Sunday rants and raves

Normally I collect the good and bad from the Gator game that just took place and we nitpick and browbeat every play. This will be somewhat rant and somewhat rave. You’ll have to decide for yourself just how much I’m ranting and how much I’m raving.

Because we’re UF fans, we’re used to doing this sort of thing on a Sunday after a victory. It used to be that we’d win at Kentucky by 37 but find things about which to complain. I’m barely old enough to remember the last time we lost to Kentucky.

I am, however, old enough to know that we have to rally behind Muschamp and staff. There’s nothing good to say about our offense under Will. Never has been.

There’s nothing good to say about our offensive line under Will. Again, with a few exceptions, never has been.

If I spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to travel to Columbia to watch that carnage I would be furious. This team is not fun to watch. There is no entertainment in Florida football. Watching college football is supposed to be fun. We’re all used to wide receivers running free … and that delicious anticipation when both you, as the fan, and Wuerffel or Matthews as the quarterback, sees that Gator running in space … and we all yell, as if to tell the QB something he didn’t already know: “REIDEL IS OPEN, DANGIT!!!!”

More often than not those passes were completed. And more often than not we were ahead at the time.

It was so easy then.

Spurrier is gone. Meyer is gone.

It’s officially time to rebuild.

Will Muschamp is not Steve Spurrier nor Urban Meyer.

If he’s going to be successful here, he’s clearly going to do it his own way.

He’s proven that he can put a wonderful defense in place. He’s not shown that he
can deliver on the offensive end. And this debate about Pease and Muschamp just has to end now. Both of these guys have to accept responsibility for this product. It’s not acceptable.

As to next year, do you wait it out with Jeff Driskel? Do you put the reins in the hands of Tyler Murphy?

If you’re a coach on the hot seat, do you turn the program over to a true freshman like Will Grier?

And the offensive line? Do you replace Tim Davis? Do you spend more scholarships on lineman? If you’re one of those folks reading this that puts stock in star ratings, then our offensive line recruiting is not going all that well. We’re fine defensively but we’re not scoring points.

The natives are restless.

Many people may be shocked to read this but I think the only logical choice is to stay the course with Muschamp.

The guy can win. He did it last year. A lot of us may want to treat a lot of last season’s big wins as luck ex post facto but, the fact is, he earned them.

He’s dealing with an incredible amount of injuries this season. Yeah, every coach has to deal with injuries. And I don’t think this staff has done well with the necessary adjustments, which I will address later. But Muschamp has had more than his fair share of adversity in this department.

Not going to do the whole “who do you replace him with?” mumbo jumbo as we don’t need to have this conversation right now. I’m a hothead and I hate losing as much or more than any of you. But I watched that Florida State-Clemson game
and I couldn’t help but wonder where FSU might be if their important fans were as influential as ours.

We have Ermon Lane and Will Grier coming in. Kelvin Taylor is already on the team. I have to believe Muschamp is going to do whatever he has to do to make us an elite program.

The normal “rants and raves” rubric will return next week. Just thought you’d all already seen or read how bad our offense and offensive line was, and figured you’d like some off the cuff thoughts.

Thor Kolnes
Sports and writing have always been passions of mine. I was unfortunate enough to be born in Cincinnati, Ohio and even more unfortunate to be born with an unwavering sense of loyalty. I chose the Gators in a Cub Scout meeting as a young boy after my parents moved us to Florida and I have never looked back. Suffice it to say the loyalty to the Gators has paid off but the Bengals and the Reds are withholding their dividends. Geographical determinism made me a Reds and Bengals fan, but God's grace made me a Gator.

3 COMMENTS

  1. No one has any answers on the offense–specifically the offensive line which is the root of the problem. I have seen lots of opinions, but no answers.

    I do not for a minute believe that Champ is sitting on the OC. He stated very publicly that Weiss had a free reign with the offense. It was terrible; largely because the OL was terrible, and the QB was hurt, and gun-shy. I do not believe that he brought Pease in and told him that he could not run his offense–nor do I believe that Pease would have come under those conditions. . Hogwash. I am sure that he told him that he wanted a power running, balance attack. What coach in the SEC does not? OTH I do not know whether Pease is a good OC, or whether he was riding Petersen’s coat tails at BSU.

    As for the defensive performance, there could have been no complaints until this past Saturday. Gators went into the game without two starting DLs, in addition to already missing their best. What team is going to be anywhere near the same without three starting DL?
    Then of course, they lost a starting safety after the first play on a BS rule. So, the defense was down three starters that they expected to have; plus another irreplaceable one from earlier.

    I give them some slack. Don’t know about you.

    Championships are won by teams who are lucky in the injury department. True in the NFL, true at the college level.

  2. OFG8R- I agree that the defense should get the benefit of the doubt. When healthy we know what they are capable of. The Riggs ejection may be a BS rule, but everyone knows it’s a rule and what happens when you violate it and there can’t be any argument that Riggs violated it. It was obvious. I know WM wants to build an offensive identity that is centered around the power run game, but when it clearly doesn’t work with the personnel you have, then you evolve the game plan around the strengths in the personnel you do have. That’s what great leaders do. Our staff to this point has shown an inability or at least an unwillingness to do that. K Taylor and Patton are the only two playmakers who seem to make things happen for us, so logic would tell you to get the ball in their hands as often as possible. Let Murphy roll out more because the line clearly can’t protect him when he’s in the pocket and he is a running threat when he gets outside which keeps the defense honest. They have two full weeks to draft some new ideas for the play book and to throw the crap out that doesn’t work. In two weeks will see the real truth serum of this coaching staff. If they don’t come out and look measurably different than they have the last two Saturdays then especially against a banged up Georgia team who is struggling then we need a shake up in the leadership.

  3. One ” bright” spot going forward is the digs gave up 19 in 4th quarter ! I agree that looking from outside root of offensive problems appeAr to be dysfunctional O line. Did these guys regress from preseason hype? Have they quit? These guys were practicing vs our d line whe it was healthy. What has happened? Neither tackle can match up w/ the def end rush and are consistently beaten. JH still struggles on pass blocking. No progress over last years line. Got no answers. Just questions!