Paul Myerberg, in his preseason piece on his No.34, Florida, has a villain for last year’s poor showing by the Gators. First, the historical context:
You can further encapsulate last season’s offense – the Charlie Weis year, you could say – in two points: Florida went 5-3 when holding opponent to 21 points or less and ranked 111th nationally in third down conversions. From 1990, Steve Spurrier’s first season, through 2010, Urban Meyer’s last, Florida lost only six games when allowing 21 points or less.
Then, there’s the Costanza-like advice for the new guy.
Pease will improve Florida’s offense by taking care of the little things. First, find a quarterback. Next, start running with consistency on first down. Set up play action; Boise’s offense is unstoppable when the run sets up the pass. Convert on third down. Don’t rely on the pass to convert on third down. Run in short yardage situations. Protect the quarterback. Get tougher, please. Don’t call for a six-yard out when you need seven yards. Be flexible. Whatever Weis did, do the opposite. Be the anti-Weis.
Okay, okay. I think we get the point here. And Myerberg is fair in pointing out that the change in coordinators isn’t likely to make Florida into an offensive powerhouse overnight for the usual reasons, namely identity issues (Pease is the Gators’ third OC in three years) and personnel ones. But I wonder about something else: how do we know that Muschamp has a clue about hiring a decent offensive coordinator? I mean, Weis was a name hire and nothing else. This time, it wasn’t about hiring a name. It was about latching on to a program’s (Boise State) offensive success.
Muschamp knows he wants to run his offense out of a pro set, but other than that, he seems to chase the shiny toy. Here’s something he has to say about his new offense:
He promised more “imagination” on offense with shifts and motions under new offensive coordinator Brent Pease. He said about 50 percent of the strategy could be out of the shotgun format.
“We don’t see a lot of multiple motions and shifts … it creates issues defensively,” noted Muschamp of how Pease could be a challenge for SEC defensive coordinators.
Maybe he wasn’t paying attention to what Gus Malzahn was doing at Auburn when Florida lost to the Tigers last season. Motions and shifts, multiple or otherwise, aren’t exactly new to the SEC. And Malzahn’s own track record should perhaps serve as a warning for Muschamp: successful the first year with a quarterback who wasn’t the most gifted physically but who grasped the offense quickly and ran it well; off the charts the second year with the incandescent Newton; awful last year because none of Auburn’s quarterbacks could handle the responsibility. Florida, last time I checked, didn’t exactly display the kind of stuff at the quarterback position from which legends are made.
And if there’s a program that’s shown it doesn’t translate well to other places, it’s Boise State. College football is littered with former Bronco head coaches who couldn’t duplicate their success away from the blue turf. And Texas, which hired Pease’s predecessor last season to revamp its offense, didn’t exactly set the world on fire, multiple shifts or not.
Maybe this is the time it works, maybe not. But if you’re wondering why a team with Florida’s defense and Florida’s special teams isn’t more highly thought of in the preseason, maybe there’s more to it than Charlie Weis.
Muschamp’s OC picks have been head scratchers. Weis is a big name, but he carries a ton of baggage. Pease has some experience at Boise, but most of it was as a position coach. Also, It looks like Peterson is the brains behind the offense anyway.
As much as we all blame Bobo, he would be a better choice than the two Muschamp has picked.
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“Weis is a big name, but he carries a ton and some baggage.”
There, I fixed it for you.
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Actually, to be correct both factually and grammatically it should read: “Weis is a big name, but he weighs a ton and carries baggage.”
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While defenses win championships, scoring more points than the other guy wins games. Usually that requires talented players, not necessarily coaches or schemes. UF just doesn’t have any proven ones on that side of the ball.
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Yeah, the Boise State program didn’t translate well at all to Colorado. With the unfortunate exception obviously coming against our own beloved Bulldogs.
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Wake up
Check GTP
Get sad
Become inconsolable
Thanks buddy.
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I’m here for you, man. 😉
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To be fair, none of of the Boise State coaches (at least as far as I know) have went to a school with the talent base that Florida has with the exception of Texas, but I’d wait until at least year 2 to call it a failure there. Just about any offensive scheme can be serviceable if you have access to the type of players Florida does.
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Except last year.
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Last year was probably the worst Florida team in the past 20 years and we still only beat them by 4. As bad as Weis was, I still think Florida would have at least put a decent offense on the field once he was able to recruit players that fit his system.
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And this has what to do with what it takes to have a good offense at UF?
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Last year’s poor offensive performance was an anomaly and it’s pretty hard to imagine Florida keeping that pace for very long, regardless of the offensive coordinator. Even during the Zook years Florida still had a serviceable offense.
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If you look, it was pretty mediocre the year after Tebow left, too.
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2006 Florida, which won the national championship, beat 2006 Georgia in its Month Of Sucking by all of 7.
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Perhaps there was a Month of Sucking (actually 5 Weeks of Sucking) during the 2006 UGA football team’s 9-4 season but it pales in comparison to the Months of Sucking (arguably the Year of Sucking) in 2010.
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Yeah, just fix the little things. Like finding a quarterback. I mean, how hard can that be?
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Florida should just play the backup QB. I hear he is the 2nd best in the SEC by default.
How did the cupboard get so bare so fast on offense? It looks like Urban Meyer knows when it is time to flee a sinking ship… perhaps because he steered it into the iceberg.
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The D during Corch’s time was solid and the O was basically the GPOOE doing his thing. When Tebow left winning left even though the D was still pretty good. Ergo, it was time for Corch to leave Gainesville before he got exposed to the Gator faithful as the offensive charlatan that he really is.
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“But if you’re wondering why a team with Florida’s defense and Florida’s special teams isn’t more highly thought of in the preseason, maybe there’s more to it than Charlie Weis.”
No, I don’t believe there is, the fat man was just that overrated.
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So long as they don’t have a Kellen Moore, I think it’s fine.
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When coaches talk football to the press, they usually aim their comments at Cletus from Dukes of Hazzard. I am not sure how much stock we should put into a generic response to questions about kicking games or offensive philosophy.
Didn’t Pease interview for the Alabama opening? Or was that just his agent at work creating the impression?
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Yes. I was convinced Nick let Muschamp think he beat Nick on something by letting him hire Pease away from Nick. However, after seeing this shot of Pease, I am now convinced Nick didn’t want Pease on the sidelines because when he yells, he looks like too much like Nick. And there’s the houndstooth hat thing too, which would no doubt offend the delicate sensibilities of the Bammer fans and Nick.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20120111/NEWS/120119894?p=1&tc=pg
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Wait a minute…Florida hired Wayne Peace to be their OC? Is Kerwin Bell the QB coach?
If so, we win 8 of the next 10 WLOCPs.
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A “Boise offense” with Florida talent is a scary thought but I feell it will be difficult to get the special ingredient of “Boise chemistry” from the athletes Florida recruits. Boise takes what other teams give them as well as anyone in CFB, that takes an unselfish group of athletes. Those are easier found among 3 star players than 4 and 5 star recruits.
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+1. The words “unselfish” and “Florida” and “athlete” usually do not appear in the same sentence.
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