Vegas over under...just saw they have us at 5.5 wins.

The problem is that they also think Florida should be a win for them. If we lose to the Canes and fire Billy, what then? Is there a plan like when Zook was fired, he would stay as a lame duck to the end of the season, then Meyer would slide right in? Firing someone so early in the season is a recipe for a 3-9 season, as both Muschamp and Mullen coached 11 games before their firing, while MacElwain got to at least 7 games before the hammer fell following the death threat fiasco. When he got canned, we finished 4-7.

 

I'm hoping for 7+ wins. Doesn't mean it will happen, but I can hope. We'll probably get more portal guys-so there's that. And, who knows, if Napier will actually use our new QB. If he does, that can change a game or two right there.

I still can't tell if Mertz can throw deep. Is it because he's under pressure and doesn't have the time, or is it because he can't toss deep all that well? If we use both QB's, that might make a difference in the win column. Mertz is smart, he is a baller, and with both guys playing, especially early on, there is a possibility we can win some games with our new secret weapon.

Yeah, Vegas was right last year but we should have made them wrong by three more wins. I'm hoping that happens this year. (redundant theme here, 'hope'.)

Go Gators.

 

SBG - As much as I love the Gators and want CBN to succeed, the mountain in front of Billy is huge.

Lose a couple early and a shaky situation degrades.

Absolutely, in fact I'm not sure losing to Miami is "survivable", especially if the Gators "lay an egg".
Despite our hatred for that club, it looks like the Cane's are stocking some serious talent. It will be a war.

I am VERY HAPPY that we have Mertz in this contest as compared to their guy.

Combine that with the past two years where we have gotten worse later in the year and a thin roster.

Sadly, I think CBN's "reserve capital" has been spent. In other words it's put up time. I understand that Gators don't
want to hear 6 or 7 wins as being "good" - That does not meet expectations around here. However I suspect 6-6 or 7-5
keeps him employed for another year.

The issue of course is CBN does not have much room to maneuver. Time to produce.

 

Always the voice of reason and a true Gator.

Thanks Mal.

 

Sounds about right to me.

BUT, a couple good bounces and we could see seven wins

Or, a critical injury or two might leave us with four wins.

That final stretch is a gauntlet and we currently have an empty desk at S&C...

 

Exactly Thomas, as we all know fate (injuries / locker room, etc) can swing things good or bad quickly.
My fear is UF may be closer to something "bad" happening as compared to good, I base that on the talent
level of SEC teams we compete against. It sucks being considered as essentially in the lower tier / basement of the SEC right now.

Anyway................ I will love our Gators, win or lose.

 

This right there is the only thing that matters, everything else is just cannon fodder. Since that crushing loss to Alabama in the 2009 SECCG UF has for the most part been a .500 program. Here we are heading into the 2024 season and most are just hoping, begging, pleading and for a 6-6 season. That’s who we really are now, looking up the 5 hole of Kentucky, football. That’s who we aspire to be, SMH! It will take a Michelin chef with a top-shelf staff who can make some tasty chicken salad to get UF out of this funk, imho. Slow, very slow, methodical, dare I say brick-by-brick won’t work now in the current environment of college football, again imho.

 

Early losses like that and I doubt he finishes the season.

Hypothetically, since BN is employed by UF, if things fall apart, could he be relegated to say a recruiting cord? If other coaches can be demoted and still be employed, why can't we retain since we will be dolling out money either way? Therefore, If BN doesn't want that then he leaves on his own terms? Why do schools just simply fire vs utilizing positive traits of a coach? Just curious.

 

Exactly.

 

It’s sad but 6 wins could keep his job and get Lagway to start as a redshirt freshman and he’s still under the gun bigtime. Lagway needs to play and get that experience for next year because he will still be coaching for his job. Lagway in his third and fourth year should be where we really expect success but it’s going to be incredibly difficult to even get there.

 

Being it’s the sec teams that load our schedule, they will get losses by beating up on each other. 03 was tough no doubt

 

With that schedule (good chance this schedule is the most difficult of all time - not just for the gators), it's not hard to see how 8 wins could put us in the top 25 - maybe in the playoffs.
It's hard to be that optimistic but 8 wins would be quite an achievement in my opinion.

 

In Y3 we should beat Kentucky and MSU. If Billy cannot then it should be an insta fire. Just because we stink doesn’t mean the long term expectations change. Billy can’t lower the bar so much that he gets kudos for beating it.

If he can’t beat those squads then there is zero downside to firing him. What’s the worst that can happen? We have losing seasons and lose to SEC bottom feeders?

 

I don't think so. It would be like an army relieving a division's commanding general, yet keep him on board as a brigade commander, or even worse, the new CGs operations officer. The head coach brings his staff with him, and when he goes (fired, resigned, retired, died), the new head coach can elect to retain or replace anyone and everyone on his staff.

 

if we get to eight wins, our losses may come to only top 10 teams.

 

I wouldn't say it's just the SEC teams. Miami, FSU and even UCF could also be as tough.

 

Well, there is the possibility that he goes five and seven and keeps his job and then lag junior year. He wins the Heisman Trophy. That is not outside the realm of possibility. If he gets fired in the next year or two, it’s gonna be a while before we’re good

 

no doubt our out of conference schedule is tough also but I was just saying that it’s gonna be hard for all these SEC teams to have only two losses because they’re all going to play each other. An eight and four SEC team this year is probably gonna be pretty pretty damn good team. in years past losing four games probably meant that you lost to every decent team you played. That’s not so this year

 

This is true. In 2003, we were ranked 11th before The Swindle. Had the officials not officiated arguably the most corrupt game ever, we would have been in the top ten.

 

Which is a Cam Newton situation. Of course we’d take it but Chizik got fired pretty quickly after Cam.

Of course Lagway could stay for a new coach or transfer even if Napier is here. You can’t keep a guy because you are hoping a guy is a future NFL MVP