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Game Day Thread: Game 2, Sat. Sept 8 @ Kyle Field, College Station

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
E-94, What about Danny's first start?

OMFG! Shoot me. I just fixed the error above. He is #2 in starting debuts.

Danny Wuerffel went 19 of 38, 267 yards with 3 TDs, 1 INT in his first career start in 1993 against Tennessee.
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
I think Driskel did what any first time starter was supposed to do in his first real start in a big time game, that is don't lose the game making mistakes. Sure he took some unneeded sacks when he should of probably have took off with his feet. And yes he should of threw a couple away as wel instead of taking a sack but we must remember this he is young and inexperienced . He will learn when it's time to run. A&M qb was good as well but our defense made it easy for him in the first half. I think some people are being too hard on Driskel. I also think it was a mistake in keeping this " QB " battle going so long throw the preseason. A starter should of been named a month ago or more. Driskel was clearly the top choice. He should of had more time to build a relationship with the starters on offense and get in sink with the WR. I hate this " they both deserve to start" crap. Pick the guy you want to lead this program and let's get this thing rolling. Let Brisset transfer if he wants. I think the only reason Muschamp started both was to stop him from transferring and having three years of eligibility with a red shirt. Now he forfeits this years red shirt and if he chooses to transfere he will only have 2 years of eligibility left, which would make him question such a move. Oh and I will end my rant with this I can't wait for all these soft ass players Meyer recruited to finally rotate out. By far his ( Meyer )last recruiting class was the most overrated class in the history of UF with the exception of a few.

My take on this is that everyone knows Urban Meyer's players were recruited for finesse, speed, deception, and adaptability. Those players were appropriately ranked by Rivals, ESPN, etc for those attributes, and were a great match for the Urban Attack. Those same traits do not (obviously) work well in a system designed for speed, agility, power, and consistency/persistence. Urban Meyer's offense was built like a Porsche Cayenne SUV--it was not like anything else around, and had a unique blend of Porsche's high tech speed and precision with just enough toughness to be classified as an SUV. Will Muschamp is taking that Porsche SUV and making it a Chevy or Ford (pick your favorite) truck designed to go mud bogging in the Swamp, but still using parts of a Porsche Cayenne. Once those Porsche parts are used up (they graduate or enter the NFL Draft), then Coach gets a clean slate to make a Chevy or Ford truck built from the ground up as he wants.

I still have some doubts as to whether or not these players can be made tougher. I don't know what it will take, other than practicing harder or making the players wear more pads.
 

DRU2012

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
OK--I take your point, E-, and will go with it...
Two major lines of thought spring to mind here: First, if we ARE looking at a whole different "machine" here as the ultimate end of Muschamp's efforts, and I think you're dead on there, then yesterday's game , especially the 2nd half, was I think the first "bare example" of what the Coach has been right out front about trying to do here all along. The very way we got in a bit of a hole in the first half, then were able to adjust and come back, at least partly because we WERE better conditioned than they (which showed by the 4th qrtr), makes part of the point, at least. Call it a Chevy (I've owned 'em all, and am a GM-guy by experience AND temperament, it turns out), what we saw by last night was a kind of "creaky, stripped-down-frame-with-a-barely-functioning-engine" version of the "shiny-hot-overbuilt-truck you can hear coming from blocks away" that he'll eventually have for us, if given the time to collect all the parts and fit 'em together.
Which brings us to the second point...If we ARE and have been looking at the consequences of Muschamp having to begin the job using mainly ill-fitting parts, in this case having to take relatively fragile (in both physical AND character-driven terms, the players Meyer had picked out and come to realize were largely so lacking in anything BUT speed and flashy individual displays that they were not even suitable to excell on his or ANY team--that being an underlying reason why he got out) and try to adapt them to his "system", even as he tried to modify that system enough to accommodate them, all while keeping a "working product" out on the field each Saturday, then this problem of widespread injuries becomes NOT just a question of "bad luck" OR looking for someone or something in the current system or way of preparing the players to blame. It raises a host of important questions, all leading towards a fundamental one:
When it comes to those injuries (and there's no getting around it, WHATEVER the reason they've been a major feature of this program since Muschamp got here), the question must be asked: What is really going ON here?
Is this limited to "Meyer's players", the ones he brought in? That's the first question...we need to break it down and see how the injuries distribute in that regard. Either way, assuming Chomp's way requires greater "toughness"--and by implication, intention and practical example you'd have to say that's the general idea--is there a flaw in the way we evaluate "the Machine"s prospective components? Is there some better way of recognizing potential "toughness and durability" in these prospects in the first place?
I don't have the answers here, but clearly, it is of paramount importance to understanding what we've got, and where we're GOING, that we get some. Once again we find ourselves scrambling, trying somehow to "fill in" and manage a patchwork version of what we thought we had, what we "planned for and SHOULD have had" before the various pieces got damaged, or somehow "didn't turn out". Wishing, hoping and leaving it to chance leaves us floundering, never realizing that "potential", all our goals and dreams always "just missed", just out of reach.
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
I think it is a combination of "Meyer's players" and the mixing of those players with very different types of players. Junior LB Jelani Jenkins (recruited by Billy Gonzales and Charlie Strong) and DB Cody Riggs (recruited by Billy Gonzales and Vance Bedford) were easily hurt--both are Meyer recruits. DB Josh Evans (recruited by Chuck Heater) was downright trucked by the Aggie running back--he is a Meyer recruit. OL Chaz Green (recruited by Steve Addazio) needed to step up for that offensive line, but instead he got cramped up after letting the Aggies blow past him repeatedly. The fact that the biggest sissies were on defense completely baffles me. NT Omar Hunter (recruited by Greg Mattison, under Meyer) laid down on the ground after the heat got to him. That is supposed to be our biggest, toughest player, and he wussed out. Jenkins and Riggs had the most serious injuries. Riggs, Green, and Hunter should be on the field next week, and they had better man up.
 

DRU2012

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
You said it! (--and as usual, said it well, E-.)
That's the bad news. The good news? Well, we DO have a bunch of other talented, once-"highly-regarded" and possibly (since more recently-recruited) tougher players, on offense AND defense, whose opportunities have arrived sooner than they (or anyone else) expected. If these can step up, and the coaches help them to pull together as and into a TEAM, we may yet make a season of it...at least handle the Tennessees, Kentuckys--and possibly even our share of the South Carolinas and UGAs, too, once we get healthy and rolling...not so sure about the very elite yet, LSU or Alabama, under the best of circumstances...that may have to wait 'til next year, even if we CAN manage to make something out of this one. I'm just trying to find some cause for hope, some spark left of "what's possible" to grab onto for the rest of this season. (Btw, if these younger, more recent recruits AREN'T "tougher", more resilient and determined than what we've seen in a number of the first-stringers you've mentioned, and others, then I return to my original observations and the implied questions I noted above.)
 

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