Lakeland vs. Lake Gibson was last night. I expected the Dreadnaughts to be ready for this rivalry game. I did not expect them to lead 63-0 at half time. That was the final score.

Yet another Napier fail. Mizell is fast and has some wiggle and Baugh is 235 with speed, quick feet and some shake. It’s simply mystifying

If you had to pick your best 11 guys to have on the field based on the following personnel groupings, who would you be starting?

Couple of thoughts:

OL - Barber and Slaughter are our best two lineman and need to start. BCD pass blocks pretty well and is adjusting to the SEC. Harris is a good pass blocker but struggles in run blocking so I'd keep him next to Barber. Lovett needs to start and I'd put him on the right side to help BCD in the run game. These are our best 5.

TE - Hansen is one of our most consistent players and needs to always be on the field. He is very good blocker and has straight line speed and solid hands. I'm over Boardingham and would like to see Livingston who can run and is at least a willing blocker continue to take more of his snaps.

QB - Give me Lagaway when we are in more pass oriented formations. When we are in 12 personnel, Graham is probably more efficient for the dink and dunk game. Mertz played really well last week but tends to get affected when teams have a pass rush.

RB - Webb is running the hardest and is nasty in pass pro. We need to get Jones and Baugh more snaps in the passing game. I'd start Baugh when we are 4 wide to take advantage of his hands and his power when the D is more spread out. I like Montrell but the other guys seem to have a little more pop and elusiveness right now. This is the toughest group to allocate snaps for.

WR - Badger is always open and doesn't drop anything. Mizell needs to be on the field, period. If Trey is healthy he's got to start - Dike has been a great addition and he has to be the 4th guy IMO.

Offense 11 Personnel (one tight end)

Barber
Harris
Slaughter
Lovett
Crenshaw Dickson
Hansen
Lagaway
Webb
Badger
Trey
Mizell

Offense 12 Personnel (two tight ends)

Barber
Harris
Slaughter
Lovett
Crenshaw Dickson
Hansen
Livingston
Mertz
Webb
Badger
Mizell

Offense 10 Personnel (no tight ends) - Would love to see us in 4 wide more often.

Barber
Harris
Slaughter
Lovett
Crenshaw Dickson
Lagaway
Baugh
Badger
Trey
Dike
Mizell

I'm far from an expert on defensive strategies, but I know that Napier prefers to run a creeper defense as he has hired 3 DCs who run that type of defense. Can somebody explain to me what a creeper defense means in layman's terms and does anybody know if other teams in the SEC run the same style of defense?

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Danny is teammates with Devin Jackson

Our media team absolutely rules. Whether we win or lose, they make us look awesome and show a side of Billy and the Gators that most people don’t get to see on television or even in person, during a game.

Hats off to the best media team in college football (and athletics, for that matter)! 🔥

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I will not be able to get up to Gville for this game. For sale Sect 7 Row 52 Seats 3 and 4. $75/each or make me a fair offer.

3rd down conversion rate: #89 (14 of 38, .368%)

3rd down conversion pct defense: #122 (27 of 58, .466%)

4th down conversion rate: 5 way tie #98 (3 of 7, .429%)

4th down conversion pct defense: 4 way tie #120 (4 of 5, .800%)

Blocked kicks: no kicks blocked, no ranking

Blocked kicks allowed: no blocks allowed, no ranking) Note: UCF is dead last having allowed 3 blocked kicks in 3 games

Blocked punts: no blocks, no ranking

Blocked punts allowed: no blocks allowed, no ranking

Completion percentage: #17 (77 of 111, .694%)

Defensive TDs: none, no ranking

Penalties: #59 (22 for 221 yds)

1st downs given up (you're gonna hate this one): #129 (47 rushing, 40 passing 11 penalty, 98 total)

1st downs gained: #40 (35 rushing 42 passing, 8 penalty, 85 total)

Fumbles lost: 2

Fumbles recovered: 2

Kickoff Returns: #20 (24.67 yds avg)

Net Punting: #7 (45.54 avg)

