Co-winners:
Urban Meyer & Steve Addazio, Florida, 12 points (including a bonus point for winning the poll and a postgame press conference bonus).
Tim Brewster, Minnesota, 10 points. Automatic under the Mississippi State clause.
Runner-up: Turner Gill, Kansas, 4 points
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Week 7 postgame press conference bonus
We haven't seen press conferences this bad in Gainesville since 2004. Steve Addazio definitely gets a bonus point in the Zook Awards for a press conference bonus. Watch if you dare. Disclaimer: You will feel dumber for having watched this.
I will hopefully have time for a further analysis later -- first things first I need to step up my campaign to become Floirda's new OC and work on my playbook -- but what I will write will mirror the excellent analysis over at firesteveaddazio.com so click on the link and check it out.
I will hopefully have time for a further analysis later -- first things first I need to step up my campaign to become Floirda's new OC and work on my playbook -- but what I will write will mirror the excellent analysis over at firesteveaddazio.com so click on the link and check it out.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Week 7 nominations
Let's start with the "other nominees" this week before getting to the main course because there is a lot to write about that.
Tim Brewster, Minnesota
Automatic under the Mississippi St. clause (more to come on Miss St. later too). Brewster got the axe on Sunday after losing to Purdue. Congratulations Minnesota and good luck in your coaching search!
Turner Gill, Kansas
Year 1 for Turner Gill has been ugly so far but wow, 59-7?
That's about it - there really wasn't a lot of bad coaching going on this week. There were some upsets sure - Texas beat Nebraska but that was certainly not a total shocker - neither was Wisconsin beating Nebraska. UK beating S. Carolina was somewhat surprising until you remember the Chicken Curse which manifested itself in the form of an injury to Lattimore and a terrible pass (on a great playcall) by Garcia at the end. None of these is really Zookworthy. However...
Urban Meyer & Steve Addazio, Florida
After a recruiting trip to PA to get a plan B in case Tim Tebow (who spent the day with Mike Shula) didn't come to UF, Urban Meyer and Greg Mattison sat on a plane in 5 degree weather on a tarmac in the middle of nowhere in PA. "He [Mattison] said, 'You realize if we don't get Tim Tebow, that will set the program back 10 years,'" said Meyer. "I said, 'Shut up.' He said, '10 years.' I got so upset with him, I grabbed a blanket and didn't talk to him the rest of the trip."
Urban Meyer was 48-7 with Tim Tebow. He is now 13-6 without him. Think about that for a second. Steve Spurrier never lost to an unranked team at home in 12 seasons. Urban Meyer has now lost to 3 in the last 4 years.
Once again the playcalling was anemic. We gained 14 yards on 12 first down plays in the first half, putting ourselves constantly in 2nd and 3rd and long situations. For the 6th time in 7 games this season, we failed to score in the 1st quarter. For the 2nd time since pre-Spurrier (Auburn 2007), we got shut out in the first half. For the 2nd time in 3 games, we got held to 7 points or less and the first time at home since a blowout loss to unranked LSU in the first year of the dark ages. On 14 of our first 21 first downs, we ran a read option dive play. The last 7 first downs we actually threw the ball because we were behind.
There were at least 4 or 5 plays where I went "oh shit" in the stands because I could see what play we were running and I could see that Miss St. also saw what play they were running. Every "oh shit" ended up in a loss or at best a no-gain on a play that the defense had sniffed out. It was shocking when Mullen punted on 4th and 10 from our 37 -- I couldn't believe that he actually was confident that 10 points was enough to win. Most unranked underdogs coming into the Swamp would have gone for that because as the HBC used to say, you can't beat us by kicking FGs (much less punting the ball). But Mullen would say after the game "This was not an upset. Our team expected to win this game." It was clear at that moment that they did. And they proceeded to simply play to run clock the rest of the game, running on 29 of their last 30 plays. Did we make any adjustments to stop them? Of course not. And they knew we wouldn't be able to do anything on offense.
I feel bad for Chas Henry. Its not his fault and I hope he knows no one blames him. He's a punter, not a place kicker. Tell me why is it that we don't have a viable backup placekicker on the team?
We never ran a play-action pass. We never tried to stretch the field vertically. I actually just watched a highlight video of our game against Cincy, in which Loeffler called the plays because Addazio was acting head coach due to Meyer's health issues. On Riley Cooper's long TD, the announcer says "That is uncharacteristic for the FL offense. They are not a big play offense." Sad but true. Contrast that to 2007 and 2008.
Our red zone woes continued, going 1/3 on the day. We have scored TDs on 55% of red zone possessions under Addazio compared to 75% under Mullen (with Gonzales helping). That includes last season (34/68 with Tim Tebow).
