How critical is the Miami game?

That is called random variation. You have to be a piss poor program to never have a good year ever.

If we are counting teams that have had a pretty good season once every 7 years on average then there are a lot of teams that fit that description.

We are firmly in a group with Mizzou, Kentucky, Duke, K State, Michigan St, etc. That’s about as mid as mid can be over the last 14-15 years.

Yeah we aren’t bottom of the barrel P5, but we are firmly middle of the pack.

 

I’ll focus on drinki

 

Working on the UM campus, I can confirm that Miami feels pretty confident about getting a W in the Swamp...hope our guys are ready!

 

Maybe his woman is just that quick. Lucky guy.

 

What do you all expect from miami's front seven? That's going to be the key to the game. Hope our staff and OL are ready.

 

I love it when opponents are overconfident.

 

Not sure I love it when we are, though...

 

As long as the "we" doesn't include the team...

 

But... we definitely aren't.

 

It's a crapshoot trying to predict wins and losses, because there are so many variables. What happens if we lose QB1 and QB2 early in the season? Clay Millen is a damn fine backup, but are we really winning 7 games with him?

What happens if we only win 6 games, but the majority of our losses were by a few points caused by bad luck, poor officiating, etc screwing us at the end? No way Napier loses his job in that scenario either.

I think we beat Miami by double digits and win AT LEAST 7 games this year. Honestly, 8 plus a bowl win seems reasonable.

 

All I know is results matter. Talk is cheap.

 

There's no shortage of financial wannabes and scammers in Miami.

'Doubt' over company of Miami NIL booster

 

. Having been a freshman in 1963, let me assure you that this is not new!! Gators!!!

 

In 1963 our fan base wasn’t entitled like we became after finally winning some championships for the first time.

 

Exactly! The first time we were ranked in the top 25 was a cause for great celebration.

 

I had a Gator front license plate that said “Wait Hell - We’ve Waited 40 Years”. It would be another 20 years before we won our first official SEC Championship

 

Tell it brother.

 

Meh . . . I still don't think this game was as critical as the others I listed. Pessimists (who claim to be realists) will angrily disagree. Optimists might say that there are plenty more opportunities to get the six wins needed for a bowl berth. I say it was one game, albeit a bad one at home against a rival. If they crap the bed against Samford, then this game was more critical than I thought. If they don't though, remember that weird things can happen in game one.

• 1984 lose 20-32 to Miami, go 9-1-1
• 1987 lose 4-31 to Miaim, go 6-5 before a bowl loss
• 2002 blowout UAB, go on to lose 5 games
• 2003 & 2004 same thing, different patsy in the opener

There were others (2012 struggle with Bowling Green at the start of an 11-2 season) where the opener was not the most critical or indicative game. I know this slightly interferes with the "fire the coach! fire the AD! our team sucks again!" but it's way too early to dismiss the other games due to this result.

 

I don’t blame him for wanting Napier to succeed. We are want that. At some point it’s just gaslighting and trying to control speech. The results are the results