Champ's first season was pretty much what I expected given the dumpster fire Meyer left him with, in terms of talent, team chemistry, and some heavy entitlement issues from some of the players.
The 11-2 season that followed seemed to take everyone by surprise as it was "ahead of schedule" but among those wins there were a number of games that were much closer than most of us would have expected or liked. Suffocating defense but an often dysfunctional offense. Last year the roof caved in. Losses to the NFL were compounded by an astounding run of bad luck injury wise. We were on the brink. Fast forward to today. We're 2-0, but not a happy 2-0. One game canceled (can this program catch a freaking break?), a blowout win against a cupcake (which by the way, we seem to have taken for granted very quickly after not seeing that for several years), and a 3 OT squeaker against lowly Kentucky. This guy has to go, right? Not so fast... Why does his "leash" extend beyond the next two games in my book?; To my untrained eye, the "thug factor" appears to be on the wane, and I believe the GPD/UPD arrest blotter bears that out. The SEC pecking order never remains constant. It was incredulous to lose to Vandy last year, but they went to bowl games three years in a row, so the mighty Gators weren't the only team that they beat that they didn't compete against historically. Maybe it's Kentucky's turn to step up. By all accounts Stoops has recruited better there than they have seen in a while. Some of the passes completed against our secondary looked impossible to defend. Maybe they aren't so bad that beating them in a close contest is all that bad. We will see. For a team coming off of a 4-8 season, and that has looked like crap on offense since Tebow moved on (and really even most of his senior year after the concussion), we have a lot of very highly rated recruits interested in us. The only reason more of them haven't committed already is that they hear that Champ is a goner, and they (understandably) want to see this offensive improvement first hand before they are "all in". Hey Jerry - even if we only beat Vandy and EKU we will be 4-7 and that's better than 4-8, right? ;) I don't see any invincible teams this year, and even the top tier SEC east teams have shown they have some weaknesses. To me, how we play, even if we lose the next two is more important than if we win. Saying that, unless we are decimated by injuries in the Bama game I think we beat the Vawls handily. I may be proven wrong, but I think Champ will be an outstanding coach. He is in a battle against time due to his learning curve, as well as some unfortunate luck, to be that coach at UF. On a side note - I'm glad to see that, so far at least, the polarization and ugliness that we had on GatorTalk during the Zook years hasn't resurfaced. Maybe we've all grown up a bit, or maybe we ran all of the passionate posters off! ;) Steve McKibben ________________________________ I did not propose anything. Muschamp has been here four years and we are struggling against Kentucky? I know it is early. However, if we played like we did Saturday, we might end up with a worse record than last year. Vandy and Eastern Kentucky are our only probable wins. We might squeak by Tennessee as well. >>> >>> >>>I have watched at least a half from the rest of the teams this year except >>>of F$U. All of them appear to be much better than we are. >>> >>> >>>The truth be known, I am more worried about our program than I have been >>>ever before. >>> >>> >>>Jerry >>> >>> >>>From: Oliver Barry <[email protected]> >>>Reply-To: GatorTalk <[email protected]> >>>Date: Monday, September 15, 2014 at 12:00 PM >>>To: GatorTalk <[email protected]> >>>Subject: RE: [gatortalk] The direction of Gator Football >>> >>> >>> We play one SEC game and you’re proposing this? That doesn’t even make sense. Even Zook got the Mississippi State game. Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI Bob Parks Realty, LLC Real Estate Broker 145 Maple Row Blvd Hendersonville TN 37075 Phone: 615-826-4040 Mobile: 615-972-4239 [email protected] From:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Polhill Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2014 10:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [gatortalk] The direction of Gator Football Possibly, Doc. But not during a week we are leading the SEC East. A. Leon Polhill, Gator ________________________________ From: Jerry D. Belloit <[email protected]>; To: [email protected] <[email protected]>; Subject: [gatortalk] The direction of Gator Football Sent: Sun, Sep 14, 2014 11:01:22 PM After watching the game last night, I was reminded of last season and of Dark days of Gator football dating back to those days that Vince Dooley had our number. I had thought that I was forever finished with the old, ³Wait until next year.² I had some reasonable hopes for this year. Last night, the only team in the SEC we could have beaten would be Vandy. I thought our defense would be much better. (Did our linebackers play?) I knew that our offense would be a work in progress but I was blind-sided by our defensive problems. I was counting on our defense to keep up in the game until our new offense began to gel. After last night, that would appear to be a pipe dream. Two years ago, I expected Coach Muschamp to be an upper level coach. After four years, I am afraid that he may be another Ron Zook. We seem to be a long way from competing with South Carolina, Georgia, Auburn, Texas A7M, LSU, and Alabama. Is it time for a new coach? Jerry -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