Passes had intercepted: #107 (5 in 111 attempts)

Interceptions gained: 20 way tie for #108 (4 games, 1 int) (total turnovers gained through 4 games: 3)

Passing offense: #31 (77/111, 5 ints, 1,114 yds, 14.47 avg ypc, 8 tds, 278.5 ypg) (Ole Miss #1, Miami #2)

Passing defense: #92 (236.8 ypg)

Punt returns: #26 (16.67 ypr)

Red zone defense: 7 way tie #50 (opponents scored on 12 of 15 attempts)

Red zone offense: tie #62 (scored on 13 of 15 attempts)

Rushing defense: #107 (188.8 ypg)

Rushing offense: tie #82: 145.8 ypg)

Sacks allowed: tie #44 (5 sacks for 39 yds, 1.25 spg)

Scoring defense: #91 (27.25 ppg)

Scoring offense: #56 (31.8 ppg)

Tackles for loss allowed: tie #30 (16 tfla, 4 pg)

Tackles for loss made: tie #65 (23, 5.8 ppg)

Team Sacks: tie #60, 8 sacks, 2 pg)

Team Tackles for loss: tie #65

Time of possession: #120 (25 mpg)

Total Defense: #112 (425.5 ypg)

Total Offense: #46 (424.2 ypg)

Turnover margin: tie #107 (-1.00)

Anybody know? I'm curious because I saw Bryce Lovett #53 in the game for a few plays and he looked good.

Love he said it on national TV.

Hugh feeling some heat.

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So as you all know I've been a supporter of Napier as I am with all coaches. I've run more than a few programs in basketball, I'm pretty well connected with friends that coach at every level in basketball and through those relationships I've met guys that coach football in college and the NFL. I also have former players that play in college (currently 60 former players are playing for various college programs & I've had over 150 players play at various levels in college).

So in prefacing all this, I want to say I'm out on Napier. I've given him & his staff every benefit of doubt & the product is terrible. When he was hired I figured worse case would be that he'd be a Zook, recruit a bunch of great players & then hand it off to a great coach. Well he definitely isn't that, shit I'd love to have Zooker right now, so now we definitely will be getting a new leader & now that hire needs to be finessed perfectly so that new coach can keep the talent players on out roster & go get players so we can compete at a high level within a few years (honestly in a year). This is a really shitty situation, I'm just rambling now.....but I just wanted everyone to know why I stick with a coach until it's obvious, but also, I'm concerned b/c this is a tough situation.

Thank goodness we got Todd Golden b/c basketball is gonna be gooooood for the next more than few years.

Sorry couldn't get the prefix drop down to work.

As the boards Napier apologist (I'll wear it) don't you think Napier sees the same things we do as fans? Last year Special Teams was a big issue and we went out got a great ST Coordinator and we are one of the top if not theeee top in the country in Special Teams this year. That's a sign of understanding the issue and fixing it.

So when it comes to defense. Napier saw it was an issue last year and brought in Ron Roberts (who many were excited about on here) and it's been a total flop. Don't you think he notices it too?

If you had an private off the record conversation with Napier don't you think he would tell you our DLine is horrible? We brought in Slackman and we're probably hoping Jackson and Banks took that next step and losing Lyons was a massive blow preseason. We brought in 5star McCray at DE.

I think offensively we are stacked for the future plus the freshman coming in next year. If we just invest in Defense in the offseason do you think we could have results like we have with our Special Teams?

I just don't want to blow this thing up when I feel we aren't that far off overall. YES Dline and defense as a whole needs fixed. I think we all see that. But we are what we are this year. Next year if we keep things together and invest on the defensive side of the ball I think we make a huge jump!

Florida will remain a key topic in recruiting going forward. Sunshine State notebook has more on that and much more:

James Madison (my favorite “small” school), scored 70 on UNC in Chapel Hill and beat the Tar Heels by 20. Looks like UNC might be looking for a coach soon too. That might be a good gig for Alex Golesh.

