Thoughts on this Florida team moving onto 2024......
- Thread starter Gator Fever
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Chris Doering shares his panic level for Florida
Chris Doering gives his takes on his alma mater going into the home opener vs. McNeese.
www.saturdaydownsouth.com
I'm happy for 5th year Jr TE Jonathan Odom. Every since he arrived, he's been a favored UF HoF Legacy Gator of mine. I'm sorry for newbee TE Tony Livingston getting injured, but he's got plenty of time to recover and get back to the field.
A little over eight months ago in the Gators' 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, Odom suffered a torn ACL, placing the start to his 2023 campaign in jeopardy. He had just begun to come into his own when he suffered his injury in Las Vegas. He caught seven passes for 69 yards and two scores over the final three games of the 2022 season and looked to be a reliable short-yardage, red-zone option.
Against the (2023) Utes, he just led all UF tight ends with four catches for 46 yards and was the team's second-leading pass catcher. But it was the fact that he was even on the field to begin with that provided him a sense of pride.
You can read all about it here in this SI article.:
A little over eight months ago in the Gators' 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, Odom suffered a torn ACL, placing the start to his 2023 campaign in jeopardy. He had just begun to come into his own when he suffered his injury in Las Vegas. He caught seven passes for 69 yards and two scores over the final three games of the 2022 season and looked to be a reliable short-yardage, red-zone option.
Against the (2023) Utes, he just led all UF tight ends with four catches for 46 yards and was the team's second-leading pass catcher. But it was the fact that he was even on the field to begin with that provided him a sense of pride.
You can read all about it here in this SI article.:
I think some of that is teams not being scared of him looking at those plays. His blocking is pretty bad also.
Nope many others have pointed it out also. He is kind of like Whittemore but at TE. It's like saying Mertz had some good game when Utah was giving us the shorter mess that wouldn't keep moving the chains. We won't have any big threat at TE to other teams unless Livingston or Boardingham can become that.
Mertz did have a good game against Utah and so did Odom. So not drinking then smoking meth?
No he didn't. He had a below average game in most of the QB ratings that take into account effectiveness and don't reward you much for easy completions short of the chains on 3rd down etc. Hopefully he has a good game against Tenn and not one similar to the Utah game.
If he throws for 333 yards and completes 70% of his passes against UT then he will have had another good game. Only 2 people in the entire country think Mertz had a bad game and they both reside on this board.
lol. You sound like the announcers overhyping QBs. If Mertz has the same game not moving the chains again with 44 passes and 300+ yards with those high % behind the chains mostly stuff yes it will be a below average game again in most of those ratings and in reality.
Oh, I get it, you're trying to be funny. I thought you've been being serious. You got me! Good one. Agreed, hopefully Mertz continues his high level of play we've seen through these first two games. Brown had 1 good throw tonight but then almost threw a pick 6. He needs more snaps in case Mertz gets hurt.
If Mertz has a repeat of the Utah game against Tenn we will lose to Tenn most likely unless we are killing it in turnovers because it will mean are running game isn't effective.
Totally spot on!!! Mertz better block better against the vols, because his blocking against utah was awful!! Did you see his missed field goal? I think the thing that irritated me the most was his inability to properly field a punt and for the love of god can he please put on the correct jersey!! Oh, and let's not forget his 3 false starts and the two times he didn't get lined up correctly.
2 of the 5 sacks were on Mertz though for not getting rid of it to his outlet.
LOL!! Guy had zero time to throw all night. None. It was absolutely shocking he was able to complete any passes let only 70% of them. If our Oline plays like they did against Utah we will get smacked. Mertz did his job. Our lone offensive bright spot. I love the idiots that say he didn't complete more passes deed downfield. How?? Guy had about 2 seconds to get rid of the ball.
OK because of pressure we can expect to hardly score this season against good teams and we need to build Mertz yardage and constantly throw it 44 times a game but throw mostly the high % stuff the defense is giving us whether we aren't getting the 3rd down yardage or not. We will see against Tenn if things change but I don't see many wins if we use a Utah strategy unless the run game is doing most of the work.
I thought Mertz was ok against Utah. We were 3/13 on third down or something like that, so I wouldn’t get too carried away with it.
Mertz isn’t going to be the reason we’re good or bad this year, which the general sentiment on this board preseason was that he was awful, so that’s better than expected. It’s going to depend on Napier putting some game plans together and executing them. That’s where the trouble might come in. But hey if he beats Tennessee in the swamp next week, I’d say we’re ahead of schedule for what most people expected.
Mertz isn’t going to be the reason we’re good or bad this year, which the general sentiment on this board preseason was that he was awful, so that’s better than expected. It’s going to depend on Napier putting some game plans together and executing them. That’s where the trouble might come in. But hey if he beats Tennessee in the swamp next week, I’d say we’re ahead of schedule for what most people expected.
Mertz is not good, but he is not the problem. He has definitely performed better than any of us expected. We have bigger issues as you have pointed out.
Classic caught looking ahead, but I do not believe they are as good as last years team.
Mertz vs DaNiece = 😴
Florida returns to Forrest Gump 327 football....
