Gators…we must give it time.

 Did any of you expect ANY coach to come in and repair the football program in less than a year? I sure didn’t. Very rarely do teams make drastic improvements in the first year under a new coach.

Coaching changes are tough on programs. The players and any assistants left over from the previous staff must erase everything good, bad or indifferent, about the previous program from their memory. They must then begin to learn the new “plan”. And if you want to go even deeper, before they can LEARN the “plan” they must believe in the plan. I don’t think that we began to believe in the plan until very late in the off-season. In fact, I think there are still several players who don’t believe in the plan. I mean heck, there’s a good portion of the Gator Nation who doesn’t believe and we only WATCH the games.

When Meyer was hired much was made about his style of offense. Would it work in the SEC? Could Chris Leak run it? Could they pick it up in one season? Meyer assured us that he doesn’t have an offense, he instead tailors his offense to the players he has. I believe him. If you don’t that’s your right. But if you think, for one minute, that we’re running Utah’s offense you’re nuts. I’d guesstimate that we’re running maybe 35% of Meyer’s plays from last year. Do I think that Meyer has tailored his offense to the players he has, somewhat but not enough. Am I angry about it? No. Do I think he lied to me? No. The more I think about what he said the more I understand what he MEANT. Look at his statement again. It was something to the effect of:  (I don’t really have a style of offense, it’s more so tailored to the players we have). When he initially said this and consistently repeated it, many of us expected to see a more traditional pro-like offense. But that’s NOT Urban’s style. What he really meant, in my opinion, was that we’re going to have to phase this thing in. And by this I think he meant that we’d see some option, some shovel passes, misdirection and still see some of the vertical stretching of the field that we’re all used to. Think about it, you CANNOT keep changing your ENTIRE offense plan/playbook based upon the players you have and recruit. You’d CONSTANTLY be in a rebuilding year. Not to mention the fact that recruiting would be almost impossible, too much uncertainty.

As for the “we should have hired Spurrier back” argument: Wrong. Before I explain why let me start by telling you why I even bring this up. During the LSU game I had to sit near a former player, who shall remain nameless even though most of us have never heard of him. He kept bad-mouthing Meyer and saying that we should have hired Spurrier. He said that we can only hope that we lose the rest of our games so they will fire Meyer and bring Spurrier back. It’s this kind of thinking that drives me crazy. Spurrier would have been tape, a short term solution at best. Yes, I too wanted Spurrier for a brief moment when Zook was first fired. But Steve isn’t going to coach too much longer, he’s said that himself. I think he just wants a chance to redeem himself and go out on a positive note and remove the sour taste of an unsuccessful NFL run. I want a long term coach. I want a Joe Pa or dare I say this, I want a Bowden. And I believe that Meyer can be that for UF: A long term, successful coach.

Now onto the argument, “the spread option won’t work in the SEC”. Yes it will, but we MUST give it time. As I just explained above it takes time to learn. Many say that even if we have a full grasp of the offense the SEC is just too fast for it to work. Not true. UF has had and always will have speed. Speed cancels out speed. But anyway, it doesn’t matter how fast you are if you don’t know where the ball will go. I still point what Meyer did at Bowling Green and Utah. Yes that was against MAC and Mountain West. But that is the point. Speed cancels out speed. Meyer’s teams beat, consistently, teams with talent levels and speed no better, no worse than their own. And he will do it again. Think back when SOS showed up in Gainesville. The SEC was a power running, smash-mouth, old school, slobber-knocker conference. He changed it. Why? Because his offense worked. Am I saying that Meyer will dictate that kind of change? Not necessarily, but it is possible. But either way, we MUST give it time.

All in all, record wise, I think we’re right were I expected. We loss on the road to an Alabama team who is out for SEC blood and to an LSU team who wanted their stadium back. We beat 4 teams we were supposed to and knocked off a huge rival at home. But where are we headed? Short term? I think we have at least 1 more loss in us and possibly 2. Does that disappoint me? Of course. But long term we’re headed in the right direction. The future’s bright but we must give IT time. Technique wise I think, and bet Meyer would agree, that we’re behind schedule. But there’s no reason to panic yet. With the bye week we should be able to make noticeable improvements. But it’s up to the players.

Gators, relax, give IT time. Rome wasn't built in a day.