ADVERTISEMENT

How do you feel about Playing Michigan in the Citrus Bowl?

B

BlueMonster

Apr 2, 2002
2
0
1
This seems almost certain to be the matchup.

As a Michigan Fan I'm excited because Harbaugh has reinvigorated the program. He is a rock star.

Michigan has a very tough physical defense: Strong DL up front and a very good secondary (Two 1st team all Big Ten CB's). The Linebackers are a weakness.

Michigan's offense is classic Harbaugh: Pro style, heavy running game, lots of tight ends and full backs. Michigan's chief issue on offense is injuries, Rudock and De'Veon Smith need to get healthy. I think they will be.

QUESTION: How do you feel about this "rematch" of the 2008 Capital One Bowl?
 
Would be nice to face them when we're not in a rebuilding year or saddled with the legacy of incompetent coaching. Can't wait until the 2017 season opener.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TennesseeGator
With only ONE sub-standard QB on the entire Gator roster, I'm not much interested in any bowl or bowl opponent.
I'll pick back up in the Spring.... :rolleyes:
 
Catering to an individual player,
as opposed to,
doing what's best for the TEAM's chance to win a game.... o_O

Without sufficient inside information to judge the current situation,
I'm just going to ignore it all for the next few months..... :confused:
 
NoviG8r said:
Would be nice to face them when we're not in a rebuilding year or saddled with the legacy of incompetent coaching. Can't wait until the 2017 season opener.
Click to expand...

2007 we were one year off of our NC season - had Tebow and coach Meyer. They though were playing their butts off for their legacy coach that was retiring.
 
UF sent a record number of players from the 2006 NC team to the NFL.
Most of those were off the defense if I remember correctly.

They won by 6 pts (35-41) in Soph Tebow's first year as the starter, with Sr QB Chad Henne having the best game of his entire Mich career.

Grats to them, they won the Citrus Bowl.

Consolation to UF, they surrounded that 2007 bowl loss to Mich with this:
2006 UF 41 - 14 tOSU schmuckeyes - Heisman T.Smith.
2008 UF 24 - 14 Choke-la-homa - Heisman S.Badford.
 
Is water wet? :D --- (in 2016)

IF TH is the bowl QB, I'll prolly go shopping with momma instead... :confused: -- :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
As much as I'd like for us to beat Michigan, I've grown tired of the SEC-BIG Bowl matchups. Although I'll take that over ECU in the Birmingham Bowl.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sadgator
NoviG8r said:
Would be nice to face them when we're not in a rebuilding year or saddled with the legacy of incompetent coaching. Can't wait until the 2017 season opener.
Click to expand...

But the same is true of Michigan. We went 5-7 last year and were coached by Brady Hoke. Harbaugh has done a terrific job in year one but we still have a ways to go, as the OSU game showed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillWesJay
Rushie said:
As much as I'd like for us to beat Michigan, I've grown tired of the SEC-BIG Bowl matchups. Although I'll take that over ECU in the Birmingham Bowl.
Click to expand...

Yeah, losing to a Michigan isn't as embarrassing as losing to an ECU. (Not saying we will lose, just making the point)
 
Don't expect us to win this one. Our defense will not be out there with the same fight, if our top guys even play at all to begin with because of the draft and being banged up. Treoff will do exactly the same things as always against a good defense. Useless game
 
Idk why anybody is writing this game off. To me it's a big game for our staff. If we lose this game, especially in embarrassing fashion, how is this season any different from Muschamp's second year? Barely scrape by shitty teams, beat no one with a pulse, and get worse as the year goes on with a fraudulent 10 wins. That's the sign of a poorly coached team. We have overachieved to this point but that doesn't mean the staff should get a complete pass either. We've played poorly really from Mizzou onward. I know if we come out and look bad everybody will put it on the QB though because that's SOP around here. But it will be a telling sign on this staff if that does happen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillWesJay and SoProudNole
BlueMonster said:
This seems almost certain to be the matchup.

As a Michigan Fan I'm excited because Harbaugh has reinvigorated the program. He is a rock star.

Michigan has a very tough physical defense: Strong DL up front and a very good secondary (Two 1st team all Big Ten CB's). The Linebackers are a weakness.

