10 is better than 8 but we still beat them and knocked ol miss out of the playoffs. Im not sure how much better their season really was other than just some numbers.
From an expectations stand point, I agree. We were supposed to suck and LSU & OM were supposed to be in the playoff. I’m sure their fan bases felt more disappointed in how their seasons played out than ours did.
Okay but regardless of our win, if an outsider, looking only at the win/loss stats, which team had the better season? Dig a little deeper and, Ole Miss lost 3 games by an average of 4.33 points while UF lost 5 games by an average of 17.8 points. I would be pretty stoked if our next season is the same as theirs was. Wouldn't you?
Yes, but we were kind of on different trajectories last year. They were projected to be a playoff team and underperformed. We were projected to win like 4 games and over performed. So an objective onlooker, taking into account preseason projections, could very easily take the stance that we actually had the better season.
That's a rationalization and on a Gator board that works. But Ole Miss was objectively a better team. It's not that difficult to admit. Will Ole Miss bet as good next season? Probably not. Will we be better? Probably. But frankly, 4.5 wins last season, meaning 4 or 5, would have been a disaster so the bar was set so low that to exceed it, was not on its own a grand feat for a third year coach. 8 wins was by the standard we have been trained to expect was great. But we were still 8-5. I was thrilled we won 8 because the prospect of 5 wins was... gloomy. Ole Miss had the #2 scoring defense(14pts) and the #3 scoring offense(38pts). They were projected to make the playoffs but missed by a nose. Who cares? They beat georgia by two TDs- georgia scored 10pts. 10-3 is better than 8-5. It just is. If we go 10-3 this year it will be miraculous.
That wasn’t the argument. You didn’t ask who was the better team, you asked if an outsider would view our season as better than theirs. We’re not arguing what expectations should have been or anything about the coach and what year he was in, simply what the expectations actually were. Expectations mostly set by the outsiders who you want to determine who had a better season. I think it would be easy for an outsider to come to the conclusion that the Gators actually had a better season based on what the two teams were expected to do before the season started. They underperformed, we over performed, based on the expectations those outsiders placed on both teams.
Well, you can pick up an exchange wherever you like but the exchange started earlier, and you are disregarding that the expectation for our season was based on what these outsiders believe about our HC and his staff, which had been on display for two seasons. It was not based on talent or some other variable. We are glad our coach "over achieved". But I said "Okay but regardless of our win, if an outsider, looking only at the win/loss stats, which team had the better season?" There's no debate on that.
Happy for every win, especially against our then next HC. I bet I'm not alone being "conflictedly" thankful the circumstances forced DJ into action because I really believe he was the difference in a couple of our wins, and will be in a handful this season.