Meyer said after the game we were "down to zero running backs". Umm isn't there a supposedly super-talented freshman named Mack Brown (no relation to the Texas coach) sitting on the bench? I really don't know what more can be said. The last time we lost to Mississippi State, a lot of good came out of it (God bless Sylvester Croom). Hopefully the same will be true this time because if Addazio isn't gone Monday morning, Meyer needs to be gone Tuesday morning!
Tim Brewster, Minnesota
Automatic under the Mississippi St. clause (more to come on Miss St. later too). Brewster got the axe on Sunday after losing to Purdue. Congratulations Minnesota and good luck in your coaching search!
Turner Gill, Kansas
Year 1 for Turner Gill has been ugly so far but wow, 59-7?
That's about it - there really wasn't a lot of bad coaching going on this week. There were some upsets sure - Texas beat Nebraska but that was certainly not a total shocker - neither was Wisconsin beating Nebraska. UK beating S. Carolina was somewhat surprising until you remember the Chicken Curse which manifested itself in the form of an injury to Lattimore and a terrible pass (on a great playcall) by Garcia at the end. None of these is really Zookworthy. However...
Urban Meyer & Steve Addazio, Florida
After a recruiting trip to PA to get a plan B in case Tim Tebow (who spent the day with Mike Shula) didn't come to UF, Urban Meyer and Greg Mattison sat on a plane in 5 degree weather on a tarmac in the middle of nowhere in PA. "He [Mattison] said, 'You realize if we don't get Tim Tebow, that will set the program back 10 years,'" said Meyer. "I said, 'Shut up.' He said, '10 years.' I got so upset with him, I grabbed a blanket and didn't talk to him the rest of the trip."
Urban Meyer was 48-7 with Tim Tebow. He is now 13-6 without him. Think about that for a second. Steve Spurrier never lost to an unranked team at home in 12 seasons. Urban Meyer has now lost to 3 in the last 4 years.
Once again the playcalling was anemic. We gained 14 yards on 12 first down plays in the first half, putting ourselves constantly in 2nd and 3rd and long situations. For the 6th time in 7 games this season, we failed to score in the 1st quarter. For the 2nd time since pre-Spurrier (Auburn 2007), we got shut out in the first half. For the 2nd time in 3 games, we got held to 7 points or less and the first time at home since a blowout loss to unranked LSU in the first year of the dark ages. On 14 of our first 21 first downs, we ran a read option dive play. The last 7 first downs we actually threw the ball because we were behind.
There were at least 4 or 5 plays where I went "oh shit" in the stands because I could see what play we were running and I could see that Miss St. also saw what play they were running. Every "oh shit" ended up in a loss or at best a no-gain on a play that the defense had sniffed out. It was shocking when Mullen punted on 4th and 10 from our 37 -- I couldn't believe that he actually was confident that 10 points was enough to win. Most unranked underdogs coming into the Swamp would have gone for that because as the HBC used to say, you can't beat us by kicking FGs (much less punting the ball). But Mullen would say after the game "This was not an upset. Our team expected to win this game." It was clear at that moment that they did. And they proceeded to simply play to run clock the rest of the game, running on 29 of their last 30 plays. Did we make any adjustments to stop them? Of course not. And they knew we wouldn't be able to do anything on offense.
I feel bad for Chas Henry. Its not his fault and I hope he knows no one blames him. He's a punter, not a place kicker. Tell me why is it that we don't have a viable backup placekicker on the team?
We never ran a play-action pass. We never tried to stretch the field vertically. I actually just watched a highlight video of our game against Cincy, in which Loeffler called the plays because Addazio was acting head coach due to Meyer's health issues. On Riley Cooper's long TD, the announcer says "That is uncharacteristic for the FL offense. They are not a big play offense." Sad but true. Contrast that to 2007 and 2008.
Our red zone woes continued, going 1/3 on the day. We have scored TDs on 55% of red zone possessions under Addazio compared to 75% under Mullen (with Gonzales helping). That includes last season (34/68 with Tim Tebow).
Meyer said after the game we were "down to zero running backs". Umm isn't there a supposedly super-talented freshman named Mack Brown (no relation to the Texas coach) sitting on the bench? I really don't know what more can be said. The last time we lost to Mississippi State, a lot of good came out of it (God bless Sylvester Croom). Hopefully the same will be true this time because if Addazio isn't gone Monday morning, Meyer needs to be gone Tuesday morning!
Week 6 winners
Co-winners:
Urban Meyer & Steve Addazio, Florida (11 points, bonus point for winning poll)
Joe Paterno (10 points, automatic under the Out-Zooked clause)
Runner-up:
Mike Locksley (4 points, words cannot describe how bad a coach he is).