ESPN reported that Ron Roberts said he wasn’t sure the defensive players still believed in each other. He probably meant it to be motivational, but it’s still a strange thing to say in public and the players probably didn’t appreciate it. That’s dangerous, that’s how you lose a locker room.

Roberts part 2: @kcflagator opined that Roberts needs to be fired sooner rather than later. As he is closer to this situation and the people involved in it than I am, I’ll defer to him on that. I will say this though, Roberts’ defense didn’t look like this at Auburn. Austin Armstrong’s defense didn’t look like this at Southern Miss. Except for the inferior…sorry..interior DL, we have talent on that side of the ball. I believe there are either too many cooks in the kitchen or the scheme has something to do with it. Frankly, I'm done with the "Creeper" scheme altogether. It didn't work for Patrick Toney, it didn't work for Austin Armstrong, and it ain't working for Ron Roberts. Time to try something else.

I’ve already expressed my opinion of UF’s interior DL, I won’t pile on them again. The MSU OL did that for me.

The missed tackles are starting to mount and I fear the attitude in the locker room. Even steady guys like Shemar James were missing tackles. On the other hand, Mertz looked the best he has this year and we finally got a little ground game going…..against the 111th-ranked defense in the country. You don’t want to know who’s 112th.

I really wish that Ja’Kobi Jackson had another year of eligibility. That kid is good. Edit: He's a R-Jr so I got my wish!

I think Dez has gained weight.

Aiden Mizell is going to be a star. He has too much speed and too much “want it” to not be. Ditto Sharrif Denson (the two PI calls deep on our end of the field notwithstanding).

I love Montrell Johnson, I think he is a good football player, a good teammate, and an excellent person. He’s a solid RB. In my own humble opinion, he’s also RB4 in terms of explosiveness, speed, and ultimate production. That’s just how good our RB room is.

I’ve been asked when I think IT happens. Right now, we stand at 2-2 with UCF, Tennessee, and Kentucky coming up and another open date following the KY game. Lose all three and we’re 2-5 including 1-4 at home. UCF is the most winnable of the three but Tennessee…oof! Kentucky plays us hard when we’re good and we ain’t good right now. So being an optimist, call it 1-2 over the next 3 games with back-to-back losses in the latter two. Enter the open date. The admins and influential boosters are putting some things in place to handle the load with an interim coach and they probably need a little more time to get everything ready. They probably want to give whoever the interim is time to get his feet on the ground so the open date after Kentucky looms Dez Watson-like large. That’s when I think IT happens.

FSU had to score a late TD to beat Cal 14-9 at home. That’s Cal, not Southern Cal. What a weird year in Florida.

Thursday, Sept. 26
Army at Temple | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN

Friday, Sept. 27
Virginia Tech at No. 7 Miami (Fla.) | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN
Washington at Rutgers | 8 p.m. | FOX

