Could UF crack the top 25 final poll?

This one has us top 10….

KES top 10 - UF 10

 

Ohio University—Ohio’s First University. When I was a grad student there in the late 70s they had a bad football team and a great marching band. As soon as the halftime show ended the stadium emptied out.

 

Hmm..

#1 Ohio State - would have beaten the ever living s--t out of us. We don't matchup well with them and no way Lagway wouldn't be under pressure every single snap.

#2 Notre Dame - Compete but lose.

#3 Texas - Already whipped our ass late. I know there was no Lagway but I think they had the best defense in the country. True Freshman isn't navigating that and our defense is the only one that made Ewers look like he can play in the NFL.

#4 Penn State - I actually think we can win an ugly one against them. I will call it a toss up. Allar is that bad.

#5 Georgia - No Beck? I think we beat them.

#6 Arizona State - I give the Sun Devils the respect they deserve. Better than what people think. Compete but lose.

#7 Boise State - Win a close game.

#8 Oregon - Nah no way this is close. Lose big.

#9 Indiana - Too well coached. Toss up, but I lean lose.

#10 Clemson - Cade is great, but their defense would have been ran all over by our RBs. Win.

#11 Tennessee - Lost a game we never should have lost to them. Lagway with more experience than when he came in off the bench? I like us to win a close game. Nico was on fumes by the CFP.

#12 SMU - An absolute joke they were in. We would have whipped the piss out of them.

I'm going 6-6, but maybe 5-7. Penn State probably would win an ugly game against us the more I look at it. Their defense is better and they would be able to run the ball against us.

 

OSU would probably win but we would be in the game.
We were missing a lot more than Lagway against Texas, mainly on defense.
We take Indiana, and ASU.

 

Sounds like my High School................lol

 

Considering how the trajectory of the season went for many teams, including Tito's 12, UF had a strong finish.
In fact, as many of you know, I think UF currently has the longest winning streak right now of any team in the SEC. (I think)

Considering where I (and most of the rest of Gator Nation) was at the mid way point of the third quarter against Texas,
it was a nice finish.

I think Napier had pushed Gator Nation to the precipice of terminating his employment. Fortunate that Scott gave him
the vote of confidence when he did. May not have been received real well after Texas.

There is a sizeable group of GC posters that may think the opposite, preferring to part ways with CBN. Their arguments
are not unconvincing given a 3 year run record of 19-19.

Well, Gator Nation has a 4th year of CBN coming up. The schedule is a monster once again. Especially early.

Correct me if I am wrong but the "talent acquisition" at this point anyway, would suggest CBN may have his most talented squad
to date coming back. Holes, yes, depth issues, for sure. But on paper, and with a couple more portal additions, spring could arguably see
the most talent and potential of the Napier era. Then of course, evidence suggests UF has the QB. A special QB.

I like Billy, while not recruiting at an Oregon, UGA, Bama, Ohio State level, it does appear to be in the 7th - 15th level (or thereabouts)
in his tenure. This of course is a concern because 50% of the SEC is at or above this level.

What is interesting to me about Billy, is he apparently has a "friend for life" and "your always welcome here approach" to recruits
regardless if they sign (at first) or not. Reports also suggest a players locker room that respects and adheres to the philosophy.

Combine this with recent facility improvements, (with more on the way) and an NIL program that finally seems to be gaining traction,
and (ahem, a little success on the field), perhaps Napier can edge closer to gaining a foothold in the top 5. That of course remains to be seen.

Much remains to be seen. And there is plenty to be skeptical about. It's taken three years (really 4) for Billy to break back to a winning record and a 500
winning %. Not what most Gator Nation acolytes consider to be an acceptable "standard", including me.

But for me as an outsider (FAN) it's hard not to like Billy. It seems the fan base is still pushing him to hire an OC and a DC to support Roberts.
I don't think the OC thing happens, but I imagine another defensive coach will get hired to complement Ron. What that exact job title will be remains to be seen.

Anyway it's talkin season................Go Gators!!

 

CFN gives us our highest season-ending ranking of any poll or service.

#29 Florida 8-5
End of Regular Season Rank: 17
CFN 2024 Preseason Ranking: 31
CFN Preseason Record Prediction: 6-6
Last Game: Gasparilla: Florida 33, Tulane 8

 

And it's worth noting that the 4 wins in a row to end the season were
1. Best in the SEC!
2. All occurred with DJ still hampered, not even close to 100% healthy!

 

If we improve on the 8-5 season I think our recruiting will improve accordingly

 

I believe we finished the season deserving of a top 25 rank but before the win-run we might have been so far down that it's water under the bridge and a ranking service could not catapult us to top 20.

Probably already mentioned but NCAA has us at 16 to start 2025 season. Not bad.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/...llege-football-top-25-rankings-2025-26-season

ESPN 18th
2025 Way-Too-Early Top 25: Where do Ohio State and Notre Dame rank?

 

There's a difference between:

A. How good are you at the end of the season, the current level your team is playing at
B. How good have you been throughout the season, the entire body of work each week

If you look at A we are absolutely a top 25 team, maybe even top 15

But looking at B we were awful for too many weekends to be ranked

 

Only if our NIL outlay improves as well. I think we've about hit our ceiling unless we get more competitive in the pay for play space.

 

Are not we speculating that when we miss it's because another team offered significantly more?

 

Any reason that we missed on a recruit is speculation. We don't have any real insight into the behind the scenes activity, and neither do 99% of the so called insiders.

 

True. But seems that every time we miss on a recruit it's automatically money- we didn't offer enough and do not have it to pay. I believe there's still more to recruiting than the financial bottom line.

 

People who want to blame the coaches will blame them. People who want to give the coach the benefit of the doubt will blame something else. The bottom line is you won't be successful recruiting if you aren't putting up the money. There's a pretty obvious point during the last recruiting class when the money was turned back on, and it was fairly obvious that there was no money before that point. We moved like 40 spots in a few weeks. The coaches didn't just all of a sudden turn their phones on. They'd been working the whole time, and when the money became available, they closed.

 

Yes, but how many times have we missed because of some transfer decided to go to Kansas? Its the usual suspects that we usually "miss" with, UTex, Ga, OSU, etc.

 

There surely is and some of it comes down to personal preference. Let's say you got offered $1.1M to go live and work in Detroit and another offered you $1.05M to do the same in Tampa and you like both companies pretty much the same....I know which one I would pick. I'm sure its something like that for colleges too, but based a whole spectrum of different metrics.

 

Major league baseball in the NFL are fairly transparent as to how the money player thing works. MLB is a much better example as they don't have a cap. That's pretty close to what's happening in college football. Very few players take the path of Tony Gwynn and play for much less money because he likes where he lives and his team.