The state of the program (one poster's opinion)

[PirateVOL]

OL:  Tiny and Fulton are the weak links.  Tiny will be very good but he has to get his emotions in check. Fulton consistnetly is poor in the counter and has the most individual breakdowns on the line.  Stone has played very well as has Thomas and James.  Overall the line play has improved this year.  We are able to runthe ball and we were effective running the ball last night.  Responding to their new coach.
RB:  Neal is improving every game.  He is running more aggresively, is blocking well and in general playing well.  Is a he a great back?  No but we can win with him and it seems that Bray trusts him.  Lane has been a big disappointment.  His running has not been good and he has missed more than one blitz pickup.  Young is not getting many snaps, just one last night.  I think Que may work himself into the rotation before the end of the year.  Perhaps our biggest need is a top tier SEC RB.  Neal, at least, has responded to his new coach.
WR:  We have two very good ones.  Z. Rogers needs to be more consistent, though he is catching the ball better this year.  After that there doesn't apeear to be much confidence by the staff in the others.  Pig and Croom have been injured.  Of the 2 I think Pig has a chance of cracking the rotation.  Last night we missed #21.  We needed a big receiver in the slot and only had the two smaller receivers that could play it.  Betting at least one of the two go pro this year we need another top tier receiver in this class.
TE:  Riverra and the rest.  An all SEC TE and nothing behind him till Downs recovers. 
QB:  Bray is a very, very good QB but UF exposed his lack of patience last night.  IT is clear he trusts Hunter but he needs to be able to see the other receivers better.  We had open receivers last night he never even looked at.  My review of the game tonight really highlighted how he tended to focus in to a receiver and not go through his progressions, as he has in the past. 

DL:  HAs really improved.  I have been pleasently surprised by their performance.  We are still too thin but we are getting there.  Need to improve their pass rush.  With the exeption of one, possibly two plays we stuffed runs between the tackles last night.  They hace clearly improved under their new coach.
LB:  Really hot and cold.  J. Smith is a 50/50 guy at OLB, 50% good, 50% bad, as witnessed last night.  MAggitt is legit but was hampered by his toe last night, didn't have his normal explsiveness.  AJ was made for this defense.  We used him more in areas that MAggitt normally patrols last night.  LAthers is good but his injury limits him and I think after his foot injury last year he is perhaps a bit slow.  Sapp IMO is a better answer at the moment, while small for the position he has the quickness and the ability to hit to mitigate the size isssue.  Last night we were situationally substituting all night.  Can be a very good part of the defense but too thin at the moment to be consistent enough.  Bonner probably needs some reps against Akron.
CB:  Improved.  Teague has played the best, then Wagner.  Coleman (did he play last night?) has given Teague a breather for a couple of series here and there.  Gordon is another 50/50 guy. 
Overall the secondary has improved under their new coaches.  The injury to Randolph hurts us, primarily in the dime, as in who is the 6th DB? and we are now thin of quality, eqperienced players.  The young guns need to step up

Kicking game:  Our kickers are poor.  No consistency in the FG/EP arena though KOs have been better.
Coverage teams have been very good.
Returns have the potential to be very good.  CP and Young are threats to take it to the house.
Bottom line is the kicking game is hurting us.  IT was clear in the 2nd quarter last night that Dooley has no confidence in Brodus or Palardy as we went for it on 4th and 10 in 45 yard or so FG range.

Overall:  We have improved over last year, in some areas significantly.  LAst night showed we are still too thin but the majority of the issues were in execution, with the majority of them being corretable.  My focus going forward is to see if they are.  Improved communication on BOTH sides of the ball is a must.  There was one play last night that I am confident that Hunter had no clue what the play was at the snap.  There were several plays in the 2nd half where it was clear that Bray and the receivers were on different pages, Hunter being the receiver in question on several plays.

Coaching:  I think, with one exception, coaching has improved significantly over last year.  The exception is Chaney, who did not adjust well at all last night.  I do not agree he abondoned the run game too early after the game review tonight.  However, it did not appear that we adjusted routes or protection packages when it was clear we had to pass and/or it was clear that UF had steppedup their blitzing.  Now whether Dooley, Chaney or Hinshaw was responsible for the WR rotation lat night is debatable based on known information but the lack of WR rotation hurt us IMO.  Dooley, my only real complant is he didn't go for it on 4th and one at midfield when momentum was slipping to the other side.  We needed to make something happen there and we didn't.  Shortly after that the game got out of hand.

I understand I'm in the minority but based on the team perfomance to date, including last night, I'm not ready to dump Dooley.  YMMV.
Safeties:  Took a hit last night.  We still have two good ones but depth becomes an issue.  I think they may move Moore to FS as that move fits the skill sets of he and Brewer the best.  I guess Wilks is the primary backup.

[Volznut]

I thought Teague had a terrible game

[PirateVOL]

I thought Teague had a terrible game

I didn't say he had a good game, only that he has been our best corner this year.  His coverage has been much improved and much better than Wagner, who we were told was at his more natural position.  Other than the blown coverage on the all out blitz (he and Randolph were both confused as heck before the play) Teagues pass coverage was good Saturday.  His backside discipline was where his main issues were and in that he was far from alone.