Michigan's offense is classic Harbaugh: Pro style, heavy running game, lots of tight ends and full backs. Michigan's chief issue on offense is injuries, Rudock and De'Veon Smith need to get healthy. I think they will be.

QUESTION: How do you feel about this "rematch" of the 2008 Capital One Bowl?
Click to expand...

Michigan is a great football program that I've admired over the years and a great school.

But, I hope to see Florida finally beat Michigan in the ?Outback bowl!
I mean, UF is 0-2 against the wolverines in football and still looking for their first win over your team. Michigan beat UF twice in ncaa basketball (1989, 2013) - I remember both of those painful losses.

Michigan is just a slow, stodgy, '3 yards & a cloud of dust' Big Ten team, right? The 'wolves are there just to be taken by the Gators this time, right?

Florida has defeated many Big Ten teams over the years:
- Illinois (2-0)
- Iowa (2-1)
- Penn St (3-0)
- Ohio St (2-0)

If Florida can defeat a Buckeye, how hard is it to also defeat Michigan?
It should be a good, competitive game.
GO Gators!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ps,
In basketball next week, Florida will be taking on #1 Michigan St at the Breslin Center. So, Gator fans will have 'Michigan' on their brain in December & January!

Will you be cheering on your in-state/conference rival in the playoffs?
Alabama vs Mich. St.
 
46885 said:
Don't expect us to win this one. Our defense will not be out there with the same fight, if our top guys even play at all to begin with because of the draft and being banged up. Treoff will do exactly the same things as always against a good defense. Useless game
Click to expand...
God I hope not. Considering Birmingham Bowl last year and none the year before.
 
46885 said:
Don't expect us to win this one. Our defense will not be out there with the same fight, if our top guys even play at all to begin with because of the draft and being banged up. Treoff will do exactly the same things as always against a good defense. Useless game
Click to expand...

At least we can try to avoid being shut out for one more game.

You know, you can drop kick a field goal as well. Don't have to kick it from a hold. Couldn't be worse than Hardin.
 
oozie7 said:
Idk why anybody is writing this game off. To me it's a big game for our staff. If we lose this game, especially in embarrassing fashion, how is this season any different from Muschamp's second year? Barely scrape by shitty teams, beat no one with a pulse, and get worse as the year goes on with a fraudulent 10 wins. That's the sign of a poorly coached team. We have overachieved to this point but that doesn't mean the staff should get a complete pass either. We've played poorly really from Mizzou onward. I know if we come out and look bad everybody will put it on the QB though because that's SOP around here. But it will be a telling sign on this staff if that does happen.
Click to expand...
I'll tell you how it's different. Because in Muschamp's 2nd season he clearly thought he had all the answers and that there was nothing wrong with the way we were winning. That was his plan to win and he thought everything was just fine. McElwain on the other hand has said it time and time again that this team had its fair share of deficiencies and that they have areas to improve on. Two totally different coaching philosophies.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sadgator
PacoGator19 said:
I'll tell you how it's different. Because in Muschamp's 2nd season he clearly thought he had all the answers and that there was nothing wrong with the way we were winning. That was his plan to win and he thought everything was just fine. McElwain on the other hand has said it time and time again that this team had its fair share of deficiencies and that they have areas to improve on. Two totally different coaching philosophies.
Click to expand...

Here's another difference...we beat more quality teams in 12'. Now do I think Mac is better than Muschamp? Hell yea. Do I think we're headed in the right direction? Yes. But we need to start seeing signs. We have looked sloppy everywhere but defense since Mizzou. We came out and stomped Ole Miss then the very next week are in another dog fight with a shitty team. I'm not gonna be all 'who cares we overachieved' if we come out and get stomped in the bowl game. Well coached teams get better as the season goes along, if we get stomped how can anybody argue this team is headed in the right direction? What area of this team has gotten better from game 1 to game 13?

Even if I follow the groupthink around here and blame it all on the QB, I struggle to see a single area we've improved. Special teams is atrocious even taking Hardin out of the equation. Our return units rank among the worst in college football and that block Saturday was all scheme, just terrible. I didn't expect much from the oline pass protection wise, but they've actually gotten better there while becoming atrocious run blocking which is the easiest thing for any line to do. We ran for 0.7 yards per carry Saturday...and that isn't a misprint. O point freaking 7. We're still doing amateurish stuff like burning timeouts early in the half. I'm a big fan of Mac, but I'm not gonna be blinded either. There's a lot of very concerning stuff happening right now and with 30+ days to prepare if those things show up again in the bowl game that's not a good sign.
 
