Looking Forward, Looking Back

[DRU2012]

Growing up in Florida in the 60s, I naturally became a rabid Gators fan in the days of SS, his Heisman years--and was thus for that brief time unaware of our historical reputation as "the Sleeping Giant"; In a family where the men were football junkies this of course meant certain things...
Each Fall specific Saturday's meant dinner in "a house divided" when service academies played, and one closed to Canes and Noles all the rest.
I soon came to be aware of (in UF's case) our long spell of mediocrity.
That didn't stop me from enrolling at (and as soon as possible, moving to Gainesville to ATTEND) the UNIVERSITY of Florida in the later-70s--a time when Doug Dickey was our Coach.
My sophomore year, to much ballyhoo one Charlie Pell was brought in. Very much similar to the situation that faced Billy when he arrived, Charlie (a Bear Bryant desciple) arrived at a program again long in tatters, and counting on he alone to somehow work miracles. His first season at the helm we went 0-10-1 (that "1" was a tie at home to GEORGIA SOUTHERN!--we were BAD, but we went to games and had FUN: We just didn't worry, 'cause we had learned simply NOT TO CARE--also, it was the 70s, and they used to say "You can stand downwind of Florida Field on gamedays and..." well, you get the idea))...Of course, Charlie's methods, while now somewhat allowed and open to Billy, in that time were far outside the rules for gathering "scholarship athletes"--within a few years he was gone in disgrace, and we were back to general irrelevancy once more...but through a series of changes and circumstances (wink wink) under which more and more increasingly improved talent was brought to UF football, the Coaches who brought them were each in turn forced out (but in those pre-portal days the recruited PLAYERS stayed), the TEAM back on probation again but inarguably getting better and better--until SS HIMSELF "CAME RIDING BACK TO THE RESCUE" in the 80s (though Galen Hall and Emmit Smith and others in turn by then had strongly raised our profile AND ability to compete in the years directly before Spurrier's arrival)--while HE was paying his dues, developing his "Fun'n'Gun" thing and generally readying himself for the job.
After that, well, y'all KNOW the rest: we got pretty spoiled over the ensuing couple of decades: Nattys under him and later Meyers...
But now we are finally and sadly back in a place only older Gators recognize. The idea, as I recall, is learning not to EXPECT too much. With that in mind, and given all we've seen of late, who we've got on the rest of our schedule and what THEY have to gain or lose--well, lets just say that it would be best to take things "one game at the time" from here. While that makes THIS NEXT GAME seemingly the most winnable one we have left, the point about "lowered expectations" warns us NOT just to reserve judgment, but to recognize that no matter HOW it comes out, even were we to WIN it (and I am trying my damnedest NOT to let my hopes unreasonably cloud those aforementioned "expectations", believe me), it changes NOTHING regarding the REST of the schedule.
It all adds up to this:
It seems, in any event, that we are fighting to hit the very ".500, + or - 1 game" that most estimated was our likely "landing point" this season back when it started:
We are once again the very DEFINITION of "mediocrity".
Let us see what actually HAPPENS. THEN we can discuss what needs to happen NEXT, and what will comprise "acceptable progress".

 

[Leakfan12]

I like they can snap out of it but will they? Could the Gators join Nebraska, and the U in programs once powerful but not anymore? Maybe throw Texas and Notre Dame as well. Also, if the Gators went undefeated in 1966, they would not win the national championship. Bama was undefeated that season but settled for third because the writers weren't going to put a segerated team as champs.

 

[Escambia94]

Charley Pell is the perfect analogy. On the Internet most conversations about the Gator football program and Billy Napier fall into one of two categories: Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer. Some fall into a third category of Nick Saban or Kirby Smart but I will ignore those discussions and focus on Florida. Older Gator fans or middle-aged fans like me who study history understand that no discussion of the Gator football program as a national championship quality program is complete without talking about Charley Pell.

