Is this the worst Gator D?

If we had Hopper or Diabate to complement him it would be huge. LSU took advantage of his cover skills all game and other teams will also. We have to figure something out soon or we're falling off the cliff.

 

All I can glean from this is that we got outcoached. Not the end of the world and not calling for anyone's head but we got outclassed. We'll see if it gets corrected.

 

I was at a party with other gators and it got to the point where we couldn't watch that game anymore. I remember the look on everyone's face when we went to the rec room and we chugged our beers. Who knew that we were about to experience the greatest two decades of florida football? I'm going to keep optimistic that our coaches can fix this.

 

I remember there was an old saying about Spurrier in the early 90's something like, his teams play like possums, they get killed on the road?

 

It’s more than just the act of passing. Our scout receivers ability, routes, speed, technical proficiency, etc. Since this isn’t a current team strength we aren’t getting better in practice to the extent possible.

BTW I agree Kitna looked good throwing the ball in the EW game.

 

I would agree with that, but I think they lost a lot more than we did in the portal too so they kinda had to and didn't have to worry about upsetting the locker room as much. Plus we were in quite a scholarship crunch heading into August as it was so don't know that we could have really taken anymore.

 

Not sure there’s anything to figure out. I really thought Wingo would be ready.

 

Yea I always figure the numbers would work themselves out. Whiffing on Verse and Darrell Jackson hurts.

 

There is a reason he was a 3 star recruit.

 

Our talent is equal to LSU talent, were we are behind in talent to LSU or any other team that we have played this season its at the DC position.

 

I mean adjustments schematically, to the defense... and adding a quality control coach would not be out of the realm of possibilities. Saban does that all the time.

 

There is a big difference in between shutting teams down and NOT being dead last in 3rd down conversion... I just don't like that fact that our defense is struggling so badly. We need some kind of adjustments. Maybe we need to simplify the schemes on defense? I hope Napier figures it out soon. I know he sees the problem, and I think he will fix it as best as he can in season.

 

Given the army of coaches I’m sure there is already a CC coach probably several on each side of the ball already. Defense is by nature in flux schematically week to week based on the strengths and tendencies of the offense faced, all the while operating out of a base alignment based on personnel

 

Keep in mind simplified schemes will be obliterated by competent OCs just as surely as going to the well too often with a corner blitz.

for the sake of argument let’s just say we simplify and play cover 2 5 under man or zone as here comes your combo route zone beater for 6. You say you would rather play cover 3 with 8 man front for pressure here comes 4 verticals. You want man here comes the alignment mismatch of the number 3 receiver matched in a LB running a wheel route goodbye.

To sum the concepts aren’t overly complex, the execution has been the problem with missed assignments players looking in the wrong places and we don’t have exceptional natural talent to overcome individual issues.
Do you see RFN roaming the middle field erasing errors?

The only way out is to recruit coach recruit coach recruit coach and release and recruit some more that is the depth we have sunk to when saddled with an SEC schedule

 

Who is our 3rd down on defense coach?

 

That last sentence speaks volumes...

 

This is the worst I've seen.

Last year was bad, but they got stops ... sometimes. At least until Dan got canned and they gave up. This team just can't get the opposing offense off the field.

2007 wasn't like that at all. It was bad, and until 2020 probably the worst I'd seen.

We've been throwing some stats around, here's some more (ranked against the rest of the SEC):

First downs: #16 (tied with Vandy)
Yards per pass: #15 (behind Vandy)
Yards per rush: #13 (behind TAMU, Vandy and Auburn)
Yards per play: #14 (behind Arkansas and Vandy)

In most statistical categories we're hovering around Vandy-level defense.

 

Yes, by wide margin. Disgusting to watch.

 

you left off the 2nd part, "The Year of the Gator"

Part of it is the the rules change (or at least the enforcement) in that back in the day, if an O player had a fist full of jersey, it was automatic Holding. Now, if the "holding" is between the pads, they never call it. It's much harder for any D player to be in position to make a play if he's being held on every down.

Miller is still challenged in coverage. I think he missed a tackle on a RB in the backfield that ended up being a 40-yard gain. That said, he's still the best we have.

 

If we disguise a blitz on that cover 3 we could see better results... We could have a simplified base defense with twists and stunts that will get positive results. But we seem to have problems with lining up correctly... blown coverages...open field tacking... you know the basics and fundamentals seem to be missing. If we correct that above and do what I just posted we'd have better results, IMHO.