Lol! I love the hyperbolic takes about how hyperbolic the OP is! Irony much? Let's not dare torque the screws on our muti-millionaire coach going into his 4th season, who has delivered a remarkable cache of mediocrity. We wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.... Mediocrity is perfectly acceptable, as long as he delivers good excusses. That's the key. Good excuses. Can we get a nice trophy for best excuses to boast in the trophy case along with Spurrier's and Meyer's nattys and SEC trophies, since everyone here seems to have already cleared space for the excuses, and anyone daring to expect a championship, is being hyperbolic and over the top?
Higher? No, but that should not be necessary given your earlier post. How about simply equal to the competition.. Can't really answer that one tho as I'm not close enough to judge and I doubt few others here are either. In year 4 I'm simply weary of all the excuses. In the words of the immortal Al Davis, "Just win, baby".
Going by just recruiting results over the 4 years of Napier's tenure we should be in the lower half of the top half of SEC talent. I guess we will see if that is enough to be competitive with the cream at the top or not. We have been consistently out-recruited by LSU in the same time period and finally beat them this past year, so perhaps things are looking up.
Coaching matters. Many times SOS had inferior players and yet won numerous SEC titles along with a natty. Zook, Mchamp both recruited well but lacked coaching IQ. In his third year, TG turned the program around and won a natty mind you with the toughest schedule. Keep in mind he did this without a 5 star player. His adjustments throughout the game was a huge factor in UF's success. I still have my doubts with BN. IMO UF's turn around last year in football had a lot more to do with the D jelling than O play calling. This year is key as to where UF is heading in football. But bottom line coaching is foundational for winning.
Had a lot to do with SOS being innovative on offense and having better talent on D. We don’t have an innovative offense now. In fact it’s exactly the opposite. It’s a system that has been used for nearly 40 years. We will have to out talent people playing the way we do.
Teams finish earily similar to their recruiting rankings. There are outliers and qbs that disrupt that a bit but recruiting doesnt lie." Its a talent acquisition business." If you recruit consistently in the top 5 and cant make the playoffs, youve got a problem. If you recruit around 10th and beat the top 5 recruiting teams consistently, youre coach is a magician.
As far as I am concerned, the only real innovation in offense these days is a transcendent QB. That to me would be a Lamar Jackson kind of talent. Otherwise, you collect talent, put them in their proper place after you develop them, and then attempt to minimize mistakes. Spurrier's innovation was about passing when conventional wisdom was to power run the ball. Defenses have caught up with it, like it always does.
T…..thank you for stating what gets missed by so many. Stevie showed a run oriented league how a passing game works. It took them a while to catch up. FSU under Bobby understood it and that is why they had a winning record against us. One minute point of English to all who post, along with my undying gratitude, is that 99.9% of all media, tv, print etc. misuses less and fewer. Thanks in advance. Our fan base here and everywhere has obsessed over CBN and our lack of football success. Bama is beginning to experience their withdrawal from their Saban brilliance and this season will give them a bigger jolt. I thank all who are posting on this thread mainly because some actual football discussion is involved, where actual complete sentences and logic ( of any measure) is offered. Kudos. Now, to the battlefield of football: Even the fair minded amongst us cannot steer the aircraft carrier of public opinion away from the obvious: we are exhausted with the mantra WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR. Lagway must remain invulnerable AND perform at the stratospheric levels our SEC buddies demand.. Talking is over. Nine wins will NOT get most to put out their torches. We are way beyond that, fair or not. TEN is the new must reach level, imho. A very tall order. Very. Regarding talent acquisition, an occasional five star high school player is ok. There are only 33 and in this bidding war mentality they are not the best value. If some fall our way at a decent price, ok. But we see that disregard for contracts is epidemic. Lawyers are epidemic. The better value is a transfer from another university where some actual game experience/ ability/ toughness/ good citizenship can be better evaluated. KEEP up the good work here. Stevo
