They have 2 preseason allAmericans on D, while we have one all SEC 2d team. They are more talented with experience and coaching. Offense is a different story.
I’d put the O/U at 5.5 right now The schedule is easier than initially feared (thanks FSU for being another directional school) so that increases minimum expectations. 8 wins: keeps his job and earned it 7 wins: probably keeps it but likely shouldnt 6 wins: civil war here and im in the fire camp 5 wins: fired and most little pushback 3-4 wins: unanimously fired I’m going 6 wins now. FSU is awful so that’s 4. Then we need to go 2-4 against the remaining. Kentucky is a coin flip and we are generally a deep dog in the rest. Decent size underdogs are expected to win occasionally so that gets us to 6. But can you imagine the civil war if we beat Kentucky, Georgia, and FSU and finish with 6?
If we were just solid and well led we should win two before fsu then outclass fsu and go to a mediocre bowl. That's only 6 wins but still improvement. Difficult to believe that mediocre finish is a long shot. I SMH and chuckle.
I always thought our practices looked too easy when I would see footage. Hopefully they weren’t but Napier’s quote makes one wonder.
Having watched Kentucky's defense, I think they are a stretch and Ole Miss, LSU and the Holes are more likely wins.
Thought it would be appropriate to bump this thread now that Mertz is out and this is now 100% DJ's team. Does this change people's minds about how many more wins we'll get? Does DJ light a fire under this team and we go on to upset some of our remaining opponents, therefore saving Napier's job, or will it be more of the same?
Before the UT game, I had us winning 2 or 3 more, with the ceiling being 6-6. With Mertz gone, I think we win one or two more, that's it. The play calling will change due to Lagway's athleticism, but the game strategy and bad decisions will continue, unfortunately. No bowl game for these kids, who deserve it.
So, IOW, if we struggle, it's all because of Billy's horrible playcalling...right? You don't think we've seen this all before?
The fact is the team has the talent to win 8-9 games. The coach has the coaching skill to win 5 games. I say we if beat Kentucky we will win two more games.
Conversely, if we lose to UK it could possibly be the start of a 5-game skid ending with a potential 4th win versus f$u, emphasis on "potential".
I think we are going to miss Mertz but we will be better for it next year with DJ getting more experience. First team snaps and hopefully catering our offense to hi strengths will happen. Just like I felt going into this year, I hope we are competitive against most teams and have a chance to win like last Saturday. We didn’t get it done but that was way better than that Miami game. I couldn’t bear to watch the end of that one.
The coach dint fumble at the one or throw the really bad interception. Sure, he called plays that most of us disagree with but we still should’ve beat the number 8 team in the country so someone somewhere did some good things too. The players are playing hard so they do have the coaches back. Maybe we beat Kent first and then worry about other games.
1. I did not mention any thing about the Tennessee game. 2. I am not worrying about anything. 3. This is a discussion board, so we hence... We discuss. Pretty easy!
The team does have the talent. However, the biggest weakness is at the HBC positon. Also, the rest of the schedule does not help the Gators at all. The Gator D is showing improvement. However, the sputterring Gator O will continute to put too much pressure on the Gator D to save/win games. The Gator O does show flashes of brillance. However, the HBC command of the game is so lacking that a deaf and blind person coud do a better job in putting togehter a game plan. Lagway is the real deal (no doubt about it). Again however, the most of the opposing Defenses will have a sniper scope on him. My biggest fear is that Lagway will try to over reach on making something out of nothing and end up with a season ending injury. In the big picture, we we need to put the above listed items aside and face the reality. If Napier has not already lost this team by now, he will after UGA and Texas. By the Texas game (if not sooner) the hand writting will be ETCHED on the wall for Napier. A fair amount of gator players will mail it in and file for a portal transfer in December. In other words, to be optimistic, look for one or two more wins (Kentucky/FSU) for the rest of the season.
I’m not suggesting you worry about Kentucky as that makes no difference at all. I’m suggesting our team focus one game at a time.