I think our offense has a pedestrian showing against Texas A&M and then Graham gets the start as the veteran on the road against Mississippi State, but DJ gets to start when we come home against UCF.

Sorry, but we need to start Lagway next week and see what he has. That was a stellar 1st start and he made some plays Mertz just can’t make.

We were reminded last night that you need an elite QB to win and elevate your entire team. DJ's talent and intangibles are undeniable. He changes the game when he is in and the players around him on both sides of the ball elevate their play because they have faith he will help them win. Danny and Tim did the same thing. Even Rex had that. Hell, even Trask almost took us to where we needed to be.

Napier is going to do what old school coaches have always done and will start Mertz next week. That will go numerous ways.

Mertz comes in to probably a smattering of boos unfortunately (Billy is putting him in that situation) and he drives us down the field for a score and he look good. If that happens, you still put Lagway in the next series and let them rotate. This will excite our players and fans and confuse the other team.

Lagway starts and depending on how he plays you bring in Mertz when needed. The fans and players will support this and it is what you do if you want to win.

In my opinion, Billy takes a third path and starts Mertz and lets him play multiple series and brings in Lagway if Mertz is not being effective. Unfortunately, the fans will turn on him and the players will be disgruntled. Billy is too nice and too stubborn to make the hard decision and put us in a position to win. This will be his downfall.

How are preseason top 25 teams doing so far?
Notre Dame loses to Northern Illinois
FSU 0-2
Michigan destroyed by Texas at home
LSU beaten by Notre Dame who goes down to N.I.
Kansas beaten by Illinois
Iowa goes down to Iowa St
Georgia Tech beaten by Syracuse after beating 10th ranked FSU
N C State is beaten by WCU then destroyed by Tennessee.
After two weeks this season has had plenty of upsets already. The portal and NIL are going to make things topsy-turvy thru out the NCAA the entire season.
My point is this:
Florida is not going to be the only "big school" that may be looking for a new HC. Competition will be huge and the established coaches are just going to use negotiations to inflate their present contracts. This is going to be a wild season and the coaching carousel at the end of the season may be the wildest, most expensive ever.

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DAYUM......

Good to see the big man look explosive on Sundays

I don't ever recall seeing a good team running the wildcat

Finally a win
DJ's excites, hope arrives
Pray it's no mirage



Praises:

* DJ Lagway - must watch TV ... feel something special is about to happen with the ball in his hands

* DJ's ability to throw the deep ball and work the middle of the field - touch and accuracy was a thing of beauty

* Kam James - yet agains shows all out effort tackling another player 30 yards downfield (play was negated for offensive holding, but the effort remains on tape and demonstrates why he was chosen a captain this week as a 2nd year player.

* Tre making the most of his limited touches

* Depth at RB - there's talent at running the rock... questions will always be picking up pass blocking schemes and will the blocking be available to create running lanes/creases.

* Special Teams - again the law firm of Dike, Crenshaw and Smack gave the Gators an advantage in this unit

* Opportunity for depth players to get game time and rewarded for their contributions to the Gators

* Postgame interviews of Sapp (what a boisterous, infectous personality... a leader I'd want to gravitate towards) and Lagway's humbleness, leadership by example. Both players praising others and showing Napier's greatest strength - identifying and developing our next generation, while allowing the players to be their most authentic self.

* Finally recording a 3 & out on D.

Postulates:

* Reminder - the game was against a team it should dominate and the sputtering in the first half especially is a tell tale sign of potential ceiling of this team. Championship teams boatrace these opponents in the first half to allow backups to play the entire 2nd half. The struggles on both sides can be foreshadowing if continued improvement doesn't take place

* Coaching situational awareness - it's gotten so bad that I believe wholesale coaching changes at the top is the only way to cure
Examples:
> 4 & 1 - The good - going for it. The bad - why run wildkat with DJ split wide and have your smallest RB running it? Wouldn't it be better to run an RPO with DJ and a powerback?
> Twice more the offense wasn't ready and an unnecessary TO was called. The first was after the long pass to Badger for 77 yards which caused them to sputter w/o a TO before the first half ended (btw - when was the last time the offense had a successful 2 min TD score before half?) The 2nd was the change of quarter to the 4th quarter... C'mon... this is unacceptable and insane this continues to happen in year 3.

* The personal foul penalties... while some were borderline (Marshall's suplex) ... they are not happening with other programs as frequently and at critical moments here at Florida. This needs to stop

* Illegal Formation... While they were only called for 1 (maybe two) - there were countless times where receivers were scrambling late figuring out who's on the line. The Gators lucked out on Mizell's TD - as he should've been flagged for not lining up on the LOS. There were 3-4 other instances where there were clear 5 in the backfield and were fortunate that wasn't called

* Middle 8 - UF won 7-0

* TO battle - tied at 1 each ... although Florida forced 3 additional ones - need to find a way to recover those...

* Red zone - Samford was 100%, while Florida was only 4 of 6 with downs, a fumble and a FG consisting of 3 of the 6 non TD results

* Napier continues to deflect on who is calling the plays - saying it's a "we". It's clearly not efficient or effective and could possibly explain the lack of flow in calling, the odd use of calling TO and the situational playcalls. Playcalling is an art and while trying to maximize current drives, it is also used to set up a successful critical play in the 4th quarter when a must convert situation arises. There are too many chefs in the kitchen and paralysis by analysis taking place

* While not at the level of what championship teams display - I did see improvement in teammates celebrating big plays together. Next step is to continue being more consistent in this phase...