[Volznut]

Not physical at all. His pathetic attempts to tackle was on display big time.

[MIAUTIGER]

A few non-UT fan observations from your comments:

• I think Neal has the potential to be a great runner. All he needs is one decent block and he can get some yards. And he seems to adjust well if the hole is not there. Which leads me to ask...
• Why do you think they did not abandon the run game too early? My memory could be fading, but it seemed like if they could have kept with some runs, they would have been able to have a few more sustained drives. When the passing didn't work, then...
• Bray's immaturity seemed to take over. He doesn't seem to have mental toughness. That is just an opinion. But one has to wonder if the beer bottle throwing was a sign that Bray is not at the maturity level quie yet to lead an offense when it gets tough.

Just some opinions. I think, overall, the 2nd half breakdown is the most concerning.  That is usually a sign of no leadership among the players. I am hopeing they can pull it together in time to halt bammer's progress in October. I'm even considering buying one of those ugly orange shirts for that weekend to show my unity with the enemy of my enemy.

[Volznut]

A few non-UT fan observations from your comments:

• I think Neal has the potential to be a great runner. All he needs is one decent block and he can get some yards. And he seems to adjust well if the hole is not there. Which leads me to ask...
• Why do you think they did not abandon the run game too early? My memory could be fading, but it seemed like if they could have kept with some runs, they would have been able to have a few more sustained drives. When the passing didn't work, then...
• Bray's immaturity seemed to take over. He doesn't seem to have mental toughness. That is just an opinion. But one has to wonder if the beer bottle throwing was a sign that Bray is not at the maturity level quie yet to lead an offense when it gets tough.

Just some opinions. I think, overall, the 2nd half breakdown is the most concerning.  That is usually a sign of no leadership among the players. I am hopeing they can pull it together in time to halt bammer's progress in October. I'm even considering buying one of those ugly orange shirts for that weekend to show my unity with the enemy of my enemy.

Our OC is a pass happy guy. That is why we abandoned the run. We were running well. Hell, we were up 20-13 when we abandoned it. IMO we should have kep some wildcat when we stopped them on the fake punt. The momentum was with us, and the Gators were totally not ready for the wildcat.

[Inspector Vol]

From the nosebleeds I could see tyler lock in on a receiver. Uf saw it too. Patterson had single coverage more than once in the second half and Bray never looked his way.

The team is still soft and weak minded. I thought they had overcome it when they scored on the drive that marred by a dozen flags. Then in the 2nd half  they quit, and laid down. No need to sugar coat it. They played like little bitches when the game got tough.

The crowd was there and they did all they could. I suspect the stands will be quite empty the rest of the year unless they make a miraculous turn. I am completely disgusted and not with losing but the quitting. I understand we aren't the most talented and I don't expect to beat everyone but I do expect us not to quit. UF ran the same half dozen plays all night long and we hardly ever kept contain on the end. We should have been up by 2 or 3 scores in the 1st half but once again the team crapped the bed when we played uf.

CHANEY HAS GOT TO GO IMHO. We are down 7 and we come out and PASS PASS PASS PUNT like 2 or 3 times when its obvious to all Bray had a bad night. Then we are down 2 scores and we RUN THE DANG BALL!!?? We have no power running game because we don't practice it. I understand not going for it on 4th and 1 at the 50 but the AJ in the wildcat had a great chance of picking that up.

I am not nearly as upset at the loss as I am the lack of improvement in mental toughness. It is the same problem we have had since Dooley got here. Whether or not it is his fault IDK but ultimately he is responsible.

If we had a RB that could break an arm tackle we could have ran for 8,000 yards.        

[BanditVol]

Our OC is a pass happy guy. That is why we abandoned the run. We were running well. Hell, we were up 20-13 when we abandoned it. IMO we should have kep some wildcat when we stopped them on the fake punt. The momentum was with us, and the Gators were totally not ready for the wildcat.

The only thing is, I watched the tape last night and we didn't really abandon the run.  We tried several runs late in the third and on into the 4th.  Neal had a nice run at the start of the 4th, in fact.  The only time you could say we "abandoned" it was after we were down two TDs, which is understandable.

Maybe we should have tried a run on first down after the fake punt.  The problem was that the gators knew a bomb was coming and got to Bray.   Then it was 2nd and 20 and we had to pass.  But on the next 2-3 drives, we did in fact run the ball. Go see for yourself.

[PirateVOL]

The only thing is, I watched the tape last night and we didn't really abandon the run.  We tried several runs late in the third and on into the 4th.  Neal had a nice run at the start of the 4th, in fact.  The only time you could say we "abandoned" it was after we were down two TDs, which is understandable.

Maybe we should have tried a run on first down after the fake punt.  The problem was that the gators knew a bomb was coming and got to Bray.   Then it was 2nd and 20 and we had to pass.  But on the next 2-3 drives, we did in fact run the ball. Go see for yourself.

I tried to point that out earlier, to no avail