Mary's just going to bed and I'm getting up, but we agree on lots of things.
A few stats from the Knoxville newspaper: Gator Bites: Florida's 31 points were its most at Neyland Stadium since a 35-29 win in 1996 . . . Forty-one percent of the Gators' travel squad was either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen . . . Meyer is 24-2 against SEC East teams, with single losses to Georgia and South Carolina. The most points since 1996! Now that by itself is something to celebrate. Yes, some bad things happened, especially that muffed punt (we missed Chris Rainey!). But lots of good things happened too. The fake punt was fabulous. Regarding other teams and bad snaps--I happened to see two of them (involving Wyoming and Texas Tech), both of which led to TDs by the opponents. At least that didn't happen to us! I agree that running Demps up the middle so many times is bad for his longevity as a playmaker. I was glad to see us use Mike Gillislee in more short yardage situations, but he needs to get even more carries. I am not optimistic about the trip to Alabama, but even this Gator team has the potential to win the rest of the games on the schedule. Hopefully we'll improve as the season goes along and be in peak form by the time the old HBC comes to town. Helen On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 4:16 AM, Mary Weigly <wei...@gmail.com> wrote: > I wasn't sure where to jump in with the long thread about the game, so I'm > starting a new one. > > It's late, so I'm just noting my thoughts, and then going to bed -- where I > will dream happy Gator dreams. > > 1) Draw plays with Jeff Demps make me want to scream. He cannot run > between the tackles unless our OL is blowing open holes, which they are not > doing. Also, he will be a bruised mess by the end of the season if he keeps > getting 26 carries a game. I wish we would do a better job of getting him > the ball quickly and with room to motor. > > 2) Brantley's inexperience is showing. He got sacked when he could have > stepped up in the pocket to avoid it. This can be coached. He also misses > wide open receivers. This will improve with game experience (and film > studies too). Still, he makes incredibly accurate throws on 3rd down. Real > live game experience can't be coached. He'll be fine. > > 3) Mike Pouncey had one obviously bad snap and a few (I only really > noticed 2, but wasn't watching closely) others that were a little off the > mark. The announcers made a HUGE deal about one 1st-period snap being "A > BAD SNAP!!", when it was only slightly outside Brantley's left knee and > Brantley had no problem handling it. I did pay attention to center shotgun > snaps in other games I watched today, and I saw LOTS of snaps off the mark > -- and the QBs had no problem handling the snaps. The ball is delivered to > the QB's right hip or left hip or at his knees or near his throat and the QB > deals with it. To my obviously-ignorant eye (yes, I am being sarcastic), > center snaps are a bit erratic and this is a normal part of the game. > However, because Mike's first game as center was so obviously bad, he is > being subjected to microscopic examination and being criticized for snaps > that don't even bear mentioning in other games where the center doesn't have > "Gators" written on his helmet. I loved the halftime interview with Coach > Meyer where the CBS sideline reporter mentioned "the continuing problems > with center snaps" and was that the reason for the struggles on offense. > Meyer chuckled at the question and said, "if that was the only problem, we > could fix that, but it's a bunch of problems." > > 4) I've been in Neyland Stadium at a couple of awful Gator losses, and I > am very happy to get out of there with a 14-point win. > > 5) I remember all the whining and second-guessing we did about > play-calling when Spurrier was our coach. > > 6) Urban Meyer had to run a crazy offense at Utah. He doesn't at UF, and > he has said so. Meyer is a percentage guy. If we are leading by X number > of points in the 3rd quarter with Y number of minutes left in the game and > the wind blowing from Z direction at AA mph, he will know the exact > percentage of times you will win. He prefers a conservative offense, > although he will open things up when he thinks it's necessary -- witness the > fake punt when momentum was shifting to UTn. It's all about controlling the > game, for him. We're going to see more of this conservative stuff that > makes many Gators crazy to watch. > > 7) I don't think it's "wrong" to be disappointed with this team's > performance, but I do think it's unrealistic. Yes, we have lots of juniors > and seniors who have experience in Meyer's system, but looking to that fact > to justify an expectation of a "top 5-10" performance is flawed in two > respects. First, we are bemoaning offensive performance, and you just don't > get the kind of player rotation on offense that you do on defense. Our > defense really has two sets of starters, because we constantly rotate > players -- even in the secondary. On offense, that doesn't happen, with the > exception of the skill players, and even then there will be favorite targets > at WR, for example. So, although lots of our offensive people are juniors > and seniors, they don't have the game experience that the new "starters" on > defense have. Second, couple the lack of game experience with the fact that > this particular composition of players HAVE NOT PLAYED TOGETHER AS T.H.E. > OFFENSE. I happen to believe that much of our offensive offensiveness is > the result of our patchwork OL; this is first game that our planned starting > line has actually played together in a game. Football is a much more > sophisticated game than many fans appreciate. If I am playing right guard, > and I have not played with this center in a real game or the other guard or > the tackles, and I'm wondering if everyone will be doing their job AND if > I'll get my assignment right, and I can't hear because all those people > wearing UFO are making so much noise, how well will I be playing? 100%? > 80%? With a game of "emotion" and "momentum" and all the intangibles that > make one DE turn a split second before the OT can adjust, how the hell can > I, as a fan watching from the stands or in front of my television, know why > my team isn't dominating the other team, even though they "should"? > > 8) Yeah, we pay our coaches lots of money, and we have great talent on our > team, and we have great facilities, and we have everything that "should" > equate to perfection on the field. BUT, the tired cliche is: "the ball is > shaped weird, and it bounces funny." Meaning: the game is unpredictable. > This is a game that "X and O" books are written about. We hire and pay top > dollar to coaches who seem to have figured out the game and can win national > championships. And then we are disappointed and whine and cry when our team > doesn't perform to our expectations and run the plays we think should be run > and win by more points than they win by. Well, you know what? This game is > played by 18-21-year-old KIDS, in loud and emotional environments, > officiated by imperfect humans, with game momentum affected by TV timeouts, > and using a "ball" that bounces funny. If ANYONE could control this > environment and perfect play-calling and predict what all the players will > do all the time, we would see perfect seasons by the same teams every year. > It doesn't happen, and it can't be done. When I recall the games that I > enjoyed the most, the games are the ones where unpredictable and unexpected > things happened. The upsets, the timeout that was called before the UGA TD, > the Kerwin-for-2, the 14-9 win over FSU, 52-20... I just create unneeded > stress for myself when I worry that a 14-point win didn't look good. I > don't recall ever seeing a "perfect" game -- which would be when exactly > what *I* wanted happened when and how I wanted it to happen. I'm happy when > we win... AT UTn... by 14 points -- and I was nervous until "take a knee" > time. > > But this is just my opinion... it works for me. > > Go Gators! > > Mary > > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- Helen Huntley (727) 823-3801 www.helenhuntley.com -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
