As some of you know, I have an extensive video library of UF games. And I have practically all of the games from the Steve Spurrier era at UF. I have to admit it was refreshing to see UF opponents dazed and confused by a blitzkrieg Gator offense that took no prisoners. Coach Spurrier's post-corner game was a wonder to behold. Two-deep zone and the safety jumps the corner route? Oops, Coach set you up for that one. Receiver fakes to the corner, runs the post and it's a touchdown. Gee, why can't they stop the Gators square-in pattern over the middle? Oh, that's right. We're running a post right behind it. The safety has to protect against that deep route. So let's drop the middle linebacker into the deep middle. Oops, here comes Errict Rhett on the lead draw. And now he's busting into the secondary, punishing defenders. Uh-oh. Now it's five-wide and they are all running streak patterns. Not enough defenders deep. Safety has to make a decision. Oh no, nobody deep to help the SS cover the slot receiver. Touchdown Gators! Wide open receivers everywhere. Nobody within ten yards of him. How'd he get so open? Busted coverages. Confused and demoralized defenses, giving up in the second half. Bent over and trying to catch their breath. Much like our defense this year. And we're not talking UAB and FAMU and San Jose State. We're talking Tennessee and Georgia and Auburn. Lightly recruited, skinny, weak-armed fifth team sophomore QB who was best known for being suspended from the team for gambling? Shane Matthews becomes two-time SEC Player of the Year. Unheralded, unknown athlete given the last scholarship of the recruiting class because he's the son of one of UF's first black football players? Willie Jackson Jr. leaves UF as the all-time UF leader in touchdown receptions. Skinny, no-talent whiteboy that nobody will give a scholarship to? Chris Doering walks on at UF and leaves as the all-time UF and SEC touchdown leader. Aubrey Hill? Harrison Houston? Not exactly your prototype NFL receivers. And far from highly recruited. Ernie Mills, best known for dropping a sure TD on the first play at Auburn in 1989? Underperfomer and generally considered a goat and a washout? First team All-SEC in 1990. Geez Errict, FSU and Miami won't even talk to you? Bum knee? Too slow for the big-time? Had to settle for the lowly Gators? Aren't they going to get the death penalty? How 'bout you leave UF as the as the all-time leading rusher in school history with over 4,000 yards? How about two-time All-SEC? How about you'll be the first player in Div. 1-A history to rush for over 4,100 yards and catch 150+ passes. It's the Jesse's and Joe's, not the X's and O's, huh Coach Zook? You can't win without the best players? The cupboard is a little bare? Check out UF's 1988 and 1989 recruiting classes and tell me how much depth and overall talent the BallCoach had when he got here as compared to the SEC and FSU. Sure, he had 25 or 30 good players left over from Galen Hall's 1986 and 1987 recruiting classes, plus a few more diamonds in the rough from '88, '89 and '90. But the BallCoach had significantly fewer talented players than Zook inherited. In an era when scholarship rosters were significantly larger than the 85 player limit Zook has. That means less good players for Spurrier, and more good players for his opponents. That's the result of lengthy back-to-back NCAA investigations and probations. That's a disadvantage. That's a bare cupboard. And yet Spurrier's Gators were running away from people in the second half, while Zook's Gators are faltering and choking and running out of gas. Remember Coach Spurrier's constant barbs at UGA? About how they recruited so well, and yet everytime they came down to Jax all those great players got beat? And so Coach Spurrier asked, what happened to those players? What happened to these kids on their way down to Jax? Remember that. Because it's fixing to come back at the Gators. Because Zook is UF's Ray Goff. I understand this is what we've got. I understand that firing Zook now is foolish. And I understand that Zaunbrecher is the offensive coordinator, and not Zook. And believe me, Zaunbrecher has got to go. I blame him more than anyone for the complete destruction of the Florida offense. Because it didn't have to happen this way. Zaunbrecher inherited Rex Grossman, not Shane Matthews. And he had all the game film for UF from 2000 and 2001. He could have evaluated Rex and adapted his offense to Rex's and UF's strengths. Rex and the receivers knew Coach Spurrier's bread-and-butter routes by heart. And not just the routes, but the subtle nuances of the routes. And Dwayne Dixon was here to help, and to teach the proper techniques to sell the routes and make them work. But Zaun scrapped all that. And Zook obviously supported it, despite his personal observations of the effectiveness of Coach Spurrier's offense. For that we got an 8-5 record, and the Heisman Trophy runner-up and nations leader in pass efficiency suddenly started to look like a true freshman. I'll never understand why Zook and Zaun did that, and I'll never forgive them for it. Because it didn't need to happen. But it did. And now now we are stuck. We are in mid-stream of a raging torrent we never should have tried to cross. And to switch horses now would probably be even more of a disaster, although I'm not sure what could be more of a disaster than what we've got. Maybe we'll turn the corner this year. Maybe next. But I doubt it. Because winners make it happen. And losers make excuses... - Southwest Florida Gator