Florida Embarrasses Itself
I’m not talking about the game, though our young defense was plenty embarrassing this year.
I’m talking about the players little pre-game activity in which they did the equivalent of “logo stomping”, dancing on the field taunting the Michigan players. It nearly started a fight.
Note to coach Meyer – that bullshit is embarrassing. Get it under control. It makes you and the Gators look like fools or, worse, like Miami.
Mentioned in Austin Murphy's book 
24 comments:
Agreed. We don't need to stoop to the level of the Fighting Zooks with too much trash talk and starting fights.
The personal-foul penalties need to come to a screeching halt, too. There's no need of that crap.
I have a feeling Meyer will really let the shit hit the fan once spring practice rolls around. After this year, the excuses have to stop and we need to get back on track. Any players who don't want to take this program seriously might as well buy their bus ticket to Champaign IL or some other program - we only need players committed to excellence at UF.
The freshmen were cut a little bit of slack this season due to their inexperience - I say to them: Now school's out, kids. Either produce results or get the hell out. It's time to start playing up to expectations!
That is ok MICHIGAN did the Real Stomping Stompin DAT ASS!! The score should have been worse. Michigan had 4 turnovers and still stomped DAT ASS!!
Anon, take your smack to a Michigan blog. This topic concerns the behavior of OUR players, not yours.
Percy Harvin made an interesting quote in today's Orlando Sentinel about too many players concerned about themselves more than the team, and this is also something that needs to stop. We are a TEAM, and Meyer needs to tear these guys a new one to emphasize this.
Perhaps we may have become too complacent after winning the NC last year; it's much harder for a team to defend a championship already won.
It's time to hunker down and get back to WINNING. Come on Gators, GET UP AND GO!!!!!!
It's a growing frustration you see in Meyer's face, it came to the surface a month ago with that sandwich throwing incident where a couple players refused to pay and tossed food back at workers at a deli place. He expressed his frustration in a interview. I think Meyer's is gone after next year anyway especially if it's a good year, I always considered his time here as only a stepping stone. The taunting it's embarrassing, how do you discipline these young premadonnas. Your right jj we've become to complacent, first the Buckeye's kicked our basketball teams ass and now the Wolverines have had their turn. Gator Nation in a funk.
Kenny, I don't think Meyer will jump ship on us - what would possibly compel him to leave one of the highest-paid coaching positions in college football? Besides, he and his family are very happy in Gainesville, and I don't think Shelley would want to uproot her kids right now with the two oldest being in high school. If he was that disenchanted with UF, he'd jump at the chance to take one of the open positions at another school or the NFL, and that's very unlikely.
This was a trying season, and I could see that in Meyer's body language. However, we need to move forward and get ready for 2008. If Meyer wasn't as committed as he is to UF football, he would be apathetic and ambivalent about this team's future, and that he's not. Changes in our coaching staff could be made once the bowls and the heavy recruiting drive leading to National Signing Day are over - what Meyer will do, who knows. The disciplinary problems and selfishness amongst the players needs to stop, and after this last game Meyer will do something about it.
Gator Nation needs to settle down and not give in to the lunatic fringe wanting to "fire" everybody as seen in many of the message board rants. Those who can't keep the faith and continue to support this team in both the good times and the bad need to jump off the bandwagon.
I'm extremely disappointed in Uh-ban, since I thought he had firmer control of the players than that, and also I thought he was recruiting better people than that.
But I'm disappointed in Tebow just as much. Yes, you read that right. Not for any on the field play yesterday (he never had a chance and actually played as well as anyone could have under the circumstances) but because you'd think a Christian and Heisman winner would do a better job of being a team leader.
I just find it hard to imagine that players on a team with those two in charge would engage in acts like logo stomping and sandwich throwing.
We never had our heads in that game. Riling up Michigan to start got them into the game, and we never really woke up. That kickoff starting the second half proved that.
Urban needs to do a better job of coaching under pressure as well.
1) Take a shot before half time. Four seconds and you have a deep threat in Louis Murphy, a guy that can get the jump ball in C.I., and 2 awesome run after the catch receivers in Bubba and Percy.
2) How many short kicks does it take to take to remind your guys to catch the ball?
3) When Tebow is constantly under pressure DO SOMETHING! Roll him out of the pocket a few times. Give the guy a chance to throw it and he will.