Honorable mention (1 point each):
Les Miles, LSU
Randy Shannon, Miami
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Derek Dooley, Tennessee
Urban Meyer & Steve Addazio, Florida (11 points, bonus point for winning poll)
Joe Paterno (10 points, automatic under the Out-Zooked clause)
Runner-up:
Mike Locksley (4 points, words cannot describe how bad a coach he is).
Honorable mention (1 point each):
Les Miles, LSU
Randy Shannon, Miami
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Derek Dooley, Tennessee
The REAL Reason UF Has Been Struggling Offensively Since 2008...
The Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino. The White Sox had the Curse of the Black Sox. The Cubs still have the Curse of the Billy Goat. Well, fellow Gators, we too have fallen victim to a curse, and our offense has not been the same since. And I'm not just speaking about the blithering idiot currently calling our offensive plays...no, I'm talking about a different breed of blithering idiot altogether.
Behold...the Curse of the Retarded Politician...
Behold...the Curse of the Retarded Politician...
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Is There Really A Need To Do Nominations This Week?
Thank God we still have a coach who gives a crap in Billy Donovan.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Week 6 nominations
Urban Meyer & Steve Addazio, Florida
Seriously was there anyone in the Swamp on Saturday night outside of the 11 people on the field and the UF coaching staff that didn't know Les Miles was going to run the same fake FG play he ran against S. Car. in 2007? We were all yelling watch the fake from row 5 but then our players sold out for the block on what would have been a 51 yard attempt and of course with a Satanic contract to hold up, the over-the-shoulder flip was 0.5 inches from being forward and ended up bouncing like a basketball right to the intended target.
Urban Meyer is now 9-8 vs the SEC West in just short of 6 seasons. In my 6 seasons under the Head Ball Coach, he was 14-4 against the West. The one difference is FSU which was top 4 every year Spurrier was here except 2001 while they have never been top 4 with Meyer which has allowed for Meyer's success. Under Spurrier from '93 until 2001, 8 of 9 years, UF still had legitimate national title hopes going into the FSU game. 1997 was the only year we took 2 losses into that game. .889 under Spurrier is .500 under Meyer. We don't expect to win championships every year but with the talent assembled here, we expect to be in contention and we certainly don't expect to be outcoached by the Mad Hatter.
We must not let the defensive failures at the end of the game detract from the horrible play-calling on offense once again. 14 read options on 22 first down plays. We have seen worse but over 60% of the time is still horrible. Our average gain on those 22 first down plays was 1.05 yards (23 yards on 22 plays). That is horrible. We put our offense in 2nd and 3rd and longs almost every series. Yet because Johnny Brantley is a pretty good QB and Carl Moore is turning into a very good WR (why is this not obvious to the coaching staff?) we pick up a lot of 3rd and longs and then ... go right back to the read option again. That is a primary reason why Florida is 96th ... yes, 96th, in total offense this season.
News flash: its not an option if everyone knows Brantley is going to pitch it and Burton is going to keep it. There's a reason it worked with Tebow -- he could run or take his patented self-play action rocker step and throw it. When was the last time you saw a UF team run a real honest-to-God play action? Brantley made a half motion in that direction once or twice but it wasn't a real play action fake. Look at Boise State's highlights for what I'm talking about - sell it by putting it in the RB's gut, then drop back with the ball behind your back then throw it. That play would be so money on first down for UF considering that every DC opposing us is expecting the read option dive!
Here are the lowlights from the game:
More stats to come later but for now I'll end with food for thought: Alabama and Florida are about equal in talent level. Nick Saban has destroyed us twice in a row. South Carolina is nowhere near the talent level of either of us but nonetheless convincingly beat Alabama. The difference: they have a ball coach in Columbia.
Les Miles, LSU
Not to be forgotten, The Mad Hatter tried to give use the game. We just wouldn't take it. He wasted 35 seconds off the play clock before calling timeout on 4th and 1 from the 34. Then he called a play that 90,000 out of 90,030 people in the stadium knew was coming. Luckily for him those 30 people were on the field or on the UF sidelines.
Randy Shannon, Miami
No shame in losing to an FSU team that is clearly on their way back. But getting destroyed 45-17 in a rivalry game in which you were favored? Embarrassing to say the least. Let's hope Randy Shannon doesn't still have sand in his vagina after FSU added two 4th quarter TDs like he did when UF kicked a late FG against them in 2008.
Joe Paterno, Penn State
Automatic under the Out-Zooked clause. This is his first win I believe but lets hope its also his last and we don't have another Bowden/FSU scenario on our hands. Get to 400 wins and retire with dignity JoePa!