Saturday, Sept. 28
Kentucky at No. 6 Ole Miss | 12 p.m. | ABC or ESPN
Minnesota at No. 12 Michigan | 12 p.m. | FOX
Nebraska at Purdue | 12 p.m. | Peacock
Northern Illinois at NC State | 12 p.m. | The CW
Maryland at Indiana | 12 p.m. | BTN
Buffalo at UConn | 12 p.m. | CBSSN
Western Kentucky at Boston College | 12 p.m. | ACC Network
Holy Cross at Syracuse | 12 p.m. | ESPN+/ACC Extra
Navy at UAB | 12 p.m. | ESPN2
South Florida at Tulane | 12 p.m. | ESPNU
Dayton at Marist | 12 p.m. | ESPN+
Harvard at Brown | 12 p.m. | ESPN+
Bucknell at Lehigh | 12 p.m. | ESPN+
Columbia at Georgetown | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Houston Christian at Indiana State | 1 p.m. | ESPN+
Valparaiso at Morehead State | 1 p.m. | ESPN+
San Diego at Drake | 1 p.m. | ESPN+
Colgate at Penn | 1 p.m. | ESPN+
Fordham at Monmouth | 1 p.m. | FloSports
Virginia Lynchburg at Butler | 1 p.m. | FloSports
Ball State at James Madison | 1:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Mercer at Wofford | 1:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Richmond at Elon | 2 p.m. | FloSports
Delaware State at Campbell | 2 p.m. | FloSports
North Alabama at West Georgia | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Southern Utah at Austin Peay | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Robert Morris at Eastern Kentucky | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
East Tennessee State at The Citadel | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Southern Illinois at South Dakota | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Murray State at North Dakota | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Samford at Furman | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Yale at Cornell | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Texas State at Sam Houston | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Lindenwood at Eastern Illinois | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
North Carolina Central at Norfolk State | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
North Dakota State at Illinois State | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Youngstown State at Missouri State | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Howard at Princeton | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Cal Poly at Northern Colorado | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Wisconsin at No. 13 USC | 3:30 p.m. | CBS
No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame | 3:30 p.m. | Peacock
No. 21 Oklahoma at Auburn | 3:30 p.m. | ABC
Arkansas at No. 24 Texas A&M | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN
UMass at Miami (OH) | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Louisiana at Wake Forest | 3:30 p.m. | ACC Network
Liberty at Appalachian State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Fresno State at UNLV | 3:30 p.m. | FS1
San Diego State at Central Michigan | 3:30 p.m. | CBSSN
Georgia Southern at Georgia State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPNU
Western Michigan at Marshall | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Akron at Ohio | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Eastern Michigan at Kent State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Maine at UAlbany | 3:30 p.m. | FloSports
Sacred Heart at Delaware | 3:30 p.m. | FloSports
Morgan State at Stony Brook | 3:30 p.m. | FloSports
North Carolina at Duke | 4 p.m. | ESPN2
UTSA at East Carolina | 4 p.m. | ESPN+
Tennessee Tech at Gardner-Webb | 4 p.m. | ESPN+
Sacramento State at Northern Arizona | 4 p.m. | ESPN+
Northwestern State at Southeast Missouri State | 4 p.m. | ESPN+
Mississippi State at No. 1 Texas | 4:15 p.m. | SEC Network
Old Dominion at Bowling Green | 5 p.m. | ESPN+
Louisiana Tech at Florida International | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
UT Martin at Kennesaw State | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Wagner at Florida Atlantic | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Hampton at William & Mary | 6 p.m. | FloSports
North Carolina A&T at South Carolina State | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
LIU at Villanova | 6 p.m. | FloSports
Portland State at Chattanooga | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Charleston Southern at Tennessee State | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Montana State at Idaho State | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Alabama A&M at Florida A&M | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State | 7 p.m. | Peacock
Stanford at No. 17 Clemson | 7 p.m. | ESPN
UL Monroe at Troy | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Charlotte at Rice | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Tulsa at North Texas | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Lamar at Central Arkansas | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Prairie View A&M at Grambling | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
McKendree at Western Illinois | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Jackson State at Texas Southern | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Davidson at Presbyterian | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Southeastern Louisiana at Tarleton State | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama | 7:30 p.m. | ABC/ESPN+
No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State | 7:30 p.m. | NBC
Middle Tennessee at Memphis | 7:30 p.m. | ESPNU
South Alabama at No. 14 LSU | 7:45 p.m. | SEC Network
Florida State at SMU | 8 p.m. | ACC Network
New Mexico at New Mexico State | 8 p.m. | ESPN+
Air Force at Wyoming | 8 p.m. | CBSSN
Montana at Eastern Washington | 8 p.m. | ESPN+
McNeese at Weber State | 8 p.m. | ESPN+
Abilene Christian at Utah Tech | 9 p.m. | ESPN+
Washington State at No. 25 Boise State | 10 p.m. | FS1
Idaho at UC Davis | 10 p.m. | ESPN+
Arizona at No. 10 Utah | 10:15 p.m. | ESPN
No. 8 Oregon at UCLA | 11 p.m. | FOX
No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State | TBD
No. 18 Iowa State at Houston | TBD
No. 22 BYU at Baylor | TBD
TCU at Kansas | TBD
Cincinnati at Texas Tech | TBD
Colorado at UCF | TBD

I will admit I was early to the bandwagon but I can’t deny the guy is slow…if he can coach them up and get it done that’s great, but he communicates like a rA-tard.

