The Lull Before The Storm

Players will report to the James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center at UF on July 30 and begin fall training camp the next day, July 31, All Gators has learned. Florida will hold its intrasquad scrimmages on Aug. 10 and Aug. 18, and the final day of camp will be Aug. 22 before fall semester classes commence on Aug. 23.

From SI

 

It's not out of the realm of the imagination that UF, Mertz and Co. (And the Defense) is improved from last years squad. I like the over given Vegas 5.5 myself.

 

I'm gonna just go out on a limb and say we win 8 games this year with a slight chance at 9 with a couple lucky bounces.

Of course with this schedule I could be wayyy off but I've just got a good feeling.... not championship feeling but a good one none the less

 

That’s our ceiling to me but it could be a struggle to get to 7.

 

IMO fans/media vastly overrate bowl game performance.
We sucked in the bowl and many in the media use that to forecast 3-5 wins for us.
To make matters worse- we ended poorly.

But- there's some hope.
As i re-watch the season I see that we were set back by some discipline issues and some bad breaks.
A roughing the passer penalty vs LSU negated an interception that could have led to a score and a win. (It was a questionable call- easily avoidable.)
Our bad luck vs Vandy was almost biblical- every single bounce went wrong. (Though we still should have overcome it.)
Then there were other just stupid things- jumping offside so many times! Holding, etc.
Also- our running game could be amazing. Many TD drives were 80-90% running.

If our D is improved, if we are more disciplined, and our running game gets better, we could win 8-9.
But yes- for me I'll be happy with 7. We have a really tough schedule and a big ? at QB.

 

Hi Wanne, hope all is well in Pcola.
I will admit to trepidation about the coming year. UF could go anywhere from 3-9 to 9-3.

I just hope for a winning regular season and a shot at a bowl.

I would like to see UF actually show up and play in a bowl this year. As in actually compete.

 

Totally agree, a bi product of the new and not improved NCAA, NIL and Transfer Portal.

It's NFL light, I totally understand.
Wins, losses, Players and Coaches, all paid for by the highest bidders. Ain't it wonderful!

Don't forget to send your check to your favorite teams slush fund.

Regarding the Swamp UF should just get ahead of the curve and make the entire stadium an assortment of sky boxes for the well off and corporate types.

Who the hell needs students or the working class to attend anyway? Low life scum just make it uncomfortable for the suit set anyway.

 

I use a simple, yet non-scientific method to consider a team's prospects for the coming year based totally on the prior year. I ignore whose returning, the schedule, and such (injuries etc. can upset that).

I use One TD score as in 7 points. I ignore bowls.

If a team goes say 5-7 but lost 3 games by 7 or less points, then the ceiling for the prior year was 8-4 and if they won 2 by 7 or less, then the floor was 3-9. That is a 5 game spread.

My opinion then is they are an average team, at best, since 8-4 is the ceiling. They could become horrid since 3 wins is also possible.

In 2022, UF "could" have gone 3-9 or 9-3. Being a homer fan, I lean to 8 or 9 wins. If we had gone 8-4 or 9-3 last year what would they say about us for this year?

 

I feel like our team is going to be somewhat deeper and more talented this year. I also think the attitude will be better.
What concerns me is we have a very strong schedule and at least 9 of our games are going to be wars. We are going to have to be ready, mentally and physically every week.
I can see things breaking our way and winning as many as 10 games this season but it could also be a 500 team if we don’t keep it together.
Also, CBN is showing he can recruit but a good season is important to keep the commitments coming and holding on to those we have.

 

I think we do.much better this year. If we could tackle last year we beat FSU , more discipline and less penalties and we beat LSU last year. I believe we'll be better at both this year and we should be competitive in those games.

I don't think we lose to Vandy and UK this year, I like our chances against tenn, don't have faith in Milton at QB for them. Arky has the makings of a trap game but I still like us to show up ready for that game. Don't really like our chances against UGA as they are probably the only team who is more talented than us but turnovers can change a game and a inexperienced Carson Beck could possibly give the game away , but otherwise not liking our chances. The Utah game can go either way, we already showed we can beat them while they're healthy even with a shitty defense we had but playing in Utah the 1st game of the year is the X factor.

We really do match up well against the majority of the teams on our schedule. The back end of our schedule is tough but if we can avoid letdown games like UK and Vandy from last year we have a chance to have a pretty good year all things considered.

 

These points are spot on. And the point about discipline was true last year, and the year before, and the year before...

Becoming more disciplined was a big talking point for CBN before last year. And, UF was better in the off-the-field discipline. But on the field, it was just more of the same.

It's an anaecdote, but: he can't get Dez to lose weight; yet Dez still plays. Trey Dean blew assignment after assignment, but still played. Yeah he was benched for one game. And when he came back, nothing changed. But, he continued to play

I would love to see the on-field discipline improve. But, I think it won't. And poor discipline is usually the cause of those "bad breaks" that lose otherwise winnable games.

Prediction: 5-7

 

This is a 6-6 football team. Is what it is. Things I would like to see are an upset at the end of the year, hold onto the recruiting class, and get a good transfer portal QB for 1 year before Lagway takes the reins

 

Put down the Jack and take a hit on the bong. Your outlook should improve

 

Trey Dean played because we didn’t have anybody better or else they would have been playing. Why else do you think they played him?

 

I think our discipline will improve but, of course, we will have to wait and see. Old habits die hard and the roster last year was heavy with carryover from the Mullen teams.
CBN was not presented with a lot of viable options when drawing a depth chart last season: That also will improve this year.
We will be better this year but our schedule demands it and gauging the progress of Napiers teams from 1st year to 2nd should allow for that factor. Hell, if we had FSU’s schedule I’d be expecting at least 10 wins: But we don’t.

 

Do you think that the recruiting class can be held together with a 6-6 season?

 

I totally agree. I have no idea how any reasonable person can look at the bottom two thirds of our schedule and not see the real possibility of six or seven wins - unless you count the geniuses who already "KNOW" that BN is a chump and that UF is doomed - DOOMED! Of course, those are the same guys who will be making the same dire predictions for whomever comes after BN, should the Cassandras accidentally get one right for once - which I strongly doubt.