[ad_1]
GAINESVILLE – If misery loves company, then at least Gators and Seminoles meet.
The schadenfreude of Sunshine State may have been the only positive Monday as Florida and Florida State started to leave the duds that had both fan bases checking the return policies for their freshman coaches.
Here's another dose of reality: the Gators are trying to bounce back from their first loss to Kentucky in 31 years and the FSU is recovering from an almost imminent loss to Samford: things may not be improving anytime soon.
The problems that afflicted the two schools on Saturday were not crises or quick fixes. They recall why the two main jobs were open in the first place.
Start with the Gators, which look like a program that is recovering from its second season of four wins in five years.
The surprise should not have been that the UF series of victories over Kentucky is coming to an end. The surprise should have been that it did not end sooner, because the Wildcats – as hard as it may seem – could be the best program right now.
Since the beginning of 2016, UF is 14-12 years old (9-8 at the SEC). Kentucky is 16-12 (also 9-8 in the league).
The Wildcats recently spent $ 126 million to renovate Kroger Field and another $ 45 million to build the kind of state-of-the-art football complex (which is why UF visited the facility in the off-season). ). Kentucky beat UF 454-360 on Saturday and, more significantly, controlled the line of scrimmage – a key sign of the long-term health of a program.
Coach Dan Mullen said his first year would be to reconcile the dual goal of winning immediately with rebuilding the program for the future. It is obvious now what should be the highest priority.
"I'll be honest with you – what if we hit a Hail Mary in the last room?" Mullen said after the match, which ended on a lost fumble. Kentucky came back for a touchdown. "In addition to celebrating in the field, we still have the same problems and problems."
Specifically, he was referring to a lack of physics along the lines. The problem could improve a bit if defensive lineman Cece Jefferson came back from an academic suspension this week, but Mullen said the only way to fix it is to train harder. It takes more than a spring and autumn camp.
"It's a learning process," Mullen said.
The Seminoles discover that they must also learn.
The hopes were higher for the first season of Willie Taggart because of the six classes of recruitment that Jimbo Fisher had bequeathed to him. But Fisher also left a program to Taggart who finished 7-6 and had to reschedule Louisiana-Monroe to get to a cup game.
Some of the FSU's problems are staff related. An offensive line that has struggled for years is ranked No. 122 nationally in lost loss litigation.
Some of the problems are schematic, beyond the questions on the Taggart game and the game planning that followed from the USF and Oregon. It takes time to change the tempo from one of the country's slowest to one of the fastest.
"It's not where we need it," Taggart said Monday. "I think we can all see offensively that we are not where we need to be."
And some of the problems are cultural.
The team certainly broke out last autumn. The Seminoles were undisciplined in the Fisher era, so Taggart of course stated that his techniques and fundamentals were not disciplined enough.
"Our guys (must) understand when we do not play our expectations, so negative things will be said about us," Taggart said. "But it's up to us to change that."
Maybe the change has begun. But last week was a reminder – for the Seminoles and their UF rivals – that it might not appear soon.
Contact Matt Baker at [email protected] Follow @MBakerTBTimes.
[ad_2]
Source link