4) Get more vocal with the referees. There's no excuse for the things Michigan got away with (i.e. Jake Long pinning a LB to the ground and standing over him after the play). Michigan got away with holding on a few key runs. On 3rd down on the last drive it looked like Caldwell got pushed down with the ball heading toward him by the defender that caught the ball out of bounds. And what was with the second TD being called back? Meyer has got to get in somebodies face over that one. They call a penalty and then don't even give a player number or explanation... SHADY... And Meyer needs to learn to throw the challenge flag once in a while (i.e. the LSU game when they get two 4th down conversions).
5) Harvin runs for 13 yards every touch... why did we not run him in the last two drives AT ALL??? Stick with what works!
That was embarrassing. I love Meyer, but dang...
"There's no excuse for the things Michigan got away with (i.e. Jake Long pinning a LB to the ground and standing over him after the play)."
I remember that! An official was standing RIGHT THERE and literally chose not to see it.
Not to take anything away from Michigan, because it's obvious they wanted it more, but that was beyond absurd.
But the truly sad part is that despite the fact Michigan wanted to win about ten times more, the Gators had the lead in the 4th and had two chances to score the winning TD. That's what makes it so agonizing for me. Well, that and the Gators singlehandedly giving the Big Ten relevance, which is inexcusable.
They wanted it more for sure. They played hard. But Urban's got to get in an official's face over that bologna. There is no excuse for letting your team get pushed around. That Jake Long thing was awful and inexcusable!
Why didn't we run Percy in the last two drives? Because he was exhausted. The entire game had been put on his back, and he was just too tired to do more than run a route or two.
My main problem was with the play calling. If the blitzing is proving effective, then run a few screens, or quick three step slants. Make the defense honest. But the play calling never changed when the game changed. Mullen's done this a few times, most recently in the Georgia game. Sometimes, Mullen is a brilliant play caller. And other times, I want to go to the press box and punch him.
They threw twice to Harvin in the 2nd to last drive gaining 3 and 1 yards respectively. The other two plays were incomplete. The last drive was 4 incomplete passes. On those 6 incompletes I don't know how many were Harvin but I'm sure there were. We needed chunks of yardage.
Matt,
Give him a punch for me while you're at it!
I know Harvin was tired, but he was still getting big yardage...
3rd and 10 when Tebow can't seem to complete a pass, we have got to try something different. Even if it's just a short pass and let Caldwell try to run with it. Set up a manageable 4th down!
And did anyone else see Caldwell get pushed down by the defender on that 3rd and 10 (with the ball in the air)? Or was it just my imagination?
I was at the game, and there appeared to be quite a few personal fouls committed by michigan that went uncalled. Many were by Jake Long, who nearly got into a fight with Tony Joiner (only to have Dustin Doe pull him back). However while I hate how the refs called many things (or didn't call), I don't think it would've changed the outcome of the game.
Can anyone that was there tell me what the penalty was that recalled the 2nd TD? They wouldn't replay it on TV and there was no explanation, number, NOTHING!
Whose second TD. We scored on both of our first two possessions.
1. Note to defense: Grow up fast or get replaced. I'm not sold on those guys maturing enough in 9 months to make us an elite team next year. They are that bad.
2. Hats off to Meeechigan for playing their asses off for a fairly classy relic coach. Other than Harvin, we were the team that looked slow. Even Tebow.
3. Like another poster, I thought during the game they could have gone to a designed rollout to get some winged helmets out of Tebow's grill. In hindsight, I don't think that would have worked because they ran him down when he broke from the pocket anyway. Lord bless us, the thick ankled Big Teneleven team was faster than the Gators.
I read an article at the Orlando Sentinel site about the post-game; Percy Harvin gave an interview and made mention of a lack of team unity. If we want to win another NC, the selfishness and other nonsense needs to stop right now. Our kids need to be all on the same page and be working together as a TEAM, and things need to be done right.
Hopefully the end of this season brings an end to the Zook influence in the locker room; those kids who played under the Zooker will have either graduated or left for the NFL. That being said, all the more better for us.
LEADERSHIP needs to be another area of emphasis in 2008. Tim Tebow needs to take the bull by the horns and be a LOT more effective in this aspect; also, I'd like to see some of our other players take the initiative to step up and set an example such as Kestahn Moore and Louis Murphy - especially in influencing our younger players. The focus needs to be on working together as a TEAM towards a common goal and encouraging each other - the "me-me-me" crap needs to stay out of the locker room. Also, enough of the taunting and going overboard with the trash talk. We don't need our kids stooping to the level of Zook-coached "Illinoise" and getting into fights as they did against Ohio State and Michigan State back in 2005, or like Miami did against FIU that asme season.
