ALABAMA KILLS GATORS, BRADY QUINN GIVES SIGH OF RELIEF.

Stranko, isn’t the caveat about judging the system that none of these players were recruited to play in it? I think that some of your analysis (like making pre-snap reads difficult) cuts across personnel, but to be fair to Meyer, let’s see how his sytem looks when it’s being run by players who have been recruited to play in it.

alex smith was recruited by ron mcbride and meyer made him the first overall pick. this is about the guys on the other side of the ball being good.

That is my problem with ‘systems’. If you have to recruit to implement a system when you take over a program, maybe you need to analyze what you’re doing and adjust it to the players you have.

One of the things that endeared me to Weis was that he kept saying over and over that he didn’t have a system, he just had a playbook and schemes. It’s a touch of spread offense, but it’s really just a base set of 50 plays with a few plays added here and there for certain teams. The kicker is that the 50 plays can be run in several formations, expanding the playbook without expanding the plays.

Don’t get me wrong – I think Meyer’s a great coach. But the ‘system’ is going to require a lot of growing pains.

UA fans were great…. some UA students were fucking rednecks.

We were called “No-Class, Florida White Trash” and hit in the face with pom-poms by the mob of student that waited for us at the gate after the game. I guess they thought we were celebrating Prothro’s injury. Late in the 4th quarter we had the entire student section flicking us off (UA women are phenominal at shooting birds… we saw plenty over the weekend)and cussing us.

To those who met us at the gate, come down here next year. Payback’s a bitch.

Like I said on my blog yesterday, I think the option is going to work just fine at Florida – but the offensive line has got to get better. Both Florida games I have watched, they have been absolutely mauled at the point of attack, and that’s a recipe for disaster no matter which offense you run. The item that is missed here is that Utah’s o-line was terrific last year, makes everyone look a lot better.

Also, Leak isn’t a runner. Dude looks so uncomfortable on the option it’s sad. I expect Meyer will scale back a lot of the option stuff and focus on throwing the ball more with him – but none of that matters if they can’t block anyone.

Wrong players to run this system? LOL!

These are ELITE blue chip players on the Florida offense across the field.

If Chris Leak, DeShawn Wynn and Chad Jackson are the wrong guys for your system, then the problem is the system not the players. I’ve read that a player like Portis is what Meyer is looking for in a QB.

Long term, if Portis is the answer over a player like Leak, then Meyer is asking the wrong question.

The UF OL has solid talent. They aren’t great, but they’re a good SEC DL. They certainly aren’t suck enough to get beat by a 3 man Bama rush. Talent and player type isn’t the issue. The issue is one of an scheme that isn’t new and has never won 10+ in a BCS conference. The Spread Option has been around for years.

Meyer will eventually be successful b/c his core approach is solid (other than the team hyping and self promotion ego maniac stuff). But his offensive system as it CURRENTLY exists won’t consistently win 10+ games a year.

You have to be able to run the ball to win in the SEC. Always have. Always will. When Spurrier won the MNC at UF, he had Fred Taylor and a solid running game. UF is running the ball better than South Carolina, but not many other folks.

BTW — Stranko, great article.

“Against these units, the vaunted spread option was able to muster 2 touchdowns”

One touchdown, Stranko. Unless you’re counting the one that Wynn scored on 4th and goal on Saturday. How can that not be reviewed?

As for the recruiting excuse, Meyer only spent 2 years at Bowling Green and Utah, so recruiting couldn’t have been much of a factor.

Meyer himself has said his teams do pretty good the first year and go off the charts the second. As a Bama fan who’s suffered through our recent troubles I know how easy it is to give into the temptation to pronounce your team dead in the water and feel like all hope is lost after a big setback, but Meyer is still a first year coach and due the benefit of the doubt. More than that though, Meyer is a good coach that’s smart enough to retool and, if necessary, dump the spread option now that he knows defenses in the SEC have it’s number. Westerdawg is right on that point, this current system isn’t working as is and Meyer isn’t foolish enough to think it will magically start. I’m glad we got the win and I fully believe Bama is back where it needs to be talent wise to rule the West again, but I’m also not looking forward to coming to the swamp next year.

You’re right…. that long drive ended in a field goal against Tennessee, didn’t it? I guess I’m a bit shell shocked.

As for recruiting to a system, I tend to agree that if you need only certain players to run your system (and blue chip football players not in your mold don’t work)then you’ve got a problem.

As for the Weis comparison, Meyer also has said all along that he doesn’t have a system. His offense is to find what his player’s do well and maximize it. That is obviously bullshit as Leak would flourish as a drop back passer with this type of talent around him. Meyer needs to not waste that talent, and actually make some tweaks to his non-system to protect this kid.

Curious, how many “option” plays has UF really tried in the games against UT and UA? I didn’t watch the UK game. I really only remember Leak coming down the line to pitch once against TN and didn’t see any against UA. I saw lots of handoffs to Wynn into the middle of the line, which is supposed to set-up the option/pitch.

