The CheckerBoard

1) lets give the other team some credit, this UF team grew up right in front of our eyes tonight. In my and probably many others mind they are now the clear favorite for SEC east champions. We all knew they had a great defense coming in especially the D-Line and that all that was missing was a QB to make them a good offense. Jeff Driskell showed why he was so touted coming out of high school, he made some great throws and runs, he will excell going forward. Trey Burton is a defensive coordinators nightmare as he can do so many different things he can line up anywhere from tight end, to QB, RB, WR, and be very effective at all of them, it makes picking personnel packages to sub into very difficult when he's on the field.
2) Every year UF has recruited higher ranked classes than us and where it really showed was depth especially in the trenches. 1's vs 1's we we the better team especially at the skill positions but they rotated lineman all during the game and were much fresher in the second half and it showed as they ran at will and came hard after Bray. They rank right up there with LSU and BAMA when it comes to D-Lines.
3) we have made tremendous progress as a program since last year. Sure the offense had a melt down the second half of the 3'rd and the entire 4th quarter but part of that was caused by their defensive line being fresh and able to get after bray.
4) we are in the first year of a new defensive scheme that is proven to take a minimum of 2 years to run efficiently. Look at all the other teams that made even half the staff changes we did. We are the only one that has not just imploded and Dooley deserves credit for that. This staff is a great example of Dooleys ability to lead us back. He was handicapped.when he choose his first staff now we have the staff and schemes that are a reflection of his coaching philosophy and that he wanted to start with. Now when we finally get mature developed players watch out. And make no mistake this defense will improve every game this year.
5) We haven't been on this type stage on a national level at any point with these players they have to learn to fight thru adversity and win. That is where senior leadership comes in. Starting next year we will have that. We should be better as this year progresses. Our players just played together in their first game matching two ranked teams. We still have a minimum of 4 (UGa, MSU, Bama, USCe) big games this year, three of those teams should be undefeated when we play them and each of those will offer another chance to show what we have learned. UF has some players on the roster that were apart of championship teams and they have players that are used to being on the biggest of stages and fighting through adversity to win.
We will keep getting better and will breakthrough this year. I think UF came together and it clicked for them tonight this was their breakout game and I firmly believe they will be a top ten team at the end of the year. They pulled together made plays when they had too and this turned into their night, we we will have ours soon.
6) What I saw tonight was we didn't play our best game, Bray got very rattled in the second half and was nowhere near his usual self when it comes to accuracy at any point of the game minus a couple scattered throws. Forget the problems with his reading the defense he was just off from the start, he missed what for him are normally easy throws and just wasn't sharp and on target like he nearly always is, he had a bad day throwing the ball, it happens to the best. He does need to keep improving how he controls his emotions and not get so visually rattled by events within the game. He has to to learn to play more level and not show his frustrations on the field. I called the second interception before it happened I could tell from his body language he wasn't feeling that confidence and swagger that is a part of what makes him so special. He should always know that no matter what has happened that he and this team are explosive and can overturn a 2 touchdown deficit with ease and in virtually no time if they play together to thier potential. We sometimes forget that he played his first game tonight against a ranked SEC team with his full array of receivers and that he is really only starting his second full season in terms of games as a starter in the SEC and most all his starts were against second tier teams. He must face the best athletes and coaches to learn what differences he must make. Have no doubt he has the tools and will be a great QB but because of injuries, and only playing the second half schedule his freshman year, he still needs to gain experience. He needs more gametime learning both the position and learning his weaknesses and to improve both. Such as reading defenses, keeping a calm confident demeanor no matter the situation, and dealing with adversity and how to lead and overcome. Because of how easy he has made it look when he has been healthy playing less than marquee competition we forget just how inexperienced he really is. He hasn't faced much adversity on the field and hasn't responded properly the few times he has but each tough game and loss will only make him reevaluate how he responds. He has improved dramatically already by checking down and not trying to force things that aren't there, He's learned to throw it away and have another chance the next snap this year and last year we didnt see that.
