The CheckerBoard

I have to agree that it is too early for some of the posts that were made the past few days with firing Dooley. I also don't think to compare Mushcamp's situation to what he took over to Dooley's isn't close to being fair either. UF had six or seven years in a row of top ten recruiting classes going back to Zook. Mushcamp just needed to replace a few key players. He didn't have a mass exit and a leaving HC trying to snag as many commits as he left like Dooley had when Kiffin left.

Dooley took over a program that was in a downward spiral. Three coaches in as many years an athletic director that negotiated bad contracts which allowed Kiffin to leave without hardly anything for a buyout. All of which lead to a lot of players leaving and though that was 2010 recruits are still seeing remains of bad administrative decisions from those times.

Dooley may or may not be in over his head, as some have posted, and yes a big SEC win is needed for him this year but its way too early in the season to say the man isn't going to get that win.

Let's see what he's got to show us in year three. Let's see if he can take this team and show them how to overcome adversity.

Let's have this conversation in December or January about whether he needs to stay or go.

I've been a big Dooley fan all along because his decisions have struck me as sound ones, logical ones. I knew he had a terribly inferior roster when he got here and that no one anywhere was going to coach their way out of that mess quickly. Not clear to me what could have been done differently or better, when you look at specific decisions.

Now, here we are two years later (or so) and my overall view is the same, but the current expectations are different than in year 1. We've got enough talent and experience to expect to compete and it's time that we show signs of being able to do so. One game doesn't make or break a season, but it's very disconcerting to see such a familiar pattern unfold the other night. We looked good early - looked as good or better than Florida. Then faded when things got tougher. Lost worst than last year, in all honesty, even though we started the game better. Sure looks like the Gators improved more in a year than we did in spite of them appearing to have suffered more significant losses (Rainey, Demps, Brantley) and in spite of us seeming to have added more significant upgrades (McCullers, Sentimore, CP, Lathers/Hunter back). Sure, we changed DC's, but they changed OC's. No excuses anymore.

Now, maybe this fold-aroo is an accurate representation of what is yet to come and maybe it isn't. We'll have to see the rest of the season to know. If we aren't competitive against UGA, Bama, and SoCar and/or we lose other games in addition to those, it's gonna be tough to make a strong case that we're headed anywhere significantly better than where we are now. On the other hand, if we're competitive against UGA and/or SoCar and don't lose any other games, then there's a good argument to be made that we're showing positive signs.

Imagining lopsided losses to the remaining big 3 and say one more game and imagining that we lose 2 or 3 offensive Juniors makes for a very bleak picture for 2013 and beyond (if it happens that way, recruting will wind up decent at best, I think.). Hope it doesn't unfold that way.

I'm pulling for the team and for Dooley, but must admit my confidence is shaken a bit by the nature of Saturday's loss.