Andy Staples article on “why Florida has fallen behind”

I’m not going to pretend I have full confidence in BN, but why is his year 1 recruiting class being compared to Saban? Not a fair comparison.

 

The only times programs in any sport have done what Bama and now Georgia are doing they were buying players or stacking decks pre scholarship limit days. UCLA basketball, Bama Bryant days, old school Oklahoma etc did it by having an overwhelming talent advantage. Admittedly I'm bitter given how our fall coincided with this even more top heavy landscape but it's just not appealing to me to know within a degree of certainty how each season will play out these days.
Sports media ignoring this phenomenon while praising said programs drives me nuts.

My best friend still gives me grief for saying our games in 95 and 96 started getting boring because we were blowing everyone out each week lol.

 

It’s hard to stay on top forever.

We’re on our fourth coach since our last national championship.

 

We're all a little bitter, but for me that lessens every day. To put it in perspective, we were good when it was worth being good, in arguably the best era of college football. We could win 10 more titles in this paradigm and it wouldn't bring me as much joy as 2006. It is what it is. We had her when she was a 25yo beauty. UGa and Bama get the hard-ridden hag with a lot of bad plastic surgery. Honestly, they can have today's college football.

 

Please edit this into OP

https://archive.ph/H05yO

 

Hello RH - this is where I digress with Gator Nation.

"It's hard to stay on top forever"

I agree. What I don't agree with are UF fans that seem to be brain dead about UFs football history.

UF went 85 years without winning an SEC title. Hardly a dynastic football history.

UF had a very good run from 1990 - 2009.
20 years. Ain't done Jack since 09.

We have a false sense of pedigree.

I love UF but fans should have a sense of reality about our Football program and history.

 

The prescription for success makes me want to vomit. Basically bring in Alec Baldwin and the brass balls.

 

"Florida has the arrogance of Notre Dame and the history of Wake Forest. "
Journalist Dan Jenkins

 

But they got busted for McDonald’s bags and now they are allowed to recruit with money like everyone else. They’re doing better all the sudden.

 

3 national championships tell Dan Jenkins to stick that ignorant statement up his ass

 

You might be right, esp about Texas. But A&M has both the means and the passion to outspend EVERYBODY else. That was evidenced by Jimbo's top class the first year cheating (NIL) was allowed. They will not be outbid and unashamedly will recklessly pour resources into the football program. It does happen to be a top 25 public university, but I think they are a "sports first" type of school. JMHO, but I do currently have 4 of my children in school there.

 

So basically it sounds like you guys are content with Florida not being competitive or at least trying to go all in?

This is insulting. So because of our history prior then we shouldn't even try to keep the success of 1990-2009? If this is the mentality of our boosters and UAA no wonder we've fallen off a cliff.

 

meanwhile at UCF...

 

Why should we be having the same problems as FSU and Miami? The amount of money we generate from the SEC TV contracts alone puts us so far ahead of them. Just seems like excuses to avoid laying blame at the feet of UF.

 

Agree with this but when Saban went to bama they hadn't won a title since 92. They had a good year here and there but were passed up by many other programs at that time. Same with Georgia. Kids they were recruiting never saw either of those programs sniff a title game and yet they were stacking classes immediately. I know we weren't spotless but imo they sold out completely knowing the NCAA wasn't going to do anything anymore

 

I don’t even know how to tackle this but what happened in 1950 has nothing to do with our current outlook. I would even say more recent history of 1990-2008 would have more weight to where we could and should be. Unfortunately college football has changed a ton in the past 10 years and we haven’t kept up.

No prospect coming to play for UF cares or even knows about the past 50 years of FL football. I think that really just matters to some fans who want to throw it around to say things aren’t so bad now since at one time we were 0-11.

 

Come on. What a crock. How many decades old is this statement?

 

Miami won 5 titles in a couple decades. Fsu (vomit) was a top 5 program for over a decade straight. Michigan and Princeton were powerhouses in leather helmet days.

Why should UF be held to pre air-conditioning days forever? The landscape changed along with population dispersion throughout history. People seem to weight the several decades that have little if anything relevant to today's world more than recent decades of success in a modern world. Florida fans may feel too entitled but I don't agree with this particular method of measure.

 

I think I am more shocked a teenager would use the word "lackadaisical" in this day and age. Sort of makes me suspect of the quote in general.

Recruiting rankings now for 2024 is not a great metric. Just looked at 247 which had us at 15. Sounds awful except at this point Bama is 20th. Our avg ranking is only behind Bama and UGA at this point.