Turned on the bowl special and they've summed my thoughts up on this perfectly. Mac has done a really good job squeezing everything out of this team, but we need to show something, hell anything in the bowl game. Or we risk erasing a lot of the positives we helped to build up. Losing 3 straight to end the season while looking bad for a good 7-8 weeks now should be concerning to anybody. They all agreed that the bowl game is crucial for our development as a program and especially our young guys. This should not be a write off game.
 
I must say that the part of Florida football that I find amazing is that recruiting is so easy.

Think about this...There are more 4-star/5-star recruits from town of Bradenton than the entire state of Michigan....More than the entire state! I'm not even talking about Miami. If I was a head coach in Florida, forget getting on airplanes, I would not need a full tank of gas to recruit any player I wanted. Its mind-blowing.

Also, Up North we feel a bit under appreciated, disrespected for the kind of football we play. We have a little more speed than you think, but its more based upon power/strength.

It makes it so much sweeter to win. I like our chances this time.
 
oozie7 said:
Idk why anybody is writing this game off. To me it's a big game for our staff. If we lose this game, especially in embarrassing fashion, how is this season any different from Muschamp's second year? Barely scrape by shitty teams, beat no one with a pulse, and get worse as the year goes on with a fraudulent 10 wins. That's the sign of a poorly coached team. We have overachieved to this point but that doesn't mean the staff should get a complete pass either. We've played poorly really from Mizzou onward. I know if we come out and look bad everybody will put it on the QB though because that's SOP around here. But it will be a telling sign on this staff if that does happen.
Click to expand...

Been fearfully thinking the same thing! That bowl loss by Mus really made me worry, and it turned out I was right to worry, I really want this to be different!
 
oozie7 said:
Here's another difference...we beat more quality teams in 12'. Now do I think Mac is better than Muschamp? Hell yea. Do I think we're headed in the right direction? Yes. But we need to start seeing signs. We have looked sloppy everywhere but defense since Mizzou. We came out and stomped Ole Miss then the very next week are in another dog fight with a shitty team. I'm not gonna be all 'who cares we overachieved' if we come out and get stomped in the bowl game. Well coached teams get better as the season goes along, if we get stomped how can anybody argue this team is headed in the right direction? What area of this team has gotten better from game 1 to game 13?

Even if I follow the groupthink around here and blame it all on the QB, I struggle to see a single area we've improved. Special teams is atrocious even taking Hardin out of the equation. Our return units rank among the worst in college football and that block Saturday was all scheme, just terrible. I didn't expect much from the oline pass protection wise, but they've actually gotten better there while becoming atrocious run blocking which is the easiest thing for any line to do. We ran for 0.7 yards per carry Saturday...and that isn't a misprint. O point freaking 7. We're still doing amateurish stuff like burning timeouts early in the half. I'm a big fan of Mac, but I'm not gonna be blinded either. There's a lot of very concerning stuff happening right now and with 30+ days to prepare if those things show up again in the bowl game that's not a good sign.
Click to expand...
I would say our punt return is very good with Callaway back there. Our punting/net punting is excellent. We do a good job defending kick returns and punt returns. Our weakness on STs is a kicker and kick return. Our defense has been pretty good all season but I would say our defense is better now than in Game 1 for sure. Our defense was good at the beginning of the season, now it is excellent. Offensively it probably isn't fair to judge too much because we have been playing with a backup QB that isn't any good. It would have been nice to see if the offense could have improved under our starter rather than under a QB that probably doesn't even belong on the field. I would agree with you on some points but I'm not sure how you expect our offense to improve too much with Harris under center. He's just severely limited in what he can do. Travis McGriff said it as well the other day on the radio. There are WRs open more often than not. The ball isn't coming to them or getting to them.
 
