**Buzz Buzz Buzz** - Scott Strickenbaum's finest hour?

Yep Lagway has improved by leaps and bounds. The current version of Lagway would have beaten the Vols unlike the version we saw.

 

That's not how you are applying the stat. Continue your Gator sniping after two great wins, holding LSU & MS under 20.

 

The #2 offense couldn’t win the game against the #100 something defense in a game where they ruled the time of possession. Thank you for making the point that THOSE stats don’t actually matter.

 

How am I applying the stat? So it's "Gator sniping" now when someone points our actual team stats?

 

They matter if you are interested in making the CFP, especially in the SEC. There are upsets every year, but the teams who play consistently good offense and defense win a majority of their games and advance. In fact, the only two teams I see in the CFP mix that don't have Top 30 or better defenses are Clemson and Boise State and both teams have Top 10 offenses to offset it. These stats don't lie.

 

Did anyone say we were a CFP team this year?

 

The stats do lie. The stats don’t take into account who they are playing. Do you really think that Northern Illinois has a better defense than us? They are ranked 8th in total D. The only stat that matters is the score at the end of the game. All other stats are for people like you who have to think that you are right. The teams in the playoffs are there because they scored more points than the other teams they played, not because of the amount of yards they had or kept the other team from having

 

I get what you’re trying to say tbh.

 

I do think Lagway will continue to grow and shine. Therefore, some of these team stats are going to improve. I am still concerned about the recruiting class though. I can't remember a time we've had a class looking this bad in late November.

 

Yeah, genius, that's why I noted we are 16th out of 16 SEC teams in total defense. And no, these stats don't lie. What's your next excuse?

 

Was that “yeah” meaning you do think Norther Illinois has a better defense us or not. That’s really the only thing needed to show you the stats don’t matter

 

There are always going to be statistical anomalies. If that's what you want to hang your hat on and ignore that the top 7 teams in total defense are CFP bound, you do you. I prefer to breathe air, not sand.

 

You are myopic the turnover nargin is vastly improved we are tackling with aggression and with angles. The young players are gaining experience and understand football is a violent game and seem to embrace the fact. How skewed are our defensive stats bc our the slow start to the season? You credit DJ’s growth to talent and discount any other improvement. During the acknowledged toughest part of the schedule we have played the best defensive football in years.

 

He is also toting 3 Ls and out of the playoff picture. Once again accomplishing nothing of note with a portal rich roster and 2 weeks to beat the lowly gators to secure his golden tix. Time for you run along and prostrate yourself at the altar of kiffin and deon with their great stats

 

But they were close losses! Moral victories count when it suits an argument!

 

Ole Miss are not completely out of the playoff picture. If Tennessee, SMU or Bama lose, it improves their odds. Unlikely to happen, but we've certainly seen stranger things happen.

 

No we never have this is the 1st year of a 12 team playoff. Big difference with 3-5 getting into a much smaller pool of teams. The rebs will finish the season in a meaningless bowl to most of their team and coach

 

A few statistical anomalies that reach way further than just Norther Illinois. There’s got to be at least 50 teams ahead of us in total Defense that for sure would not actually have a better defense than we do. When I look at the teams in the playoff, I can’t help but notice that they consistently play a weak schedule with maybe one or 2 challenging games. Where as we have played one of the hardest, if not the hardest schedule this year. But those stats obviously don’t matter to you. You are a hard “black and white” kind of guy with no ability to live in the gray where the rest of the world is. You say anomaly only because you were proved wrong. You stated after the LSU game that we have no chance against Ole Miss. You were wrong. Plain and simple, teams that keep opponents from scoring is way way more important than if that same team lets them gain a lot of yards. Thats why other statistical categories are there to show the full data.

 

I was wrong about the Ole Miss game and I don't shy away from admitting that. I am not always right. Nobody is. But apparently I'm right often enough for you to become so unglued by what I am laying out here. How many of Spurrier's teams were dead last in total defense in the SEC? How many of Meyer's teams? Hell, when is the last time the Gators finished dead last in team defense in the SEC? Coupled with a lower tier total offense?

And let us remember this leg of the conversation started when someone chastised me for not seeing the improvement in the defense. I will never applaud a defense that isn't even in the Top 100 of college football. Nobody should. Saying they've "improved" when the bar is so low is such a loser's mentality. Only a simp would laud a defense that is 16th out of 16 in the SEC.