SEC team with the most difficult schedule is.....

I think the improvement in culture will result in two more wins over expected. I’m hoping for 8 wins this year.

 

If Napier doesn't hire an OC by next year he should be on a short leash.

 

I’ll see what he can do first. I bet he has a two minute offense and doesn’t just go for it on fourth down for no reason.

 

Yes, I agree completely. He needs a year of learning the system so we don't Felipe him.

 

Agree. It’s silly to leap to conclusions on how Napier will or won’t call offense, based solely on how he called games last season. He had zero confidence in his defense and that had to factor heavily in 4th down decisions. And one of his first decisions after the season was replacing his DC. I don’t know why people are so quick to assume they’re smarter at football than Napier is

 

Napier had zero confidence in his defense or the defensive coordinator he chose?
We had 7 starters back on defense but allowed 411 ypg and 29 points per game.
Did he save his best play-calling for 2023 and actually hold back last year?
I may not be smarter than Napier about football but I'm smart enough to know
he can't game-plan, call time-outs and run an offensive SEC program by himself.
Saban knows this, Kirby knows this and every other successful SEC coach does too.

 

Yawn

 

Spurrier could do it. Either we have the second coming, or he might need to learn the lesson you suggest.

 

That reminds me of a great line from a Vice-Presidential debate:
"I knew Steve Spurrier...and that man is no Steve Spurrier".

 

Just stop with running down Coach Napier. Dude currently has us a top 5 recruiting class and is pulling together a solid team of the right kind of guys. There isn’t one thing happened recently to warrant your bitching and whining. All you’re doing here is trolling.

 

Anyone who is going to cite statistics and talk about how good the team was in a coach's first year is off their rocker. Do a little research on the all-time great coaches' records in their first year at a program. Then sober up and change your perspective. Year 2 is where you open your Christmas presents and find out if you got coal or struck gold. It is possible we got coal, but people would be judging Bob Stoops, Bobby Bowden, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Jim Tressel, etc all as losers who can't coach if they were judged on their first year at a program alone.

 

Here's some research:
Bowden was 9-1 at Howard in 1959 his 1st year.
Bowden was 8-3 at W Virginia his 1st year there.
Spurrier was 9-2 here his very first year in 1990.
Smart was 8-5 at Georgia his 1st year in 2016.
Stoops was 7-5 at Oklahoma his 1st year in 1999.
Tresel was 7-5 at tOSU his 1st year there in 2001.

 

You’re really smart, I apologize.

 

What about Bowden at FSU, Carroll at USC, Saban at Bama, Woody Hayes at OSU, Bear Bryant at Alabama? Those were conveniently left out, especially Bowden at FSU. I know you looked that one up.

A record around 0.500 is not unusual for elite coaches in their first year at a football program. And not many coaches played 6 10 win teams their first year like Napier did. Smart played 0 10 win teams his first year at UGA.

The point is further emphasized when we consider Dan Mullen, Jim McElwain, Gus Malzahn, and Larry Coker. First year booming success is fool's gold. 2nd year success is usually a much better indicator. Most coaches don't gut the program so aggressively like Napier has. So, I imagine we might have to wait for year 3 due to Napier's roster management, which is fine as long as we are elite by year 4.

 

FSU ring a bell with Taggart.

It seems like the issue is more complicated than someone saying this schedule is tougher than another. What needs to be factored in is how good your team is or is supposed to be. I would say Vandy has a tougher schedule since they would be expected to lose more games even thought their opponents may not be as good.

 

Second worse by a bit? Vandy. Their schedule is a bit easier because they play us!

Yes, this is facetious, but that is the way these analytics work.

 

Crickets for a reply, of course

 

Every year is a tough year in Gainesville. It's been that way for decades, but some years are perceived to be harder than others, and that because we scheduled Miami, UCF and we play FSU in 2024... the only ones that make it harder are Miami and UCF, both of which we play at home.

 

If that plays out, it will be a massive turd in the punch bowl here. A 3rd mediocre season and the long knives will be out, imho. Billy’s gonna have to whip up some chicken salad by then.