* The OL rotation needs to settle down and choose the best 5 and run with it for better/worse... The constant rotation doesn't allow for cohesive communication and building of trust of the players beside you, resulting in breakdowns in the running/passing game. It's like basketball... you can play 10-11 players to start the season - but it's conference season - and now time to shorten to best 7-8 players.

* The Lyons fall camp injury has been a major impact and has shown these first 2 weeks. The dropoff and resulting cascade in rotation has been significant and has played a part of not being able to stop the opposition

* Whether agree/disagree with the coach decision to have Mertz start next week - Lagway has to get game action in the first half next week. Can't use the excuse that there wasn't enough Offensive plays to bring DJ in.

* Interesting the speed difference between the true freshman and the upperclass - think the long TD plays scored and the long ones that didn't. Are the WR's being put in the correct position to run the routes they are best at?

* When DJ got his bell rung before HT - it was helmet/helmet on a slide... why wasn't Billy going berzerk asking for a review for a targeting call? Even if the telecast said it wouldn't have ruled targeting - you got defend your franchise QB?

* Feels better to be a UF fan than the following schools: FSU, ND, Aub, Ark, Col

* At the end, it feels good to finally feel victorious, however the long term issues that put Billy on the hot seat still persist and A&M becomes a must win game especially as ND once again became dumpster fire with it's performance yesterday.

Cal , behind a QB from Miami Columbus ,
goes into SEC territory and gets a W . Auburn looked terrible , particularly their offense .

This is what I would consider if I was Billy Napier

is feeling the pressure, as he should be.

This is my first time hearing him as an analyst. I’m impressed so far.

I was glad to see just under 90k people showed up for a game, especially for it being a lesser team and UF coming off a big loss to Miami. The atmosphere was great, especially after DJ started throwing down field. We need to get better for numerous reasons. One of those reasons is getting more prime time TV airings. There's nothing like The Swamp at night. In the Swamp, only Gators get out alive.

Schedule looks more gettable than before we started the season. Both UTs and UGA look great. Jury is still out on Ole Miss, but

LSU, FSU, UK, A&M all look worse than expected.

If we were where we are supposed to be in year three, this year could have been our coming out party. 🤷🏻‍♂️

After the DJ presser, im convinced. Said everything you want your QB to say. All off-season, Jason kept telling us, wait till Game 1 when we see it with our eyes. Told us not to get caught up in practice reports. I know he was talking about the whole team, not the QB position. Well, we're two games in, and we've all seen it with our own eyes at the QB position.

I like Mertz, I really do. That being said, everything we've ever heard about DJ is he's different. Physically, he's different, arm talent is different. Leadership and character is different. The only caveat, was he's only a freshman, needs to develop, we need to see him in real college games. Well, we've seen it. It looked different last week against Miami's starters. It looked real different last night.

We can't unsee it. I don't want to hear he can't go through progressions, etc. He's the best player on the team right now. The team seemed to respond to him. The defense was flat on the opening drive. After the bomb on the 2nd drive, the defense played like their hair was on fire. The difference in energy was noticeable.

This team need to learn how to win, to play with confidence. The need to learn to believe. Having a game changer at the most important position on the field can be that catalyst.

Will he make mistakes, im sure he will. Will he make enough plays based on pure god given talent to offset the mistakes, I think he will.

If we were a proven winner with a championship roster, I might could be convinced that you start the 5th year senior.

We don't have that roster though. Mertz might not be the reason we lose a game (last weak, you could argue he was), but he doesn't have the physical ability to be the reason we win a game.

Lagaway has the physical ability to be the reason we win. He evidently has the mental strength and maturity to handle the moment. Only thing needed now, is for the staff to give him the opportunity to go out there, and do what he was brought here to do, Rebuild Florida Football.

Man I hope they let him do it. DJ is the future, the future is now, this just has to be his team!!!!!

Seriously. It is likely going to be close. sadgator isn’t even joking.

Just wanted to give a shout out to a guy we don’t talk about. Every time he’s in, he’s making plays. Wasn’t expecting anything from him and I’m pleasantly surprised. Anyone else? Who else is flying under the radar? Greg Smith?

Watch this team and how exciting and dynamic they are offensively! This is how a team should look with a good coach after a few years!! They are destroying Michigan. Athletes everywhere and getting their players in open field.

After all the turmoil and fuss lately, I want to say thank you and say to double down your contributions and support to guys that are working like crazy like our livelihood as a program depends on it @kcflagator @bblake08 @Heisman Gator 1 @SRGators @JasonHigdon (can confirm we are beyond fortunate enough to have these folks in our corner)

These are guys that have been busting ASS (correct my profanity and suspend me if needed) for OUR program for us where nobody else knows the tectonic plates of gator football are being moved. Nobody in CFB is more committed than these guys and I can confirm that. These guys are busting tail day in and day out to bring us back to a HIGH STANDARD so hold tight I believe in the process and the folks working hard to get us there while ass wipes like me complain on a message board.

Deep breath and look forward to what comes in the future. DJL looks like he can lead us (kid is tough as mf nails)

Any way go Gata