Well, one down and so far so good! The TAMU & FSU game were the two that I thought would be the toughest, so winning this one was really nice. With Saturday's win, I am pretty darn certain that we'll be going to a bowl game this year. The only two things that warrant any criticism are the first half D, and the fact that we had several chances to put them away in the 2nd half, but didn't really do it until the very end. Though, given everything we've seen this season, I'll take yesterday's performance every time from here on out. I keep hearing that BN and others are saying that "we've turned a corner". I sure hope we have, but I'll defer to watching at least another game or two before I'll wholeheartedly believe it. Something did seem a little bit different on Saturday. I mean, we haven't ever given up or stopped playing hard at any point during the season, but Saturday the team just seemed a little more "hungry". Maybe it's just me... anyone else feel this way? Either way, hopefully we keep it up! 8-4 is sooooo much better than 6-6! Go Gators!
Honestly, if we win out, season will retroactively look a lot better than it did following Georgia. Not a good season by Florida standards by any stretch, but something to hang your hat on and signs of promise.
Not arguing with you just giving my 2 cents. I am not sure this team can win out. I could see 1-2 ..or barn burners WITH 3-0. I may be the only one thinking this way. I am concerned about clock management at the end of the 1st half. Play calling in the red zone worries me. That being said even with the identical miscues if they happen at Vandy, that's still going to be a win. CBN all the way here
If we win seven games it'll be right where many of us thought we'd be at seasons end. Hopefully we'll beat half-ass-u and have eight wins.GO GATORS!
I think we can still improve, and doing that every week would be quite an accomplishment and probably mean we win out and the bowl game. We are making progress on things Napier harps on: Playing physical. Complimentary football. Run the ball. Make the other team earn everything. Take care of the ball. Execute well. Red zone efficiency.
The reality is our schedule has been brutal -- it turns out so far: Tenn, LSU and the dawgs are pretty damn good teams. the Kentucky loss is the one that shouldn't have happened and is inexcusable. I've questioned this staff for sure, but at the end of the day, besides Kentucky, we have lost to the better teams However, the frustrating piece is the lack of playing for 4 quarters in each game. Still expect us and should beat the cocks, vandy, and FSU - with excellent momentum heading into bowl season and next year
I’d take that “typical Tennessee schedule” right now in a heartbeat. “Wes Chandler was Percy Harvin before Percy Harvin was born.”
Toughest game left is half ass u on the road. Hard to say but two things travel, defense and a run game. We know our defense has issues so hoping we can run it for close to 400 yards against them. They still may win but it will be close like 35-32 or something.
I think we run the table and win a decent bowl game. Toughest game is always the next game which could indeed be tricky if we aren’t ready. At this juncture, I will allow myself to look down the road just long enough to say we have played a much more difficult schedule than Free Shoes U and that will mean something when the time comes. (They are very fortunate to have played LSU when they did AND with a cupcake under their belt).
Yes, played hard. Staff could help the offense by opening up a playbook. Maybe next year. fsu's staff seems to call some great, diverse plays. Hope we are able to deal with it.
If our defense can continue to show improvement (as seen in 2nd half of A&M game), then I like our chances to win out from here.
I'm so glad that this post aged well for at least one week! Seriously, what a difference a couple of weeks and a couple of wins make! The Vandy game *should* be a win... hopefully we don't play down to them like we seem to do almost every year for the past 30 years... Then it's on to the FSU game. Assuming we beat Vandy, the FSU game is going to be HUGE! Not on a national level, but definitely a statement game for both teams. Winner of the UF/FSU game (assuming both win next week) should be ranked in the top 15/20 and will get a lot of momentum going into the bowl game and next season. Side note: I busted out an old Gator shirt for the A&M game. It was one that I wore about 12 years ago, give or take. Wore it again for the USCe game. Needless to say, I'll be wearing it for the rest of the season. Go Gators!!!
This last SEC game vs Vandy has some important consequences outside of simply getting to 7-4 pre fsu. It gets us to 4-4 in SEC. Not great, behind uga and ut, but can get us above all the media loving UK (will lose this coming weekend to Uga finishing 3-5 and usc who will lose to UT to finish 3-5). Last year we were a dismal 2-6 which is vandy like. But 4-4 is an improvement. If we beat fsu, that will move us to 8-4 on the season, with wins over ranked teams Utah (#10 Utah and #x fsu) and losses to uga, lsu, ut (by 5). Also, vs Tam and Usce, we have the combined 3rd down defense at 7 of 23 (30%), yes their offenses are not great but neither are usf, mizzou, and East Washboard (went 8 of 18).