Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things Florida football needs to improve on

It wasn’t all bad.

It just wasn’t as good as Gator fans were hoping for.

The loss to Vanderbilt brought the gag reflex into play. The win over South Florida had fans screaming for a new quarterback.

Most importantly, losses to Florida’s three big rivals for the first time ever did not sit well with a group of fans who live for those rivalry games.

Florida awaits its bowl game with a 6-6 record, under .500 again in the SEC and a handful of players already either leaving or being told to leave.

Billy Napier’s first Florida team did a lot of good things such as finish eighth in the country in turnover margin – something that was a major issue heading into this season – 15th in the running game out of 131 teams and fourth-ranked net punting numbers in the nation.

But we expected more.

And we certainly expect more going forward.

Nobody is expecting the College Football Playoffs in Napier’s second year. The schedule is just as difficult in 2023 as it was in 2022. But there are a lot of things that have to get better.

Here are 12 of them in today’s Dooley’s Dozen.

Oh, that transfer portal

AP Photo/Gary McCullough

Napier didn’t hit it hard when he came to town, although he did get three of his nest offensive players from the portal. He wanted to give the players who were here an opportunity and wanted to see what he had over the course of a season.

Now he knows and the portal is going to have to become a major factor when it comes to upgrading the roster. USC did it last year with 30 players coming in including the probable Heisman winner. LSU had 16, Ole Miss 17. Players can officially enter Monday, but the coaches already know many of the studs who are available.

The not-so-special teams

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun

I think it is important to note that a roster that is short on talent is almost always going to have a special teams problem. So, I will give this staff a pass in some areas.

But the ball doesn’t lie. So far in FBS college football this season, there have been 199 kicks blocked. If Florida had one, there would have been an even 200. This illustrates two points: One, it’s apparently legal to block field goals and punts, and two, Florida was not involved in any of them.

UF was also 81st in punt return defense and 84th in kickoff return defense.  It was a real disappointment.

He had him, then he lost him

Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun

Missed tackles are understandable. After all, the guy running the ball is on scholarship, too. But to miss as many tackles as this team missed was simply not acceptable.

For example, the play last week when Trey Benson broke four point-blank tackles on a 45-yards touchdown run. Or the 50-yard run to start the second half by LSU’s Josh Williams where Gators were bouncing off him like they were Pee-Wee players.

It has to be addressed and, more importantly, corrected. [autotag]Ventrell Miller[/autotag] won’t be around to clean things up next year.

Somebody figure out halftime

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun

Holy crap, this team was awful coming out for the third quarter. You are supposed to adjust in a positive way in the locker room at halftime. Instead, Florida was outscored 90-61 and 10 of those Florida points came against Eastern Washington.

The Gators were shut out on five third quarters and lost three of those games and could have lost the two they won. Florida was a good fourth-quarter team (102-64) but some of that was because they were so often behind in the fourth quarter.

Analytics are fine, but...

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun

We have seen it all over the college game where coaches are going by what a card says rather than the feel of the game. Napier fell victim to it a couple of times, which also goes to the game management part of the equation.

Gator fans were not happy with the play-calling at the ends of a lot of first halves, even booing their first-year coach. His use of time-outs was questionable, and he seemed to go away from the theory of being aggressive at the end of one half when you know you are getting the kickoff to start the next one.

The whole penalty thing

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Oh, we loved it when the Gators were among the national leaders in fewest penalties, but in the last two games, it got ugly again. Florida committed 17 penalties in those two losses and all of them felt like they had an impact on the game.

Maybe this team and its depleted roster just plum wore out. Maybe they were frustrated. Whatever the reason, Napier promised that would not be a problem so we’re holding him to it.

Win three in a row for gosh sake

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

As the quarterback play went, so went this team and that meant the Gators could never string three wins in a row. Since Charley Pell’s 0-10-1 season, that has only happened twice – last season and [autotag]Will Muschamp[/autotag]’s final season.

We know the schedule was hard (Florida played six teams currently ranked in the CFP top 20), but the erratic way this team played was reflected in its record each month.

The Gators were 2-2, then 2-2 and finally 2-2. Momentum was swaying like the stands at the end of the third quarter. How about a winning streak guys?

Obviously, the quarterback play has got to improve

Tim Warner/Getty Images

[autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] is probably gone and – to be honest – I’d bet Florida’s starting quarterback for the 2023 opener is not on campus right now. Napier and his staff need to find a guy in the transfer portal who can step right in and kind of have the success we have seen around the country.

Florida was 117th in completion percentage this season and – while there were explosive plays – the defense was put at a disadvantage (not that they needed it) with so many misses on third downs.

The other third down

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

OK, you are probably tired of me writing about Florida’s pathetic third-down defense (127th in the country), but what was really irritating was the number of times the opponent was able to convert third-and-long.

One thing to illustrate it – if UF’s bowl opponent manages two first downs against the Gators, it will tie the most allowed in one season in program history. That’s on everybody – players, coaches, analysts. The best way to straighten it out is to get better players. But the coaches are not off the hook for this historically bad performance.

Knock a pass down once in a while

Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun

I still believe Florida has too much secondary talent – and an acclaimed DB coach – to be ranked 89th in pass defense.

I will also say this – it would help if you were not ranked 95th in the nation in sacks.

That combination did not work for the Gators. UF is going to be headed down the same road in 2023 if we don’t see a more aggressive, more physical approach. But in the end, guys have to do what they are coached to do and that didn’t happen enough this season.

Don’t waste another offensive line

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

This one was really good, rarely allowing sacks and opening holes for two tailbacks to go over 700 yards. But when you go 6-6, it does feel like UF wasted the best line they have had since 2009.

We don’t know for sure who is coming back, but we do know the line won’t be a weakness next season and could be as good as this season.

Recruit and identify game-changers

AP Photo/John Raoux

You know you already have some. Get more. And then put them in a position to succeed. The difference in points scored per game this season was 31.75 to 28.5, which tells you that Florida played a lot of close games. Every game was winnable in the fourth quarter, but Florida did not have enough game-changers on either side of the ball to get above .500.

So, recruit, identify, coach ‘em up, make better decisions and stay disciplined. That’s all. Seriously, Florida was not that far from being a 9-3 team. That should be the minimum expectation for next season.

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