7) In fairness to Bray both Hunter and Patterson missed balls that would've given Bray some rhythm and confidence. Hunter dropped a few balls he normally catches he might stil be shaking off some rust and is also only a sophomore if you go by games played. They have to learn to play on the biggest stage with the biggest boys and not let emotion interfere. As Dooley has said they must break it down to executing one play and then another over and over and doing it right instead of looking at the scoreboard and because we suddenly went from up 8 to down 7 they play and execute differently. They need to play the same level and consistently no matter the opponent or how bright the spotlight. All three of our superstars are very inexperienced in bigtime SEC games. Hunter, Bray, and Patterson, will only get better as this season progresses and they gain both experience in settings and playing together. Patterson could've raised Brays confidence and changed the game if he hadn't dropped the deep pass as he attempted to catch it with one hand. He probably makes that catch 9 out of 10 times but the one time he didn't catch it was when we needed it the most and perhaps it was just a coincidence it happened then or maybe the adversity wasn't something he is accustomed to yet either. Hunter dropped a few balls that he normally catches a couple could've been difference making plays such as the 3rd down that hit him in the numbers. They will make these plays as they come together as a group.
8) Neal looked better on 80% of his carries. He consistently ran north and south except a couple plays when the hole wasn't there. We also found a great short yardage package. A.J. In the wildcat was a brilliant idea! When the safety Elam came up in run support and filled the Gap Johnson bloodied his mouth and made his own hole. Great job by our coaches.
9)Special teams are not special I believe the missed extra point was the beginning of the end. You cannot Fault Dooley as he has tried everything possible. We consistently had the field flipped against us. At least Young secures every punt and is a threat to return one at anytime. Dooley has the sense to go for it on 4th down if there is any doubt we will not get a sure 3 points, which for our kickers is anything beyond a 25 yarder from straight ahead, it gives us a chance at a conversion keeping the drive going
and getting six points instead of a net punt of 10 yards. At this point I wonder if he is considering going for 2 after every touchdown.
10) lets hear it in unison the sky is falling we are awful Dooley must go. Fire Dooley. If nothing else this game is a clear indication of our improvement. We are a much better team than last year and we will be better every week going forward. Let's wait until the season is over to pass judgement. I give a lot of credit to UF for winning this game did we leave a lot of missed opportunities and points on the field? Sure we did but lets not pretend that this UF team is anything close to compare able to last years team or even the team that played Bowling Green or the first half of the aTm game. The offense was could run and pass and the defense was as good as expected. Could we have won the game if we were hitting on all cylinders? Without a doubt. Could a couple of plays that we missed on that we dropped or overthrew when we usually connect and catch them, if we make them do we win? It's definitely possible. So no matter how disappointed we are let's not pretend we haven't shown a great deal of improvement from last year. It was clear UF will be a factor if not the SEC east favorite going foward. To me even in the loss it was clear that Dooley is the right man to lead us back if you guys wanna bash Chaney that's an entirely different discussion but if we had been a little sharper and hit those passes I think it changes the whole game and the whole perception of Chaney. I'm through for tonight and I'm not even looking at this board the next few days until the hysteria settles down but I think we learn a lot from tonight and are a better team going forward because of it. I believe Dave Hart already knows barring a complete collapse which I don't think this staff will allow to happen that Derek Dooley is the right man for Knoxville and we will win more than one big game this year. I think we win two against USCe, MSU and UGa although Georgia is still capable of putting it together and although they have a deeper more talented TEAM I like our chances. Mullen has State playing really well and they will be undefeated when we head to starkville but I think our offense is hitting on all cylinders by then and our defense has improved its communication 10x. Bama will be a challenge but if Neyland is rocking then stranger things have happened in rivalry games. I think UK, Vandy, Missouri are wins along with the other two cupcakes that would be 9 wins. Say I'm wrong and we only win one (troy) out of the next 5 and I just can't see that happening with this offense but that's still 8-4 that's marked improvement no matter who you are. Defense may win championships but when our offense is clicking it will win us some games. The Defense we faced tonight was better than the rest on our schedule minus Bama so before some of you fire Dooley let's see how this team looks in its Bowl Game and how the rest of the season goes. I think 8-4 is the minimum and a few things will have to go against us, or we dont improve any on defense the rest of the year, if we only win 8 games. So do me a favor realize this UF team was better than we thought and save the John sfbkkkmmmGruden, and especially Chris Patterson talk you know the we gotta fire Dooley until at least mid-November and then we will see how you feel. I'll take bets it'll be a lot better than you do now. I'm sorry for my rant and in case you didn't notice im mobile and I didn't proofread so if you got through it thanks. I just want to make sure we do t give up on this team because it's not time to do that. We are still going to have a great season. MARK MY WORDS