least tried to COVER it somewhat, FSU) and many others did things back in the day.
More's the pity, in my (albeit antiquated) view.
The day may well be coming when it is ALL a sham we might as well simply strip away...
I suspect I will no longer be a part of it at that point; for the moment I guess I am TRYING to do whatever small things I can to encourage some resistance to just that seemingly inevitable trend.
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
I just accept a few facts and move on:
- Billy Napier is a good person and UF needs someone like him to clean up the program before there is any hope of winning 10 games a year.
- Napier might be like Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz: it could take 3 losing seasons in a row before all the repairs are in necessary to win 10 games a year.
- Napier is probably never going to win a national championship at Florida, and that is okay. That does not mean UF needs to fire him anytime soon.
- It is possible that the right coach to win a championship at Florida is already out there but the program is not ready for him until Napier finishes the rebuild. I will float two names of Gator alumni who might be ready in four years: Kerwin Bell and Jedd Fisch.
- This roster probably has 20 championship quality players. It needs at least 60 (maximum NCAA road roster). Napier needs to grab 20 championship quality recruits via high school recruiting and 40 via transfer portal. Those are unlikely to occur in one year, so we are talking 2 years minimum.
- Given all that, Florida will likely have another 5-7 or 6-6 season next year. Buckle up.
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
That hurt especially that 4th and 17 conversion.
The Gators had a 99.7% chance of victory on that 4th and 17 play. That was a historically bad defensive stand. From what I could tell the defensive play call was fine. It looked as if they went into a quarters defense, but the defender failed to come downhill when Missouri’s best receiver ran into his zone. These kids should know how to play quarters, which is the basic defense every kid learns in Pop Warner. Maybe the defensive coordinator gets some of the blame for not drilling basic defense into their heads, but at the end of the day the kid getting paid NIL money needs to pay attention to the lessons taught in practice and make the simple plays.
 

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