Brief Summary of 2012 Gator Football

[CGgater]

I feel Ox's pain about the loss to uga and sitting just 1 loss short of playing against bama for a shot to move on to the MNC. Maybe Ox is beginning to understand the pain uga has caused the older Gator fans, but I digress...

Maybe not brief, but I'm avoiding large, sid-like paragraphs. Here's some of the main points why this season isn't a total waste.

1. Many people inside and outside Gator Nation questioned Foley's decision to hire someone with no HBC experience. After 2 seasons and only 1.5 recruiting classes to bring in his type of players, I think there's reason to believe we have our guy.

2. Players have bought in and worked their butts off to handle 60 minutes of football. Last year, they played 45 and wore down.

3. Oline injuries were probably the main reason for our struggles on O, but even with the crappy O, we went 11-1. Does anyone think we can't be in the MNC hunt next year? Keeping Pease for continuity would be a refreshing boost...

4. Hires like meyer or saban are rare - it's not very realistic to expect an MNC in year 2, especially with a dramatic shift in offensive philosophy. I'm not declaring a "moral victory." I'm just saying we've seen great progress and good reason to expect years of consistent success.

5. Looking at 2013:

Offense:

-Recruits and transfers will provide more improvement on the Oline.
-We'll miss Gilly, but I think Jones, Taylor and Lane will boost the running game.
-QB should improve after a year of experience, especially if we can keep Pease for continuity.
-Hopefully Dunbar, 2012 freshmen WRs and TEs and the 2013 recruits will boost the passing game. Keeping Reed would help.

Defense:

-We'll miss Floyd and Hunter, but maybe the freshmen/transfer DTs will help plug the middle.
-Bullard and Fowler should go full beast mode next year. We get RoPo back.
-We'll miss Bostic, but I think we'll get similar production with Morrison, Taylor & Co. next year.
-We're deep at CB and Safety.

ST:

I'm hoping Roberson and incoming Bailey will give us some good return threats.
Punter is good. Do we need a kicker? Can't remember.

S&C: Dillman deserves a raise!

Leadership: Assuming Elam and Easley stay (or even one of them), I think they keep the team focused on the pain caused by the loss to uga. That should keep the team hungry for more.

Opponents: Is there any conference team outside of ta&m and maybe lsu who can expect to significantly improve next year? Out of conference, does anyone scare us?

Thoughts?

[CGgater]

Holy crap, that was still longer than I wanted it to be. Sorry!

[law98gator]

Opponents: Is there any conference team outside of ta&m and maybe lsu who can expect to significantly improve next year?

We don't play aTm next year. We drop them and pickup Arky. We also downgrade from LaLa to scUM.

[UF_Cheme_Student]

Saban did not win a National Championship in his second year. He won the west and lost to UF in the SECCG. Then followed that up with a beating to Utah in the Sugar bowl.

Meyer, got the lucky break he needed in 2006 to play in the national championship. Also although tough, the schedule that year was much easier than this year and not to mention how much weaker the SEC East was. In 2006 including the national championship and seccg the Gators played 5 top 25 opponents (3 in the top 10).

What Muschamp did this year is just as comparable to Saban and Meyer in their second years, if not better considering the schedule and the issues the team had when Champ became head coach.

[CGgater]

Opponents: Is there any conference team outside of ta&m and maybe lsu who can expect to significantly improve next year?

We don't play aTm next year. We drop them and pickup Arky. We also downgrade from LaLa to scUM.

True, but we could face them in the SECCG, which is why I mentioned them.

[CGgater]

Saban did not win a National Championship in his second year. He won the west and lost to UF in the SECCG. Then followed that up with a beating to Utah in the Sugar bowl.

Meyer, got the lucky break he needed in 2006 to play in the national championship. Also although tough, the schedule that year was much easier than this year and not to mention how much weaker the SEC East was. In 2006 including the national championship and seccg the Gators played 5 top 25 opponents (3 in the top 10).

What Muschamp did this year is just as comparable to Saban and Meyer in their second years, if not better considering the schedule and the issues the team had when Champ became head coach.

Correct - brain fart on my part with saban. However, you amplify my point about reasonable expectations for our second year. I think Champ exceeded them, even if the loss to uga still stings.