Mike Locksley, New Mexico
I think the loser of this game was getting a Zook regardless but Locksley's Lobos are now 0-6 after losing to quite possibly the 2nd worst team in division 1-A.
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Seriously? You get blown out by Stanford, blow out Texas, then get blown out by a not-very-good Cal team that had itself recently gotten blown out by Nevada? Well good for Boise as the Broncos march on to a showdown with a Nevada team that is looking better by the week!
Derek Dooley, Tennessee
Again, losing this game is one thing. Getting embarrassed is another. Tenn could very well be a 4-8 team this year, repeating their 2-4 from the first half of the season!
Seriously was there anyone in the Swamp on Saturday night outside of the 11 people on the field and the UF coaching staff that didn't know Les Miles was going to run the same fake FG play he ran against S. Car. in 2007? We were all yelling watch the fake from row 5 but then our players sold out for the block on what would have been a 51 yard attempt and of course with a Satanic contract to hold up, the over-the-shoulder flip was 0.5 inches from being forward and ended up bouncing like a basketball right to the intended target.
Urban Meyer is now 9-8 vs the SEC West in just short of 6 seasons. In my 6 seasons under the Head Ball Coach, he was 14-4 against the West. The one difference is FSU which was top 4 every year Spurrier was here except 2001 while they have never been top 4 with Meyer which has allowed for Meyer's success. Under Spurrier from '93 until 2001, 8 of 9 years, UF still had legitimate national title hopes going into the FSU game. 1997 was the only year we took 2 losses into that game. .889 under Spurrier is .500 under Meyer. We don't expect to win championships every year but with the talent assembled here, we expect to be in contention and we certainly don't expect to be outcoached by the Mad Hatter.
We must not let the defensive failures at the end of the game detract from the horrible play-calling on offense once again. 14 read options on 22 first down plays. We have seen worse but over 60% of the time is still horrible. Our average gain on those 22 first down plays was 1.05 yards (23 yards on 22 plays). That is horrible. We put our offense in 2nd and 3rd and longs almost every series. Yet because Johnny Brantley is a pretty good QB and Carl Moore is turning into a very good WR (why is this not obvious to the coaching staff?) we pick up a lot of 3rd and longs and then ... go right back to the read option again. That is a primary reason why Florida is 96th ... yes, 96th, in total offense this season.
News flash: its not an option if everyone knows Brantley is going to pitch it and Burton is going to keep it. There's a reason it worked with Tebow -- he could run or take his patented self-play action rocker step and throw it. When was the last time you saw a UF team run a real honest-to-God play action? Brantley made a half motion in that direction once or twice but it wasn't a real play action fake. Look at Boise State's highlights for what I'm talking about - sell it by putting it in the RB's gut, then drop back with the ball behind your back then throw it. That play would be so money on first down for UF considering that every DC opposing us is expecting the read option dive!
Here are the lowlights from the game:
More stats to come later but for now I'll end with food for thought: Alabama and Florida are about equal in talent level. Nick Saban has destroyed us twice in a row. South Carolina is nowhere near the talent level of either of us but nonetheless convincingly beat Alabama. The difference: they have a ball coach in Columbia.
Les Miles, LSU
Not to be forgotten, The Mad Hatter tried to give use the game. We just wouldn't take it. He wasted 35 seconds off the play clock before calling timeout on 4th and 1 from the 34. Then he called a play that 90,000 out of 90,030 people in the stadium knew was coming. Luckily for him those 30 people were on the field or on the UF sidelines.
Randy Shannon, Miami
No shame in losing to an FSU team that is clearly on their way back. But getting destroyed 45-17 in a rivalry game in which you were favored? Embarrassing to say the least. Let's hope Randy Shannon doesn't still have sand in his vagina after FSU added two 4th quarter TDs like he did when UF kicked a late FG against them in 2008.
Joe Paterno, Penn State
Automatic under the Out-Zooked clause. This is his first win I believe but lets hope its also his last and we don't have another Bowden/FSU scenario on our hands. Get to 400 wins and retire with dignity JoePa!
Mike Locksley, New Mexico
I think the loser of this game was getting a Zook regardless but Locksley's Lobos are now 0-6 after losing to quite possibly the 2nd worst team in division 1-A.
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Seriously? You get blown out by Stanford, blow out Texas, then get blown out by a not-very-good Cal team that had itself recently gotten blown out by Nevada? Well good for Boise as the Broncos march on to a showdown with a Nevada team that is looking better by the week!
Derek Dooley, Tennessee
Again, losing this game is one thing. Getting embarrassed is another. Tenn could very well be a 4-8 team this year, repeating their 2-4 from the first half of the season!
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