I tried. I really tried.
I looked at the recruiting rankings of the new players, I studied the resumes of the new coaches, I evaluated how the portal transfers would fit into the roster/depth chart. I listened to the carefully-crafted “message” coming out of PRAVDA, er, the UAA, and press conferences from Billy Napier. I did all of that, and despite what my eyes told me the past 2 seasons, I picked Florida to win on Saturday and projected a 7-win season.
As I type this from my rural Central Florida basement, I realize I was conned. Conned by Napier himself and the “message”. What I saw in person at the Swamp was a dereliction of duty, the same unproductive, unimaginative offense, and the same defensive scheme run by the “Godfather” of that scheme, Ron Roberts. Well, it’s time for both of them to find a horse head in their bed, because it’s over for Basement Billy, and I wonder if this coaching staff can coax even 4 or 5 wins out of this team. The coaching is terrible except for maybe the RBs under Jabbar Juluke and the CBs under Will Harris. And all of the talk about how the talent level of the roster has been elevated is highly in question, because I witnessed a horrific O-line, a soft, weak front seven on defense, and the same mistake-filled safety play repeated from the previous 3 seasons.
The only things I liked from the offense were that there were a decent number of passes thrown to the intermediate and deep zones, and the long TD run by Montrell Johnson on one of the VERY few plays that were blocked well by the O-line. Contrary to popular opinion, Graham Mertz actually had a clean pocket for most of the 1st half, but showed his limitations, again. He proved inaccurate beyond 6-8 yards past the line of scrimmage, and was continually late on deeper passes. It was by far his worst game as a Gator, and killed any chance of keeping the game even close. To cap off a miserable day, he missed a TD with his interception in the 4th quarter, and his lack of mobility also contributed to his incurring a concussion on the same play. The O-line did none of the skill players any favors, looking weak and disorganized most of the afternoon. The right side of the line was a disaster, imitating a sieve. Napier and Rob Sale seemed to treat this game as a scrimmage, rolling in different combinations even when there were a few decent plays executed – no stability or continuity. Why Sale has a job is a mystery now, as he hasn’t recruited nor developed even a decent line or improved any of his players for over 2 years now. Sadly, he’ll be around as long as Napier, which likely isn’t much longer. Elijhah Badger looked far and away the best WR, as he was open all day, but Mertz couldn’t deliver consistently. Tre Wilson was misused once again, mostly on bubble screens and short routes around the LOS. The TEs were ignored in the playcalling for some reason, and their blocking was almost as bad as the O-line. Just a complete and utter failure by the coaching staff, proving they are unable to construct a viable SEC offense. As expected, all of the talk from Napier about playing DJ Lagway and having a special package for him was just that – talk. He wasn’t going to put Lagway in until he was forced to, and when he finally did get to play, the playcalling looked just the same. Lagway at least did some good things – actually throwing and completing 2 slant routes over the middle (which Mertz seemingly just can’t or won’t do), and showed off his mobility to extend a few plays and lead a TD drive.
Florida’s defense was nearly as bad as the offense. The front seven looked demonstrably smaller, weaker, and slower than the Miami O-line, and were abused all game. There is nothing good to say about any individual player, as none of them contributed anything of note, other than the two personal foul penalties that assisted in two Miami TD drives. The LB play was marginally better than the D-line. Pup Howard was sideline-to-sideline making plays, and Shemar James had a great interception in the 1st quarter that the offense failed to cash in on, settling for a FG after starting with a short field. But neither were real factors for much of the game. None of the other LBs played well. The secondary was hit-or-miss – literally and figuratively. Jason Marshall was solid and gave up only 2 short completions. Devon Moore looked OK until getting injured – again. Some of the younger CBs got more snaps than expected and did their best, but buckled while Cam Ward had too much time to survey the field while the front seven was getting stoned at the LOS. The safety play was just brutal, though. Missed tackles, blown coverages, allowing Cane receivers free run through the middle zones all afternoon. Essentially the same crap we’ve seen since 2021. There is no excuse for them anymore – even with a scheme that has proven useless and ineffective, someone should be able to make some plays now. This just goes back to my wondering if the talent level really was all it was being hyped up to be……I don’t think it is. Napier should immediately remove Austin Armstrong, demote Roberts to only coaching the LBs, and let Harris run the defense. But that will never happen, as Napier has no self-awareness nor the humility to admit failure and make necessary changes – just unnecessary ones (like firing 2 respected coaches in Sean Spencer and Corey Raymond and keeping Armstrong around after last season).
Next up for Florida is Samford. The Bulldogs came to the Swamp in 2021 and lost 70-52, but won in helping push Dancin’ Danny Mullen and Todd Grantham out the door. This years’ edition of them is nowhere as talented or dangerous offensively. Other than QB Quincy Crittendon, who is athletic and can extend plays, the Gator defense should be able to control the game from the outset. At least I hope so. Which is a good thing, because Lagway gets the start at QB while Mertz sits out until he passes concussion protocol. I actually hope 3rd-string QB Clay Millen gets in some work as well, because he may be needed more than anyone expected as the season progresses. While it would be nice to see Lagway roll up huge numbers with exciting plays, I’m expecting Napier to play it safe, run the ball a lot, and try to protect him from injury and get by with a win, even if it’s ugly. Samford’s defense is bad, though, so the Gators could still run up an easy 30+ point win.
Nothing from this game will satisfy the masses now, however. There is so much anger and disgust lingering from last Saturday’s embarrassment that it will take a big win this week AND winning next week against Texas A&M to get the noise to die down even just a little. As always in a game like this, the biggest hope other than winning is NO INJURIES, PLEASE.
I could go into a lot more detail and expound on the deficiencies of both the coaching staff and roster, but It’s now 100% in the open for all of Gator Nation to see, and it has had enough. Even the national media has joined in, roasting Napier all week. Napier threw more fuel onto the fire with his disparaging remarks about the fan base, which is always the Sign of the Apocalypse for any coach before he’s eventually fired.
I’m just glad I have some internet service here in my rural Central Florida basement.
Pre-game Sitrep: DEFCON 1
Post-game Sitrep: DEFCON 1
Prediction:
Florida 41 Samford 7