Montrell Johnson Jr - 15 for 119 Yds, 7.0 YPC, 2 TD's
Trevor Etienne - 11 for 85 Yds, 7.6 YPC, 1 TD
Treyaun Webb - 14 for 71 Yds, 5.1 YPC, 2 TD's
Joseph Carlson 3 for 15 Yds, 5.0 YPC
Eddie Battle 4 for 14 Yds, 3.5 YPC, 1 LPF
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Grahm Mertz - 3 for 8 Yds, 2.7 YPC, 1 TD
-----
Eugene Wilson III - 1 for 18 Yds, 18.0 YPC
=====
Run Gator's Run
51 for 327 Net Yds, 6.4 YPC, 6 TD's
www.si.com
Florida returns to Forrest Gump 327 football....
Montrell Johnson Jr - 15 for 119 Yds, 7.0 YPC, 2 TD's
Trevor Etienne - 11 for 85 Yds, 7.6 YPC, 1 TD
Treyaun Webb - 14 for 71 Yds, 5.1 YPC, 2 TD's
Joseph Carlson 3 for 15 Yds, 5.0 YPC
Eddie Battle 4 for 14 Yds, 3.5 YPC, 1 LPF
-----
Grahm Mertz - 3 for 8 Yds, 2.7 YPC, 1 TD
-----
Eugene Wilson III - 1 for 18 Yds, 18.0 YPC
=====
Run Gator's Run
51 for 327 Net Yds, 6.4 YPC, 6 TD's
Sports Illustrated Florida Gators News, Analysis and More
AllGators is a Sports Illustrated channel featuring Zach Goodall to bring you the latest News, Highlights, Analysis, Recruiting surrounding the Florida Gators.
www.si.com
Didnt take long for Brown to get yanked after almost throwing a pick 6 that would have contributed to blowing a shutout. He looked lost as last years Easter egg when he was trying to get the play from the sideline. Billy was right about him having a lot of learning to do. Kid did make one good throw but also made one really BAD throw.Mertz vs DaNiece = 😴
Florida returns to Forrest Gump 327 football....
Montrell Johnson Jr - 15 for 119 Yds, 7.0 YPC, 2 TD's
Trevor Etienne - 11 for 85 Yds, 7.6 YPC, 1 TD
Treyaun Webb - 14 for 71 Yds, 5.1 YPC, 2 TD's
Joseph Carlson 3 for 15 Yds, 5.0 YPC
Eddie Battle 4 for 14 Yds, 3.5 YPC, 1 LPF
-----
Grahm Mertz - 3 for 8 Yds, 2.7 YPC, 1 TD
-----
Eugene Wilson III - 1 for 18 Yds, 18.0 YPC
=====
Run Gator's Run
51 for 327 Net Yds, 6.4 YPC, 6 TD's
Sports Illustrated Florida Gators News, Analysis and More
AllGators is a Sports Illustrated channel featuring Zach Goodall to bring you the latest News, Highlights, Analysis, Recruiting surrounding the Florida Gators.
That's it for the talent-less chump Max Brown.
How could 'Great Talent Evaluator Billy' have missed that badly, and why keep him on a wasted ship when they have 7th year never a starter Leon ready to go, and with Miller coming back eventually off the injured list??? Heck, the totally unused PWO true Fr Leise would likely be much better than Brown....
Brown to an O'Sul ship, or he should be gonzo to some little FCS where he might have the talent to play....
I think Miller is not so banged up he couldn't play. He might be in the doghouse waiting to get out of town.
Would like to see Brown get more PT. He's clearly the backup. He needs snaps.
Only was he plays is in another blowout or Mertz gets hurt, Hell the 7th year kid Leon got more PT than Max
Bad oline and a qb that isn't so mobile usually equals injury at some point.
Lol…
The truth is about to be revealed to us all…nobody will be able to hide behind stats…
Tennessee @ Florida is a “sodium pentothal” game, as Bill King would say…the score board will be the ultimate artiber of what is real…we will not need to guess or speculate in 6 days…
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The Tennessee is, to me, one of the most important games in several years. Win it and we have a chance at a good season. Lose it and it leads to a disastrous year. Must win as far as I see it.
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^^
Same - I thought we'd split Utah-TN and now there's only 1 win to go haha - gotta win.
TN is beatable and Heupel's defenses have gotten worse every year he's been at a new stop. Hoping that holds.
Same - I thought we'd split Utah-TN and now there's only 1 win to go haha - gotta win.
TN is beatable and Heupel's defenses have gotten worse every year he's been at a new stop. Hoping that holds.
Yes they are. I saw some good things Saturday granted it was McNice state but there were some definite improvements.
I am glad we have a new DC but the young safeties will really be tested this weekend if that QB is on target at all this game. He throws hard passes down field that make it tough on the receivers though.
The only thing I don't like is Tenn returning most of their defense and they are night and day pass/run defense. They were 2nd to Georgia in the SEC in rush defense but only Vandy had a worse pass defense than them in the SEC last season. Last year we had a bunch of yards but it was all Richardson and our RBs never got going. Will Napier game plan the deep ball much and will we hit the deep stuff if that defense is the same. They bring the heat a lot and we don't have a guy that can easily buy extra time now.
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This is my thinking also. We'll know where we are at after this game. I just don't think TN this year is TN last year is all.
