Talked to a player about the game

[LunchTimeBully]

Thanks for the info..but which way does Meyer lean, offense or defense?

Meyer is almost entirely offensive-minded. That is the reason they love him at UF. He knows how to score points (like Spurrier). He is one of the innovators of the spread offense from his days at Utah and Bowling Green. He puts heavy emphasis on Tight Ends, Speed, big physical Qb, and spreading the ball to everyone in every direction (option, read option, shovel pass, you name it). He lost his OC last year and this year his offense looks almost entirely the same. Charlie Strong pretty much does all the defense and 2 years ago UF's defense was terrible but their offense has been incredible since the day he arrived in Gainesville.

[Bull94]

Thanks for the info..but which way does Meyer lean, offense or defense?

Meyer is almost entirely offensive-minded. That is the reason they love him at UF. He knows how to score points (like Spurrier). He is one of the innovators of the spread offense from his days at Utah and Bowling Green. He puts heavy emphasis on Tight Ends, Speed, big physical Qb, and spreading the ball to everyone in every direction (option, read option, shovel pass, you name it). He lost his OC last year and this year his offense looks almost entirely the same. Charlie Strong pretty much does all the defense and 2 years ago UF's defense was terrible but their offense has been incredible since the day he arrived in Gainesville.

Their offense is no where near as good as it was last year.

They averaged over 45 points per game last year. This year they are averaging 33.9. They rank 26th in total offense this year.

Charlie strong had a young defense 2 years ago. mostly freshmen and sophomores. they returned their entire 2 deep this year from a team that ranked in the top 5 defenses in the country last year.

[Bull-by-Marriage]

That's so weird because I was actually going to start an entire thread on this very subject after the PITT game, but figured too many people would argue it, but it's SO TRUE!  It also explains our mediocre conf records even back in C-USA.  Remember how we were 4-0 the yr before joining C-USA?, after joining, middle of the pack..... just like now.

Uh, one little problem with that theory.  West Virginia should be beating the snot out of us every year if that was the case.

Two words...SPREAD OFFENSE. We beat WVU because we both run the same offense, and our athletes are better than their athletes. It makes perfect sense, and supports the better talent argument. We beat teams that we are extremely physically supperior to, no mater what offense they run. We beat WVU because we both run the pseudo spread. We lose to teams that run a real offense, even though we have better talent. WVU is a perfect example of why we lose because of coaching.

[LunchTimeBully]

Thanks for the info..but which way does Meyer lean, offense or defense?

Meyer is almost entirely offensive-minded. That is the reason they love him at UF. He knows how to score points (like Spurrier). He is one of the innovators of the spread offense from his days at Utah and Bowling Green. He puts heavy emphasis on Tight Ends, Speed, big physical Qb, and spreading the ball to everyone in every direction (option, read option, shovel pass, you name it). He lost his OC last year and this year his offense looks almost entirely the same. Charlie Strong pretty much does all the defense and 2 years ago UF's defense was terrible but their offense has been incredible since the day he arrived in Gainesville.

Their offense is no where near as good as it was last year.

They averaged over 45 points per game last year. This year they are averaging 33.9. They rank 26th in total offense this year.

Charlie strong had a young defense 2 years ago. mostly freshmen and sophomores. they returned their entire 2 deep this year from a team that ranked in the top 5 defenses in the country last year.

That's because they lost one of the best all around players in the country (Percy Harvin) and their Top Wide Receiver (Louis Murphy). Their offense is the same though with a few adjustments (no more wildcat offense).

[Cubanbull]

USF can't pay enough for some coaches that could be great football assistants here (and it's not because we can't afford them)... That's what people on the outside don't realize (the fans), but it's common knowledge on the coaching circuit. How is it Rich Rod has been able to scoop away a lot of USF coaches over the last couple of years (and they haven't left him)? Why did Wally really leave? It definitely wasn't about moving to Iowa. Just my two cents... Speculate away... Bulliever... go ahead and scream at me for my anti-HC talk. It's nice to have a nice boss!

While it may be true that leavitt is not the easiest guy to work for. I got news for you he is NOT the only one. I have heard from more than one source that BK at UC can also be tough to work with. Did you see him go off on his OC during one of his last games?. Many have also said that Old Woody hayes was quite a pill. The reality is that many HC have big egoes and cant be tough to work for, but thats not the only reason people leave. You couple LOW pay and a tough work situation and not in a glamour school that will get you attention to move up and that spells tough position to get good assistants. So #1 raise the pay to make it worth it for that person to put up with BS.

[usf97]

Here is a question I have....maybe to one of the former players. I don't disagree that we are seeing a trend and they all seem to point to CJL since he is the only one who has been here the whole time. But what exactly is CJL doing to make this team struggle? What I mean by that exactly is take DC Treasey for instance. Good DC at Cincy. Now he comes to USF and it doesn't seem like the same D we saw at Cincy. Our talent level appears to be the same or better than UC but it doesn't seem to translate on the field. What is CJL affect there? He doesn't make the play calls. Is it the preparation is different or maybe the type of player recruited?

[BigShoop]

How many coaches get fired because their 4 year starting QB goes down with a season-ending injury and is replaced by a RS Freshman? I realize there are a lot of questionable decisions made by this coaching staff, but the truth is Grothe going down is still a huge deal. I am trying to reserve judgment of this coaching staff until BJ matures a bit. I understand where everyone is coming from, but we're also 6-3, which is not great, but I think it could be much worse.

So what about the last 2 seasons? Both with an experienced, healthy Grothe...

[BigShoop]

A team takes on the attitude of it's head coach. If our head coach cannot control his emotions on the sideline, it's only natural that the players on the field will not be able to control their emotions either.

I've been watching USF football since about the halfway point of 2001, and as long as I've been around, the offense has been a "momentum" offense. If there was a momentum changing play on defense/special teams, the offense would answer the call and make a couple big plays --> score.

This team has never been able to create it's own momentum by consistently putting together a time consuming drive. This team has never been able to put together a 4 minute drive to run the clock out in the 4th quarter. These are things that MUST change in order for us to "turn the corner" as an offense, and as a program. Until then, it'll be 9-3 or 8-4 every year.

[LunchTimeBully]

Here is a question I have....maybe to one of the former players. I don't disagree that we are seeing a trend and they all seem to point to CJL since he is the only one who has been here the whole time. But what exactly is CJL doing to make this team struggle? What I mean by that exactly is take DC Treasey for instance. Good DC at Cincy. Now he comes to USF and it doesn't seem like the same D we saw at Cincy. Our talent level appears to be the same or better than UC but it doesn't seem to translate on the field. What is CJL affect there? He doesn't make the play calls. Is it the preparation is different or maybe the type of player recruited?

The defense is not the problem and probably never will be a problem. They played well considering they were on the field the WHOLE game. If we can get a decent offense we can be a good team.