The disciplinary problems need to cease immediately. NO MORE seeing the names of our players on the blotter of the Alachua County Jail - if Meyer needs to take a tougher stand on player conduct, I want to see it done. I'd rather see him come across as the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the valley instead of Zook-like where this is concerned.
Yeah, I wasn't too keen on the ACC refs either - I had a hunch that they would be from that conference for the Cap One even before the game started, and after the "Swindle in the Swamp" back in 2003 they left a bitter taste in my mouth. I agree with the consensus here on the missed calls - if Meyer sees something that isn't kosher, he needs to speak up and tell the refs so. What's fair is fair, and being passive on bad calls only hurts our team.
We've got a LOT of work to do in the off-season as was made obvious last Sunday - the 2008 season starts NOW. Let's get to work, Coach Meyer - first step is getting a damn good recruiting class in for 2008 and going forward from there.
GO GATORS!!!!!!!!
What was obvious to me was that we didn't have anywhere near the same caliber of athletes on defense as we did last year. I don't know how much I can discern the level of leadership.
Don't blame official's non-calls, blame the coaching and Florida's arrogant nature leading up to the game. Have we forgot last year's game vs Ohio State so quickly? If not for Mike Hart's 2 fumbles on the one, Gators might be looking at a 20 point blowout. Michigan is bigger, faster and smarter than the Gators this year and it showed being outplayed in every way possible. I never liked Urban Meyer and he has a lot to prove to me still. Get the thuggish ways of some of the football players under control or leave Gainesville.
Gopmarko, do you honestly think Ron Zook could have gotten us to the NC last season, or is a better coach than Urban Meyer? No way - Zook wouldn't have been fired if he was better. If you don't like Meyer, you ought to jump off the bandwagon and go root for Illinois or South Carolina if you're more of a Spurrier-worshipper. Meyer won't be going anywhere, so get used to it.
It's so easy to heap the blame for a loss all on the shoulders of the coaches, but the players are just as accountable for their behavior and performance be it good or bad. The expectations and correct way of doing things have been explained to them over and over again by the coaching staff, and after that they're expected to act accordingly. They may be just kids, but as much as the coaches are responsible for them they are also adults and need to conduct themselves as such. They can only have their hand held for so long, and after that they need to do things themselves.
Gator fans, it's time to stop all the finger-pointing and this other insanity, and look ahead to 2008. The issues we have will be addressed and dealt with; just show some patience. Some Florida fans are very jaded and need to change their attitude, too.
WE ARE FLORIDA, and WE WILL GO FORWARD.
True fans won't lose faith in this team and will see beyond this season - we've done it before and will do it again.
andrew
To answer your question not enough men on the line of scrimmage.
Gators lost for any number of reason including one you wouldn't think of "speed". I don't think they had faced a SEC team as large and fast as the Michigan defensive line all season.
I'd also say our kicking game didn't help while there kickoffs went into the end zone.
This leads to the question of Meyer's being not a great defensive recruiter. His post game remarks can't understand him embarassing the seniors that way after their last game, these are still young amateur athletes, do they deserve the ridicule. Meyer's is frustrated but time to be a man and have some class.
Umm....Kenny, it's Meyer, not "Meyer's". Please get it right.
As far as your "question of Meyer not being a great defensive recruiter", go and look at our list of committments for the Class of 2008 so far at Gator Country or Gator Bait. As you will see, defense is the main focus of this class. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Meyer knows what areas need to be focused on this year as far as recruiting goes. If you want to point a finger at somebody for the poor recruiting and lack of a decent number of upperclassmen that has us in the situation right now, point it at none other than the "master recruiter"(LMAO) himself, Ron Zook.
Call Meyer's comments "ridicule" if you want, but he tells it like it is and doesn't sugarcoat anything. As far as he's concerned, if the shoe fits you better wear it. If you remember, he himself said right from the beginning "losing is never acceptable at the University of Florida". How about these kids being men and taking some much-needed constructive criticism?
Going forward we need to be tougher and doing it right. I have faith in Meyer that he'll get this accomplished. One thing for sure - things are going to change beginning this offseason.
Meyer let this team get away from him starting with the Tony Joiner incident. Instead of kicking him off the team as he indicated he would do to disciplinary problems...he merely stripped him of his captainship. Big deal. Same thing with the "assault with a deadly ham & cheese" indident. So long as these kids know that their actions draw no consequence, you will continue to see nonsense like logo dancing, silly personal fouls, etc.
Ski, I'll bet once all the Zookboys are gone we won't see as many disciplinary incidents.
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