PacoGator19 said:
I would say our punt return is very good with Callaway back there. Our punting/net punting is excellent. We do a good job defending kick returns and punt returns. Our weakness on STs is a kicker and kick return. Our defense has been pretty good all season but I would say our defense is better now than in Game 1 for sure. Our defense was good at the beginning of the season, now it is excellent. Offensively it probably isn't fair to judge too much because we have been playing with a backup QB that isn't any good. It would have been nice to see if the offense could have improved under our starter rather than under a QB that probably doesn't even belong on the field. I would agree with you on some points but I'm not sure how you expect our offense to improve too much with Harris under center. He's just severely limited in what he can do. Travis McGriff said it as well the other day on the radio. There are WRs open more often than not. The ball isn't coming to them or getting to them.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the offense overall, but there are still little things that should be improving independent of the QB that aren't. Our run blocking for example, that's just moving the guy in front off you off the ball. We couldn't even do that against FAU. And I don't think it's all players either even though some of them are bad, we're a very predictable running team which causes a lot of the issues. Do we run out of anything but the pistol? We literally have 4 running plays. Inside zone, outside zone, counter, and toss. We don't do anything to help a young, struggling line and that's poor coaching. Where are the key sweeps, options, etc? Switch something up. People tee off on our line and we do nothing to help them, we just line up down after down expecting them to move the man in front of them when they're clearly not capable.

I've seen enough in our passing game to know that when we have a QB capable of making the throws we'll be fine so I'm not gonna judge them too harshly there. But everywhere else on offense is attrociois and there's been zero improvement. Here's another scary fact. Compare the offense with Grier, when it was at it's best, to last years offense. Look at yards per game, yards per carry, points per game, 3rd down percentage, etc. Just as bad as last years, and in some cases worse. And it's not as if we played any dominating defenses during that stretch. Which is why I've been saying all year it's a myth that we were a good offense even under Grier. It was prettier and more creative, but still as ineffective as Muschamp's offense. That's scary to think about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillWesJay
oozie7 said:
I agree with you on the offense overall, but there are still little things that should be improving independent of the QB that aren't. Our run blocking for example, that's just moving the guy in front off you off the ball. We couldn't even do that against FAU. And I don't think it's all players either even though some of them are bad, we're a very predictable running team which causes a lot of the issues. Do we run out of anything but the pistol? We literally have 4 running plays. Inside zone, outside zone, counter, and toss. We don't do anything to help a young, struggling line and that's poor coaching. Where are the key sweeps, options, etc? Switch something up. People tee off on our line and we do nothing to help them, we just line up down after down expecting them to move the man in front of them when they're clearly not capable.

I've seen enough in our passing game to know that when we have a QB capable of making the throws we'll be fine so I'm not gonna judge them too harshly there. But everywhere else on offense is attrociois and there's been zero improvement. Here's another scary fact. Compare the offense with Grier, when it was at it's best, to last years offense. Look at yards per game, yards per carry, points per game, 3rd down percentage, etc. Just as bad as last years, and in some cases worse. And it's not as if we played any dominating defenses during that stretch. Which is why I've been saying all year it's a myth that we were a good offense even under Grier. It was prettier and more creative, but still as ineffective as Muschamp's offense. That's scary to think about.
Click to expand...
We didn't have much problems running the ball on FSU. You even said it yourself though. How many guys off of last yewrs Oline got drafted or is in the NFL right now? Last year's oline had more talent and more experience. Hell we only had 6 olineman going into this season when Muschamp was fired. That's absurd. Roster management was as bad as anything I have ever seen here at UF on the offensive side of the ball under Muschamp. We had no olineman, QBs or RBs when McElwain took over this team.

I agree we need to see some improvements. It's also year 1 from this staff. I bet the team looks better next year even though the record may not end up being as good.
 
Im happy we are back a New Years day bowl, but im not happy for the fact that its going to be the same BS that its been the past 3-4 weeks. Our D plays great and treon sucks again. Another game were our D/special teams has to score so we don't get shut out. Another game were I watch our D play but walk away when Treon is on the field. Another game were our D plays lights out for 3 1/2 quarters but finally gets worn down because time of possession is so lop sided because all treon does is go 3 and out. Another game we are in it until the end but still cant pull it out because Treon likes to run into the sack. I saw on this thread earlier were someone said if we lose its a sign of bad coaching, and Mac is doing the same thing Mus did. That's BS! Our problem is beyond the controls of the coaches. I think Mac and Nus have done a pretty good job with calling plays.. When you watch the game, how many times do you find yourself yelling at Treon to throw the damn ball to ________ because they are wide open. So overall, im excited to be back in a New Years Day bowl, it will be a good game but its gonna be like the past few, we need our defense/special teams to win the game for us
 
PacoGator19 said:
We didn't have much problems running the ball on FSU. You even said it yourself though. How many guys off of last yewrs Oline got drafted or is in the NFL right now? Last year's oline had more talent and more experience. Hell we only had 6 olineman going into this season when Muschamp was fired. That's absurd. Roster management was as bad as anything I have ever seen here at UF on the offensive side of the ball under Muschamp. We had no olineman, QBs or RBs when McElwain took over this team.

