That's ridiculous, CBN currently sits with a top 3 recruiting class even after a 6-7 1st season. Anyone with logical thinking can see he is changing what was a sinking ship with regards to talent on our team. With talent comes wins but that doesn't happen over night. If we had UGAs schedule we would probably go 11-1 but we don't.
I think @bobbybaker86 said this before, if we beat Utah we could very possibly head into the UGA game undefeated. I'm not sold on Joe Milton as the savior for Tenn and UK is not a guaranteed loss for us either. We smashed USCe last year holding them to 6 points even with a putrid defense, so I believe Utah will set the tone for our 1st half of the season.
It’s huge if we win and not so bad if we at least look like a competent team. We won’t be close to favored and if we can beat a quality right out the gate, it could be a fun season.
I was wrong about a sizable portion of the UF fanbase. You know who you are. All of the Cassandras who sounded alarms on our recruiting when we were putting up consecutive New Years Six Bowl appearances seemed like negative insanity to me. The same people are now putting up a positive outlook when we come off a season as Commodore Bait and have a top 3 recruiting class in the oven. It is a refreshing change, I won't label you all sunshine pumpers ... yet.
Don't kid yourself, we are WAYYYY more talented on defense then last year which was the catalyst for our down year last year. And we lost several games by only one score so it's very possible if we beat Utah AGAIN, we could enter Jacksonville vs the Dawgs undefeated.
The thing is, Napier doesn’t have the ego and self awareness of a Muschamp. If it doesn’t work, I feel good that he will make the necessary changes. Too early to tell yet tho.
You’re basing your judgement of his play calling on the bowl game last year?? The same bowl game where we started a QB with zero game experience and who didn’t even practice for half the season? The bowl game where numerous starters chose to sit out? That bowl game?
The key to this year will be the defense. Offensively, we'll be fine maybe better but if the defense vastly improves from last year, watch out. I'm also going to take a look at the intangibles - clock management, special teams play, play calling, discipline on and off the field, injuries.
Maybe...a lot is riding on the almost completely rebuilt OL. I believe our offense will only be as effective as that unit. They didn't show much in the Spring game to give us a ton of hope.
Vegas has the O/U at 5.5 Here's the fpi (% chance to win): Utah.............29.7 McNeese........99.0 TN................51.7 Charlotte.......96.3 UK................48.4 Vandy............90.4 SC................58.9 GA................13.8 Ark...............66.2 LSU..............18.5 Mizzou..........58.5 FSU..............50.3 The over looks pretty good and looking strictly at fpi, we could get eight wins. That means, though, that we may need to beat, TN, Ark, and FSU two of which are basically toss ups. UK could be considered a toss up as well. First, we need to avoid hiccups against SC/Vandy/Mizzou. Then we get to the toss-ups against TN/UK/FSU. Those six games will go a long way to determining the relative success of the Gators in '23. Winning one against Utah or LSU could be huge.
Tennessee is a key home game and will set the tone for the remaining SEC slate to come. If we lose yet again to Kentucky on the road we may not make even 6 wins for the season. South Carolina has the #1 rated Special Teams in the nation and a seasoned SEC QB as well. Between Milton, Leary and Rattler I hope we can keep up with the scoring but that's a tough ask.
I think we really run it down their throats this year with a surprisingly good intermediate passing game powered by Playaction. People will have to respect our running backs and that is what will be our catalyst to a successful season.
Big difference in difficulty of schedule between CFN and Phil Steele for some teams we play. Except that both agree Georgia has the easiest schedule in the entire SEC. Ironic isn't it? Difficulty....CFN.....Steele Utah..........#7.....#42 Ga............#61....#56 Tenn.........#56....#18 Kent.........#52....#19 S Car........#28.....#2 Arky.........#64.....#38 Gators.......#7......#1 https://collegefootballnews.com/rankings/college-football-schedule-rankings-easiest-to-hardest-1-133
Agreed, that and the O'Line needs a new champion. It felt like a disproportionate number of our runs last year came behind Torrence. We need someone to step up and provide a consistent "punch". Looking forward to seeing who it will be.