Who is left to provide any solutions? Apparently not the coaching staff. Not the UAA. Not Strickland and certainly not the Board of Trustees that selected a grifter to be President of the University. Who is left? Boosters and players.
For a booster selection to be successful it will require the Universe to line up and a whole lot of luck. It appears a lot has been invested in "hopes" of Lane Kiffin. While not being a big fan of Lane I have gotten a ticket on the Lane Train because I don't see any other "splashy hires". If Lane is not available not all hope is lost, Tennessee landed their seventh choice in Josh Heupel and the NIL at UT has bought him a good team, he is now very relevant as much as...and I hate to say it...perhaps Cristobal. So that is a direction to go if the boosters have enough money to buy out Napier, hire a top coach and then buy football players. That seems to be the trend...for now. But no one knows if this is sustainable nor if there is enough money for a buyout, top hire, and rent quality players.
Now to the players, and to me this is the only hope for a turnaround this year on the defense. If I were an alpha on a defense when a coach says "we don't trust each other" I would be angry, pissed and want to do something about it. My solution is for Brandon Spikes and the defense have a team meeting with no other staff, no electronics, cell phones anything, an empty room with an Octagon.
The reason I chose Brandon Spikes is I doubt there is anything football related he hasn't seen or experienced. This man, when he needs to be, can be the nastiest dog in the pound and demand players around him step it up. All of the players on the Gator defense know this. And If I were Spikes I would start the meeting like this: "on defense you guys suck...you are underachieving and embarrassing your teammates, your coaches, the fans, the entire damn University and one of the coaches is saying you play like you don't trust each other. What the hell do you say and do about that? Are there teammates you have a problem with and they have a problem with you? Do you have teammates you think are loafing and not doing their jobs? Call them out. There's the Octagon, go settle your differences." At the end of these personal feuds you are going to find out which of these teammates you want to share a foxhole with...or not. Yes this might break up the team even more, but won't that be inevitable the way things are going? And if there is one clear, nasty, alpha dog identified at the end of the day he is awarded # 51, Spikes number. (Jamari Lyons is currently # 51 and I bet he would give it up to a nasty dog).
IF the teammates are able to bond then they need to have the opportunity to evaluate the coaches. The players might know more than you think about what schemes may work out with their abilities. The coaches have been unable to figure this out. What do the Gators have to lose?
If the defense cannot bond my nuclear option is to hire a half dozen ex Marine Master Sargent's and for the next week the defensive football practice at UF is Paris Island. The survivors get to stay and play. The quitters can go home.

just last week Jill Biden led a cabinet meeting

looks like obama is in charge

Curious to see how Napier handles things now. I think reality just smacked him in the face pretty hard.

Mertz got a concussion late in the game so he could miss the Samford game for precautionary reasons but I think Napier needs to give almost the entire game to Lagway to get him the reps even if the medical staff does clear Mertz.

A&M looks kind of like last season - a pretty good defense but a poor offense who had no answer for the blitzing of ND. Start Mertz and see how we do against them in the Swamp. If we lose that game he has a decision to make because Miss State and UCF will be the only 2 teams left where that teams defense isn't a pretty bad matchup for us.

If we know the season is lost after an A&M loss I think it's much better to insert Lagway @ Miss State and try to build him up some than for him to be demolished against someone like Georgia. I think even KY would be a bad game to do it in. I think we also have a bye week before the UCF game.

As far as the defense it looks pretty bad. We have no one apparently that can pressure the QB so only blitzing would do that but we are so lost that there is a good chance we might get burned any time we do blitz.

Look at the expression on Ali Napier’s face. Imagine that’s your wife.

Same here @EH, same here.

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What are we going to do about this piss poor
Defense and or Defensive Coordinators?