Gators growl in the Swamp

ESPN and 61,000 fans witnessed the University of Florida spring game today and so did I by watching ESPN's telecast.

All in all it was a great college football day since normally in April you don't get such a megadose of it like ESPN presented today.

Two hours of pre-game ESPN Gameday...and the three Amigos...Fowler, Herbstreidt and Corso were in midseason form by about 30 minutes into the show and I truly enjoyed the return to college football if only for the day.

The game itself revealed that Florida will unleash some new weapons next season to go along with some old standbys like Tebow.

New players like Chris Rainey on offense and Carlos Dunlap on defense will be sure to cause fits for SEC coordinators this year and if he learns not to fumble Emmauel Moody will add great depth at RB as well.

Kirk H said he thinks Florida is the "team to beat" in the SEC this year....yes TB...even better than Georgia and in fact he said Florida has the best offense in the nation and I have to agree....the talent is tremendous on that side of the ball.

Here is a pretty good rundown of the day:

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20080412/NEWS/145716060/1090/gators01

 

Link didn't work MCG.

 

MCG,
Didn't Kirk predict that OSU would win the NCG the last two years also? :wink:

 

This is a big year for the Gators if they are to ascend to the level of Soutern Cal. Recruiting has been on par with USC, and you guys do have the NC already but by Pete Carrols 4th year all the pieces were in place for his current run of dominance. Theoretically you guys have all the pieces in place, now you just have to go out and run off another NC and bunch of top 5 finishes in the polls.

 

The link is not working....but it did last night.

Maybe they will get it straightened out.

Kp.....Kirk has been pretty wrong about OSU for sure but maybe he is coming around?

Terry....you're right about Florida offensively because that side of the ball is already there. Hopefully the defense will play up to it's potential this year.

If the defense is better than average then UF has a real NC chance.

The Gators have Harvin coming back full speed in the fall but also this Rainey kid looks amazing and it's not fair to opposing defenses for both to be on the field at the same time.

 

I think you are right Terry about this being a critical year for the Gators to see we can maintain the kind of excellence that S. Cal has been doing. I think because of the number of good teams in the SEC it might be difficult.

 

What a love fest that was yesterday with ESPN broadcasting that spring game. You would've though last years Gator team went 14-0 with all the praise they heaped their way. Did they forget they lost 4 games?

 

It's critical really in the sense of being a dominant Nat'l program like Spurrier had going and like Bowden had going and like the Old Miami program (with out the cheating, drugs, and thuggery).

You could still be like Georgia and have a very good SEC program.

 

TB, you are letting your pettyness show again.

Terry, we are going to have a program like Spurrier had, however it may be difficult to have one like FSU and Miami had because they had little or no competition withing their conference.

Amazing that TB watched the Gators on ESPN yesterday isn't it Terry. I didn't get to see it and forgot to tivo it.

TB loves to watch the Gators because they are in his head, then he can find little stuff to nit pick.

 

No doubt that was a Gator love fest by ESPN but what do you expect.....the weather was fantastic....the team exudes talent....and has Urban Meyer who is one of the top coaches in football at the helm.

I think UF wins the SEC this year at the very least and if that happens.....the SEC is a very tough one to win and given Urban's record in his last three years and his SEC and NC in 2006 this Florida program is definitely amongst the elite.....although truthfully I think Florida is already in the nation's elite schools.

FYI...the link works now...

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20080412/NEWS/145716060/1090/gators01

 

Hey guys, I regretfully totally agree that the Gators are the team to beat in the SEC and, IMO, just have a leg up in the race for the next few seasons. I think after the Tebow era ends will be the critical time to judge how the Gators will sustain success. I personally think the spread option offense is in the process of peaking and will be in the decline after a few more seasons. Similar to the other fad offenses, it will eventually pass by the wayside I think. It's basically the triple option out of the shotgun and how many triple options do you see being run in major college football??
That being said, I don't think DCs figuring out how to stop the scheme will be its ultimate downfall. Eventually, I think the lack of appeal for players from those systems at the professional level will lead to the best players staying away from schools that run the system. Guys like Alex Smith and Vince Young having trouble at the next level doesn't help the longevity of the spread option offense. Sure, you can take a RB and turn him into a QB (a la Pat White) and succeed at the collegiate level but where I think you'll eventually hurt is at the other offensive positions like RB & WR. We have yet to see very many RBs from a strictly spread option offense operate at the next level but that will change in the coming years with guys like Mendenhall, Slaton, and even McFadden and Jones coming into the league. How they perform will, I think, go a long way in determining how skill players are judged coming from spread option systems.

 

Fair enough analysis Aquila, I do think that eventually defensive coordinators find a defense for all offenses. I don't think I'm as concerned as you are about players not succeeding in the pros from the Spread option. We have three very good QB's at Florida right now, but not as many good running backs.

Also Auburn is changing to the spread option, I think I see more teams switching to that offense than switching from it. But in time we will see other offenses, no question about that.

Thanks for the compliment by the way.

 

I am not very convinced that the Spread will fade that quickly. While the one that W.Va. ran is very run oriented, the one that UF runs also throws the ball quite a bit so WR's and QB's will develope. Also high schools are utilizing it in increasing numbers at least here in Texas.

But as Bill said DCoord eventually figure out the nuances of any offense and then the wild stats they run up early in the developement get back to normal. Wishbone running stats were just crazy till they figured out how to stop it.

