Auburn has set the mold for that so nothing would surprise me. I'd go a bit further and state the UAA needs to share as much responsibility in that instance. Perhaps other writers or the UAA can hold that reporter accountable for his lack of professionalism - more so if he is proven wrong later this year.
Is Mandel just trying to scare off our 2024 recruiting class? I'm trying to understand why he would write this sort of hit-piece.
They do it to get clicks. Period. I'm sure that he thinks that the Gators aren't going to do well next year. Half of these "journalists" don't really do any research. He probably just saw that we lost our last 3 games, doesn't do any critical thinking and just assumes we will suck next year. Think Volsheimers disease, but will losses instead of wins.
That part is shortsighted and insulting for sure, but when he writes that we'll fire Napier by the 11th game this year? That is preposterous. And on one of those other sites Finebaum is getting into the hate, by wondering why we Gator fans aren't calling for Napier to be fired... Is he off his meds? Seems to be off his rocking chair. It's almost like they know Napier is about to take over the SEC, or at least be in the hunt as the best in the SEC in the near future. They're whistling past the graveyard, so to speak. The haters are hoping to make a difference in our perception of our head Football coach... NOT WORKING. They also know what's about to go down in Gainesville, and they want to get their last jabs in there becasue they know that we're coming back quicker than they want... I hope we upset Finebaum and Mandel this year... by winning more games than they want us to win. Here is the Finebaum article below. Paul Finebaum eviscerates Florida fans for handling of Billy Napier
Cupcake Vanderbilt beat us last year. Is this China or does GC allow for a free discussion? Or is it just you?
We allow for discussion and you've discussed plenty. Discussion is one thing. Projecting the worst all the time is another. Around here it's called by the owner of Gator Country himself . . . constant negativity. Strange, you don't seem to do this on the premium side.
I'm not projecting any such thing...Mandel did. I simply asked a possible hypothetical question. On the Official Prediction thread I claim 7-6 with a bowl win.
You can either be a journalist, or you can be a click baiter in order to get a paycheck. He apparently wants a paycheck.
I think we should be a lot better than that. More likely we are 7-0 going into UGA than 2-5 But I do see the path from the perspective of pundits 1. We replaced an elite QB (top 5 pick) with what is considered the worst QB in the league 2. We haven’t had a good defense in years 3. Our schedule has a lot of good teams. We are only major favorites in 3 games. We are only a coin flip in 4 games and we are away in 3 of them. The remainder we are an underdog (some will be a big dog) 4. Programs like Florida often implode when the season goes poorly. It’s not unique to Florida but top programs rarely rebound after a slow start. We can easily start 1-2 or 2-3, I don’t think anyone would say that would be incredibly surprising. Then we beat Vandy so that’s 3-3. Would we be able to round the troops up to win at Carolina? It’s at least a question right? So then 3-4, lose to UGA 3-5. It can easily snowball I don’t think it’ll happen but it isn’t a totally unreasonable scenario. My over/under losses in the regular season is 4. I wouldn’t feel comfortable betting the over or under on that.
ET, can we save this thread... I see lots of crow on the dinner plate for some of the posters here. Parroting Mandel is almost like using him as excuse to double down on what he said. Some people here...
3-9 makes absolutely no sense. Even if you break down the teams into three groups and provide some simple probabilities, it's more than 3 games. Lowest tier - Mcneese St., Vandy, Charlotte 3-0 Middle tier - S. Car., Kentuck, Mizzou, Arky. Odds are 3-1 out of that group. Could be 2-2. Upper tier - UGAG, FSU, LSU and TN, Utah. If we go 2-3 out of that group that's 8 wins. I was expecting 1-4 which still gives us 7, minimum 6 wins. The guy is smoking the biggest crack pipe known to man.
Depends if we can get our running attack going, but we should be around .500. I would not be shocked if it was under that, but Billy should get 4-5 years to see what he can build. Unless every game is like our bowl game .
Fully agree. And I know that not everyone is with me when I say that CBN needs an 8-win season (including the bowl) to inspire confidence going into 2024. However, to Mandel’s point, if CBN turns in a second consecutive losing season (especially with only three wins), then there is no reason to believe that 2024 will not simply be another losing season (three in a row) or that CBN will ever bring in the recruits needed to right the ship. So, yeah, I don’t think that 3-9 is likely, but if it happens and we don’t fire CBN, then 2024 is simply a lost season like 2014 was.
Our defense and special teams can’t reasonably be worse than last year, our run game should at least be as good (minus QB runs, which were pretty hit or miss), and we lost a ton of close games we hopefully don’t lose again (one of the key metrics analysts use for a turnaround is close losses the previous season). It all comes down to where you fall on Mertz. Some believe he will be worse against better competition. But it is entirely plausible that a guy who improved substantially last year despite losing his top three receivers (and his head coach five games into the season) stands to improve even more with the talent he will have around him. IMO, he would have to be 2021 bad for us to be any worse than we were last season.
I am not an Athletic subscriber, but Mandel was my favorite college football writer before he joined there. Maybe he just wants a paycheck these days, but I would humbly suggest that predicting a poor season for Florida is evidence of no such thing. He, and all other writers, are predicting the outcomes of over 100 teams. Some of them will predict poor outcomes for some of the teams. And the fans of none of those teams is going to like it. But some of those predictions will prove true. I am assuming that we likely won’t finish with that poor of a record, but 1) I can’t know that for sure, and 2) even if we don’t, it becomes a prediction miss, and prediction misses happen. No big deal.