Ignoring the NCAA sanctions and SEC stripping the conference title, we need to acknowledge that Pell was the first Gator coach to build a national championship quality program. It took him six years to get there. He was a pioneer of NIL before it was allowed in NCAA sports. He introduced the tiered booster system used by richer programs like Texas and Texas A&M—something Florida had not seen. He collaborated with Hollywood to get the Florida brand dropped into tv and movie scripts. He convinced fraternity and sorority houses to become part of football culture to by the hype machines. He found ways to fill the seats so much the administration had no choice but to add 10,000 more seats. He rebuilt Gainesville’s support to the University of Florida, which had all but disappeared under 9 years under Doug Dickey. He brought in championship level coordinators (Mike Shanahan was OC at Division II champion Eastern Illinois before joining the Florida staff as OC and of course before being head or assistant head coach of three Super Bowl champions). These are all the things a head coach not named Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer needs to do to build a national championship quality program. Billy Napier to his credit is doing all those things and we as fans are making a big mistake comparing Napier to Spurrier or Meyer. If we compare Napier to Pell then we can appreciate what we are seeing now.

On the other hand, Pell only needed one losing season to upgrade the coaches he brought from Clemson (which was also was under NCAA sanctions when he left and they were allowed to keep their conference championship but that is a different story). Napier gets an A for upgrading the defensive coordinator position from last year after that unit was ranked around #100 in FBS. Why wasn’t the offensive coordinator position upgraded? The answer is that the Gators had the #35 offense in the country last year and they were in the top 10 in explosive plays. Last year if the receivers had lined up spread apart six more inches, half the idiots on the internet would look at those stats and call that a spread offense. What needs to be upgraded is the idea that Napier needs two offensive line coaches to create a top 10 team. Something has to give. Charley Pell hired a dedicated OC in year 2. Napier needs to hire one in year 3 unless the offense magically transforms itself this weekend from the #58 offense back to the #35 offense from last year and they keep it up through December. That is not happening.

 

[DRU2012]

Charley Pell is the perfect analogy. On the Internet most conversations about the Gator football program and Billy Napier fall into one of two categories: Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer. Some fall into a third category of Nick Saban or Kirby Smart but I will ignore those discussions and focus on Florida. Older Gator fans or middle-aged fans like me who study history understand that no discussion of the Gator football program as a national championship quality program is complete without talking about Charley Pell.

Ignoring the NCAA sanctions and SEC stripping the conference title, we need to acknowledge that Pell was the first Gator coach to build a national championship quality program. It took him six years to get there. He was a pioneer of NIL before it was allowed in NCAA sports. He introduced the tiered booster system used by richer programs like Texas and Texas A&M—something Florida had not seen. He collaborated with Hollywood to get the Florida brand dropped into tv and movie scripts. He convinced fraternity and sorority houses to become part of football culture to by the hype machines. He found ways to fill the seats so much the administration had no choice but to add 10,000 more seats. He rebuilt Gainesville’s support to the University of Florida, which had all but disappeared under 9 years under Doug Dickey. He brought in championship level coordinators (Mike Shanahan was OC at Division II champion Eastern Illinois before joining the Florida staff as OC and of course before being head or assistant head coach of three Super Bowl champions). These are all the things a head coach not named Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer needs to do to build a national championship quality program. Billy Napier to his credit is doing all those things and we as fans are making a big mistake comparing Napier to Spurrier or Meyer. If we compare Napier to Pell then we can appreciate what we are seeing now.

On the other hand, Pell only needed one losing season to upgrade the coaches he brought from Clemson (which was also was under NCAA sanctions when he left and they were allowed to keep their conference championship but that is a different story). Napier gets an A for upgrading the defensive coordinator position from last year after that unit was ranked around #100 in FBS. Why wasn’t the offensive coordinator position upgraded? The answer is that the Gators had the #35 offense in the country last year and they were in the top 10 in explosive plays. Last year if the receivers had lined up spread apart six more inches, half the idiots on the internet would look at those stats and call that a spread offense. What needs to be upgraded is the idea that Napier needs two offensive line coaches to create a top 10 team. Something has to give. Charley Pell hired a dedicated OC in year 2. Napier needs to hire one in year 3 unless the offense magically transforms itself this weekend from the #58 offense back to the #35 offense from last year and they keep it up through December. That is not happening.

You hit it all right on the nail-head.
That's where I was aiming above--and THAT is where we (as a team and PROGRAM) are AT.
No matter what, at present we are all groping in the dark for answers. It is best to somehow step back, allow events to run their course, the actual FUTURE still to be revealed.
We can, each and all of us, offer our opinions and advice...but it is not yet time to draw any "final conclusions". Too much remains unclear--unseen and unanswered.
Win or lose, we will learn some things tomorrow in Columbia. As for the whole balance of this schedule, the pressures of failure and strife can be the greatest teachers of all.