We are at least 2 top 5 recruiting classes away from competing for an sec championship. That’s reality.
They are. We are closer to Vandy than we are to Georgia. Just look at our SEC record the last two years. We are bad as well. The disconnect comes from the talent composite on 247. I would look at who’s actually playing and their ratings if you want to get technical.
I know we have a certain defensive back who plays 10 yards off the receiver every dang play. It gets hard to watch.
But we are discussing expectations. I expected us to be solid. Definitely not competing for titles, but can beat the Vandy/USFs of the world with relative ease. If we went 40% win rate vs teams within 30 spots in terms of talent I would have been fine. I expect us to improve over the year. I expect coaching decisions to be excellent. This includes scheme, clock management, etc. I expect recruiting to be very good. In terms of expectations we are failing my set of reasonable expectations. Year 2-3 is when I expect title competition. That’s how long it takes good coaches to infuse talent + instill the culture and discipline. But having good clock management should exist on day 1
I am sure the people in Bston Rouge did not have that attitude. You can make excuses all you want. The difference between what happened in Baton Rouge and Gainesville is that LSU hired a proven commodity. It is not a coincidence that they have been relevant the last 15 years. And while we could argue that Mullen was a proven commodity, he had not won on the big stage other than as a coordinator. I think Napier can emerge as a top-shelf coach but some of the mistakes made this year can be attributed to being in an atmosphere with whichhe is CLEARLY not accustomed.
LSU won it all 3 years ago with Ed Orgeron. OSU played for it all with Ryan Day. Clemson has 2 natties with Dabo. Lincoln Riley consistently competed at OU. Smart is killing it at UGA. None of them were proven commodities until they were given the chance.
All of your points are true. LSU is a couple of years removed from a Natty and has recruited better than us for years. I'm not surprised with Kelly's success even though I thought he might not be a culture fit. Our administration has resisted spending on Athletics for years setting us way behind the top schools in our conference. Our luster is gone. Foley resisted hiring names and his successor seems to have the same philosophy. We have been in a bad place for awhile. We can only hope that Napier can turn it around. I think he can get us back to respectability, but so much more than that is expected here. I have my doubts that can be done. Perhaps Sasse can eventually change things over the long haul and give a new AD the green light to shoot for the stars again. Frankly, I'm sick of this administration's obsession with becoming the Yale of the Southeast and robbing our athletic programs of success.
Great coaches not only simulate team plays in crucial situations but also coaching decisions that need to be made in the those similar or equally pivotal moments. This has to be made a priority in year two. When you look at Golden, he did not make necessary adjustments against FAU but he did against FSU. He grew up quickly. A bad loss in football has a greater impact than one in basketball. And individual star players in basketball show up game in and game out. There have been genes where we won where Richardson did not have to shine. In the pros, AR will have to adopt a philosophy that if “I don’t show up” we lose! I don’t see him.playing in a bowl fame with us this year. It makes no sense. So his last chance to show scouts that he is willing to impact a game for his team is next week on Friday on the road.
Looking for improvement by week 11 isn't an unfair expectation. Special teams were putrid to start the season and still are. Discipline looked to be improved, but wasn't yesterday. I don't think we as fans expected SEC or National championships, but we certainly should've looked far better yesterday, especially after what we saw against Carolina last Saturday.
I think we can be better quicker than 2 years. Get a good recruiting class for 2 years yes, but don't forget the portal impact of 1 great player. Look at Hooker at UT. 2 years ago we had a guy on D in Jonathon Greenard that was a one man wrecking crew. It can happen. GO GATORS!!!!
The only reason "especially after what we saw against Carolina" applies is because there was, in fact, improvement. They looked dominant in that game, and SC turned around and demolished Tennessee. There was clear improvement from week 2 to last week. Yesterday was a sloppy, inconsistent 11AM game by a group of players who've mostly been sloppy and inconsistent for the majority of their careers.
I guess I should've said, "consistent improvement", because yesterday was a major backslide to about what we looked like in the second week against USF, and there certainly hasn't been any improvement in special teams, no matter what way you look at it.