The one fly in the ointment is if you are the only one in your conference runnning that offense, and you have superior athletes.

Terry

 

There will be a new record established in Lincoln on Saturday. They're already sold out. The second coming of Devaney is now in effect.

The Train, the Train they call.......you already know the rest.

 

Lol..if Nebraskans aren't watching corn grow they are watching Cornhusker football!!!

How's the new gig comming, do you have the snow off the ground? :wink:

 

Doc!! Things are going well. The world around me is turning green, it's windy as hell today, but old man winter had his last chance on Friday and it seems we're turning the corner to the warming trend. I feel younger now that I'm in the Motherland.

BTW, Did anybody recognize your feat of 25,000 for a career?

 

Nah, no party, no gifts, no booze, nobody sent hookers or anything. Thanks for noticing though! 8) 8)

 

Gator Bill,
I mean no disrespect to Florida or UM's offense as I love watching it when it's clicking on all cylinders. I think the offense is fascinating. I also think that UM's version is the most diversified. I guess one thing that makes me think it could be losing appeal among top QBs is the fact that Pryor chose OSU over Michigan. This guy's highlights look like VY in his heyday. Why wouldn't he choose to go to Michigan and star in an offense that would highlight all of his skills? Sure, it could be because Rodriguez's system is more run oriented than the style that UM runs but, all things being equal, if I were him it would be mighty tempting. I think he felt that OSU would better prepare him for the pros. Also, comments by analysts about the draft indicate that they believe that Tebow will be more suited as an H-back in the pros. I personally do not understand how any sane person could say that but they have to be seeing something that I'm not or why would they risk looking like complete idiots when this guy's winning MVPs and hoisting Lombardi trophies? I think Tebow is an amazing athlete but the prevailing notion is that QBs from this offense are not as well suited (or at least not as easily judged) for success in the pros.

Also, RBs are coming under similar scrutiny as the amount of space that guys from this system get to run around in while in college is unrealistic in the pros. Granted, Reggie Bush didn't come from a true spread option type offense but just ask him how much space there is in the pro game. For top recruits with NFL aspirations all of these factors surely play a part in their college choice.

I know you can say that UM won a championship using the offense and that Rodriguez's Mountaineer teams were ultra-successful running the offense but I'm not sold on its long term success at the highest level of college football either. First of all, let's consider Florida's national championship team. I think you can safely say that the version of the offense that the Gators ran with Leak at QB was watered down at best. With Tebow at QB full-time they lost 4 games. I know that most of those losses are directly attributable to the defense but 4 losses is still 4 losses.
Now the Mountaineers enjoyed great success running the offense in the Big East last season and against OK. However, the overall speed and athleticism in the Big East is not on par with many other teams from the BCS conferences. South Florida had speed and apparently, so did Pitt although I attribute a lot of that loss to coming out flat for WVa. You could point to Utah's undefeated season under UM as proof but we all know they didn't play a very difficult schedule and they met Pitt in their BCS game that year and that Pitt team was probably the weakest team in BCS history. My point is that, as diversified as the spread option offense is, you have to be able to grind it out at times because a team with a fast defense will bite you at times running such a finesse-based offense.

TOK,
As far as high school teams running the offense, I think that makes perfect sense. If you have a smart, quick-witted QB and several good athletes then you should dominate at the HS level running this offense. It's brilliant for HS, IMO. If pro teams had started running the offense then that's a different story. The fact that HS teams are running the offense doesn't mean that it has staying power at the D-1 level. In fact, I would argue that it means the opposite. It's only natural that a multiple, finesse type offense would work better at a less complex level if you can run it effectively. However, when you face a defense that has just as good of athletes as you have on offense, the effectiveness of an offense like the spread option diminishes at least somewhat.

These are just my uneducated opinions and I could be totally wrong. Every team in America may be running this offense in 5 years but I think it will fade similar to the triple option, wishbone, etc. You're seeing a short resurgence of these types of offenses and variations of them because DCs have forgotten how to stop them. Eventually they will remember and that, combined with the diminishing numbers of prospects wanting to play in the offenses, will eventually lead to its decline. Just my thoughts.

 

I've been casually following this conversation. I don't have an opinion on the pros/cons of the spread offense or any other offense. The only thing I would say is that if you have the best athletes up front to block, the best athletes in the backfield to throw and run, and the best athletes on the flank to catch the ball, you could have a single wing formation and score points and win games. I believe that in this internet age, too many topics are overthought and overanalyzed. Having said that, I will step aside and let you continue the conversation. 8)

 

I don't understand why anybody is projecting Tebow as anything other than a QB. He has a cannon for an arm, and while the offense he works out of is not the Pro offense, the things the Pro's most desire are size, arm strenght and some mobility all of which Tebow in spades. I don't think they really care that much if all your passes come from the shotgun. I think Tebow long term is much more likely to be successfull than Vince Young.

As far as the offense itself. As long as RB's and QB's and WR's who play in aren't being penalized in the draft because of it I can't see them not wanting to play in the offense. I find it interesting the comment about Ohio State QB's and Pryor wanting to be prepared for the Pro's. I'm making my list of great NFL QB's from Ohio State and I can't come up with the first name.

Maybe Stu or Don or BuckT will give me a clue.

Terry