I think Meyer’s approach will work somewhat better when he has a QB that fits that mold. Leak has a lot of plusses but running into a DE or LB before pitching isn’t his bag (that doesn’t make him a big loser – just not his thing). Certainly, out in the open field Leak is quick/mobile enough but running the option – NOT.

The Bama game got away from you guys pretty quick. It’s not easy getting down 14-0 against a good squad and holding it together. My Vols did it but that’s more of a fluke/exception than a rule – might happen 1 out of every 20 games or less. When you get a good, maybe great, team rolling downhill it’s just hard to stop it. In the Vols case, the downhill role was stopped as much by LSU as us (although our Defense held us in there) as they blundered a FG attempt at the end of the 1st half and interception that gave us an easy score.

I agree with what I think is your premise (and that of Westerdawg) – the spread option will be tough to win 10 or more games because of the types/talent on the defensive side of the ball. And for the spread (or any option for that matter) to really work, you must run up the gut enough to get the D to commit/crash to the middle to open up the outside. Running up the gut against the top of the SEC will always be a challenge unless you have a special offensive line and backs.

One URL: www.firecoachmeyer.com

Who knew it would be this early? I would wait until the Cocktail Party, though, and then give him a couple more years.

I’m not signing on to that site just yet. In my opinion, a good coach can come up with or copy a scheme. A great coach will tweak it in the face of his teams needs and what the other side presents. Failure to adapt will result in failure. We now will get to learn whether Meyer is a great coach. I hope he is.

Moi aussi, Stranko. It’s going to be a screaming fantod kind of week. Nice article, btw.

paybacks a bi$%^ ? doesn’t look like it since BAMA has beaten the Gators now 3 times in a row. UF fans are f’ing rednecks and the most classless in the league.

Thanks for the insightful, funny comment J! We appreciate the input. May every day be a saturday for you!

Like a couple of those “expert” ESPN guys said after the game…you need a QB who is a bit more mobile than Leak to be effective in this system. I’m actually shocked that Leak isn’t this guy, but he just isn’t. Maybe Portis is the one you’ll have to wait for?

Joe,
It certainly flies in the face of the claim of Meyer that he doesn’t have a system though doesn’t it? And I must admit that I am concerned about any system that can’t find a way to make use of a guy as talented as Leak.

Leak not being comfortable with the spread option is certainly a factor. I think the bigger factor is the offensive line. There are two main problems.

1) They don’t know their assignments yet. If you watch any of the Gator games you’ll see defensive players in the backfield untouched or the o-line passing up blocks they should make. They could just be stupid or they could be having trouble following the new blocking scheme.

2) Our guards are so bad it hurts. Washington, Tartt, and Miller all get blown by with even the worst defensive linemen. I don’t remember seeing a good hole up the middle this season (sadly including La Tech and Wyoming). Lack of running threat will kill any offense. Also, their pass protection lasts a good second, and when their men don’t get by them, they at least close the pocket around Leak forcing him out.

If you look back at the games and say “What would it look like if Florida had three good (not great) o-linemen and two scrubs?” The answer: you’d see linemen batting down passes, a collapsing pocket, quickly closing running lanes, no time to throw, and men being left unblocked on the option.

Good stuff GPace.

Pains me, Joe, but that may be the case.

Just for our defense, i am a student and was in the student section when the whole deal happened with the UF fans. While Prothro was on the ground after his injury, these fans were holding up the number 4 (Prothro’s number), pointing at him, then doing the “gator chomp” or whatever it is towards the student section. Who gets off over someone elses injury like that? And who wouldn’t retaliate to such a disrespectful gesture? For the fans who were polite and respectful, thank you, for those who weren’t, i hope you get hit with many more pom poms…

Reportedly true—other fans mentioned shit starting up in the student section over that. Classless if it’s true.

What was said by Rusty is the god’s honest truth. I witnessed a gator fan give the bird to the entire student section from above in the upper level during the injury time out for Prothro. Said fan was escorted out for his own safety I am sure. Every team has fans that go too far but this was wrong. On the other hand I saw a FL fan get Roll Tide shouted at him countless times as I exited the stadium and he just smiled back and bowed his head in a respectful way. The main difference between the two FL fans was age and probably BAC.

True enough. Age and alcohol do strange things to a person.

Thanks for the nice comment about Brady Quinn. We hope UM works for you. No one should have to go throught what we did with Boob Davie and Ty Losingham!
Good Luck Gators, and
Go Irish!
Notre Dave

I find it surprising that anyone would even talk about Meyer’s system like it can win 10 games in the SEC. Winning 10 games in the SEC has never been easy, good scheme, bad scheme, no scheme. Look at UT year in, year out. They manage to win alot of games despite themselves. Talent and the right attitude is as important as anything else in the SEC.

reading these posts almost a year later its odd to see how little credit Shula/Bama get for running a superb offensive gameplan. Also without mention was Croyle. who among other things threw 4 frozen-rope strikes that cut up Florida like a drunken Tennessee surgeon.