I agree we need to see some improvements. It's also year 1 from this staff. I bet the team looks better next year even though the record may not end up being as good.
Click to expand...

No doubt. We had better talent last year as compared to this year. And that most definitely falls on Muschamp, it was ridiculous. And I'm not expecting us to drive top defenses off the ball. But running for 2.9 ypc against the likes of UK, or 3.3 against ECU or whoever is just downright bad. I get it that we're young or whatever but those are some off the worst run defenses in the country. And again, it ain't all the players either. I don't think we do enough to help them.

For me, the bowl game is the first step towards next year. I don't expect us to win frankly, but we shouldn't be embarrassed either. If we are, and some of the same issues keep popping up, that will be a huge red flag to me.
 
Would have rather seen Michigan matched up against LSU because they've never faced each other.

However, it should be a competitive game from two teams that sport very similar resumes.

Michigan and Florida's previous two bowl games were well played and highly entertaining, lets hope for more of the same.

I think Michigan's offense gets it done.

Michigan 24
Florida 20

Good luck and as always Go Blue!
 
TAYLOR1027 said:
Im happy we are back a New Years day bowl, but im not happy for the fact that its going to be the same BS that its been the past 3-4 weeks. Our D plays great and treon sucks again. Another game were our D/special teams has to score so we don't get shut out. Another game were I watch our D play but walk away when Treon is on the field. Another game were our D plays lights out for 3 1/2 quarters but finally gets worn down because time of possession is so lop sided because all treon does is go 3 and out. Another game we are in it until the end but still cant pull it out because Treon likes to run into the sack. I saw on this thread earlier were someone said if we lose its a sign of bad coaching, and Mac is doing the same thing Mus did. That's BS! Our problem is beyond the controls of the coaches. I think Mac and Nus have done a pretty good job with calling plays.. When you watch the game, how many times do you find yourself yelling at Treon to throw the damn ball to ________ because they are wide open. So overall, im excited to be back in a New Years Day bowl, it will be a good game but its gonna be like the past few, we need our defense/special teams to win the game for us
Click to expand...

Never said the coaching was the same as under Muschamp. Mac is without question a better coach. What I said was that if we are not competitive in this game it would be eerily similar to Muschamp's second season where we barely escaped bad teams and looked sloppy each week while losing to most of the teams with a pulse. From that standpoint, this season and that one would be almost identical. And we actually beat better teams that season.

Take the blinders off. I'm not asking for a miracle and I expect us to lose, but we had better not look bad doing it. Good coaches have their teams get better as the season goes along and in a lot of areas that hasn't happened. With 30+ days and 15 practices there would be no excuse for us just getting hammered in this game. And it wouldn't be a good sign for the staff despite a lot of the good things they've done. That's all. No one is trying to crucify them or anything.
 
Seems fair. Should be low scoring. Their defense is really good and of course so is ours.
 
Mich has been fortunate in which years they have played UF, and they are again this year imo. With only 1 QB available on the roster, I have no faith that the Gator's can get it done in the bowl game, unless ST's and the defense can score enough to win.... :confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

JasonHigdon

New Story Every Word from Billy Napier, Jack Pyburn, and Chimere Dike

Replies
0
Views
1K
The Swamp
JasonHigdon
JasonHigdon
GatorTheo

USA Today Top 25

Replies
48
Views
3K
The Locker Room
TEBOW TIME
TEBOW TIME
Franz Beard

Thoughts of the Day: July 12, 2022

Replies
22
Views
2K
The Swamp
Mdfgator
M
Franz Beard

Thoughts of the Day: July 15, 2022

Replies
15
Views
2K
The Swamp
SwampRock
S
Franz Beard

Thoughts of the Day: July 13, 2022

Replies
38
Views
2K
The Swamp
AlligatorAlley2
A
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back