Don't post much on this forum (but do read it a lot I have two simple wishes for this upcoming season. Simple hopes... 1- Gators show improvement. Simple. Reduced penalties, good balance of of Offense Defense, team cohesion, play hard. Would like our W-L record to be good, but our L's should still be hard fought and no quit (make the opponent sweat until the end). An upset would be nice, but that is a bonus. and the other wish just as simple.... 2- that ANYONE other than UGA win the Natty. Georgia can go to Atlanta, win the Heisman, even go to CFP, ....just no 3-peat. It won't be us, but hopefully some other school can knock them out. Thx for reading. (Gator alum '95)
I'm on the fence about #2. I definitely don't want UGA winning again....but I don't know if FSU winning it would be any better. So...anyone other than those two... I'm good.
As much as I hate to say it, I hate them both, UGA would beat FSU by 4 TDs if they played this year. I don't buy the FSU hype, other than they play in a bad conference. They may go 10-2 or win the ACC, but they are not even close to being talented enough to play with Georgia. The FSU hype is off the way they finished last year and what they did in the portal. The hype train reminds me a lot of Tennessee in years past, this is who FSU beat to end 2022 GT, Miami, Cuse, Louisiana, UF, and OU. Syracuse is the only one that had more than 6 wins, 7-6 final record.
I thought this was your first wish . Kidding - agree with your list and anybody but Gawja. Thing is, the list of true contenders appears to be pretty short.
It's amazing to go back and see the simple mistakes that our inconsistent team last year, with one our worst defenses in over 20 were one or two plays from beating Tennessee, Kentucky, Vandy and FSU. Can you guys/gals believe that were were that close to winning 10 games with last years mistakes and miscues? All this is predicated on a cleaner offense with less mistakes. And a more than functional defense. Now the wild card is the special teams... the reason why we lost the bowl game by so much last year was partly attrition (down 31 players is never good) but it was our sorry special teams play. I think we get a handle on that special team play too. We should be better equipped to handle trick plays from the opposing special-teams like the one we will face against teams USCe... and others. That's why I think we will be far better than the 5.5 win total that these prognosticators think of our much improved team will be. We have much more quality depth and we'll be in the second year of the same system. This is why a 10 win record is doable this season, IMHO. But I expect at least an 8 or 9 win record. 10 wins is not as impossible as some people here and elsewhere might think it is.
You’re correct and that’s because 10 wins isn’t really all that impressive. Going 2-2 against the four best teams on most schedules doesn’t make a team great or anywhere near being a championship caliber team. Most 10-2 teams are nowhere close to Bama, he, and Ohio state.
Regarding the second, this is basic. You never want your rival to have any success. About the best you can hope for, if they are good, is to lose big (or stupidly) in the NC game. Ask OSU fans. Regarding the first, the most salient point, and it has been discussed on plenty of threads, is...define "improvement". We can be substantially less good overall because of experienced players being replaced by less experienced ones but if we played a much weaker schedule (based on those teams' actual play and not their 2022 records) it is plausible to see "improvement". The corollary to that is that the new players are WAY more invested in the Napier Way and so we can progress at a faster pace than what you anticipate with younger players, and yet the schedule is substantially tougher (again, based on the actual teams' skills) and so the "results" look the same or maybe even worse. This to me is a very likely scenario. How about this idea for "improvement": we look like we could win against UGa if we had a few more bodies, we don't allow FSU's Travis to will his team to a win, and we play a quality bowl team to a close game? That to me is as good as we can hope for, otherwise we are setting us up for some grumbling (or as I call it, a game called "Is Napier Smarter Than A First Grader?").
Would you rather watch Georgia and FSU win every game except against Florida or go winless ? (Either way - Florida goes 15-0 and wins the National Championship) I would rather watch both go winless so I could swim in their tears for 12 weeks and then the entire offseason!