Speaking of expectations, I forgot to mention another big point in my OP - when 11-1 is a disappointing season, life is good!

[Homer J]

I feel Ox's pain about the loss to uga and sitting just 1 loss short of playing against bama for a shot to move on to the MNC. Maybe Ox is beginning to understand the pain uga has caused the older Gator fans, but I digress...

Maybe not brief, but I'm avoiding large, sid-like paragraphs. Here's some of the main points why this season isn't a total waste.

1. Many people inside and outside Gator Nation questioned Foley's decision to hire someone with no HBC experience. After 2 seasons and only 1.5 recruiting classes to bring in his type of players, I think there's reason to believe we have our guy.

2. Players have bought in and worked their butts off to handle 60 minutes of football. Last year, they played 45 and wore down.

3. Oline injuries were probably the main reason for our struggles on O, but even with the crappy O, we went 11-1. Does anyone think we can't be in the MNC hunt next year? Keeping Pease for continuity would be a refreshing boost...

4. Hires like meyer or saban are rare - it's not very realistic to expect an MNC in year 2, especially with a dramatic shift in offensive philosophy. I'm not declaring a "moral victory." I'm just saying we've seen great progress and good reason to expect years of consistent success.

5. Looking at 2013:

Offense:

-Recruits and transfers will provide more improvement on the Oline.
-We'll miss Gilly, but I think Jones, Taylor and Lane will boost the running game.
-QB should improve after a year of experience, especially if we can keep Pease for continuity.
-Hopefully Dunbar, 2012 freshmen WRs and TEs and the 2013 recruits will boost the passing game. Keeping Reed would help.

Defense:

-We'll miss Floyd and Hunter, but maybe the freshmen/transfer DTs will help plug the middle.
-Bullard and Fowler should go full beast mode next year. We get RoPo back.
-We'll miss Bostic, but I think we'll get similar production with Morrison, Taylor & Co. next year.
-We're deep at CB and Safety.

ST:

I'm hoping Roberson and incoming Bailey will give us some good return threats.
Punter is good. Do we need a kicker? Can't remember.
S&C: Dillman deserves a raise!

Leadership: Assuming Elam and Easley stay (or even one of them), I think they keep the team focused on the pain caused by the loss to uga. That should keep the team hungry for more.

Opponents: Is there any conference team outside of ta&m and maybe lsu who can expect to significantly improve next year? Out of conference, does anyone scare us?

Thoughts?

We picked up one of the top kickers in the country this year and he redshirted.

http://florida.scout.com/a.z?s=168&p=8&c=1&nid=5207657


Pos: K Pos Rank: #5 Pos Rating:


Austin Hardin Biography:
He kicked a 59-yard game-winning field goal as a junior vs. Southwest DeKalb. Hardin also plays soccer for Marist, which won the state title his junior season.

[TN G8tr]

I agree with all.

Should be in the thick of things next year. We had the luxury of getting some young defensive guys playing time this year.

Morrison
Taylor
Fowler

Don't forget RoPo is coming back. I expect that to be a huge draw for Elam and Easley.

Offensively I expect nothing but continued progress. Especially if Pease is still here. Yet the tools, players, and transfers will immediatley help.

Better get sunglasses, future is bright.

[GatorStud]

Here's to the beginning of another pseudo Coaching dynasty, Cheers!
(ie, SOS did it, M3 tried it... let's get it done Champ)

[cuuf]

aTm loses their entire defensive front, also if history holds, there will be a sophmore slump for Manziel. So I dont expect aTm to really get better. LSU on the other had is remarkably young too and should improve too. USC should be solid if marginally better. UGA also loses their defense. Not sure about Murray. Vandy, Kentucky, Tenn, Mizzou all will have similar problems as this year. The year should come down to the LSU and USC games both on the road.

[G8RNGA]

aTm loses their entire defensive front, also if history holds, there will be a sophmore slump for Manziel. So I dont expect aTm to really get better. LSU on the other had is remarkably young too and should improve too. USC should be solid if marginally better. UGA also loses their defense. Not sure about Murray. Vandy, Kentucky, Tenn, Mizzou all will have similar problems as this year. The year should come down to the LSU and USC games both on the road.

Murray is gone. UGA will lose many players.