I think we will surprise a lot of people this year with a stingy defense and an adequate offense.
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Give us your expectation for Florida football this year
- Thread starter Napier's Army
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Going to be a very young roster, but a lot more speed and some playmakers.
I've said it before, but I don't know that my expectations are based on the final W/L record.
I believe Billy Napier has done a damn good job overall directing the program and has it headed in the right direction. However, it isn't unrealistic to expect to see some overall improvement on game day.
Florida has to do better in the third quarter of games. The Gators were abused coming out of the half last season. If UF would have just played every team even in the third quarter, they didn't have to win it outright, just play it even, they would have won 10 games.
Florida's No. 36 ranked offense in the nation was based mostly upon their No. 24 ranked rushing offense. Expect the ground game to carry the day once again, but with Napier being the quarterback coach and play caller, it isn't unrealistic to expect better production out of his group. What UF got out of Anthony Richardson (and the reason he was drafted No. 4 overall) had to do with God-given athletic ability, not his fundamentals as a quarterback. He could be a superstar one play, and look lost the next. How much of that was on him, and how much of that was on his position coach?
Also, yes, UF had two very capable backs in Etienne and Johnson, and I can understand to a point splitting carries, but he might be better off going with the hot hand more than a straight rotation. The last carry Etienne had in the loss to FSU was that 45-yard touchdown, and then he was on the sideline for the last drive.
Having said all of that, Florida didn't lose seven games because of the offense. It was the defense that let the Gators down throughout the season, and it should be a bottom-line expectation to see improvement on that side of the ball. I don't know if it would be fair to expect a lights-out performance, but at least a 30-40 spot improvement over their No. 96 finish last season.
I believe Billy Napier has done a damn good job overall directing the program and has it headed in the right direction. However, it isn't unrealistic to expect to see some overall improvement on game day.
Florida has to do better in the third quarter of games. The Gators were abused coming out of the half last season. If UF would have just played every team even in the third quarter, they didn't have to win it outright, just play it even, they would have won 10 games.
Florida's No. 36 ranked offense in the nation was based mostly upon their No. 24 ranked rushing offense. Expect the ground game to carry the day once again, but with Napier being the quarterback coach and play caller, it isn't unrealistic to expect better production out of his group. What UF got out of Anthony Richardson (and the reason he was drafted No. 4 overall) had to do with God-given athletic ability, not his fundamentals as a quarterback. He could be a superstar one play, and look lost the next. How much of that was on him, and how much of that was on his position coach?
Also, yes, UF had two very capable backs in Etienne and Johnson, and I can understand to a point splitting carries, but he might be better off going with the hot hand more than a straight rotation. The last carry Etienne had in the loss to FSU was that 45-yard touchdown, and then he was on the sideline for the last drive.
Having said all of that, Florida didn't lose seven games because of the offense. It was the defense that let the Gators down throughout the season, and it should be a bottom-line expectation to see improvement on that side of the ball. I don't know if it would be fair to expect a lights-out performance, but at least a 30-40 spot improvement over their No. 96 finish last season.
Right on the money. Several sites have mentioned the huge drop-off in talent between the 1's and the 2's for UF last season as part of the reason they were so bad in the 2nd half all year. The defense was just terrible. But I'm looking forward to a better UF roster with a better culture winning the games they're supposed to win, and surprising one of two to end up with a winning season and a bowl game.
If the reason for the third quarter deficiencies were due to a drop off between the 1s and 2s, you would think that the big disparity would be in the fourth quarter when they are worn out, not when the 1s are fresh coming out of the half in the third quarter.
Whatever the reason, it has to get better or there is a problem.
I'm sure there's some truth to what you're saying, but I also think that UF's talent pool issues showed up earlier and more glaringly against better opponents and especially when they ran up-tempo offenses. I've always felt that Mullen's conditioning and fitness coach, Savage, was one of his better coaches which is one of the reasons I've suspected talent-gap instead of conditioning. But I do think the culture is so much better on the team now that the quality of execution will improve quickly enough that we could see a competitive team even in their losses this season.
7-5, 3rd in the east and win a mid bowl game to give us some momentuem going in to the offseason.
Watching what coach Napier had to say yesterday has me more excited.
Maybe everyone is underrated us.
I was at the UGA last night and they are beatable. No Stetson Bennett, no running game and no dominant defense against a Div 2 team, and with the OC Monken with the Ravens, Kirby brought in Mike Bobo, and he is still the same as he was when he was here with Mark Richt. They will not run the table this year. I predicted we would lose against Utah, and I still think we go 8-4.
I’ve said 7-5, 8-4 all summer and I still believe that will be the and result. With our schedule and how far we had to come, I also think that record is reasonable.