SDS: Realistic set of expectations for Dan Mullen's first year at Florida

Gatorraid81

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Agree w/ all of this except the MSU comments. There's a reason they are in practically every pre-season top 25 and we aren't. Plus, when's the last time we went on the road and beat our non-regular West opponent? They return 17 starters, plus their QB. They are at home vs. their old coach (extra motivation to beat Mullen and their old coaches). They have a proven starting QB returning....we don't know who our starting QB is going to be. I could go on and on. But if you want to put that kind of pressure on our new coaching staff, fine. Hey Dan!! You BETTER beat your old team, on the road....eve though we went 4-7 last year and have no QB to run your offense!!! DAMMIT!


Must’ve been 2012, when we went on the road and beat Texas A&M
 

jdh5484

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SCColaGator

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The main factor in how well we do next year will be how much improvement do we see in the defense. More specifically, how well do the linebackers play. The 3-4 should help with our inability to cover rbs out of the backfield this year, but I am not sold on anyone we have at that position.

If we get a decent bump from the D 8-4 is not out of the question. I think LSU is about to fall off a cliff, Tennessee is trash, Kentucky is Kentucky, Miss st and Vandy are always tough road games for us. And Fuchs UGa and FSU.
 

78

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The first year after a coaching change is usually a tossup for a variety of reasons. It's the second and third years that matter, and esp the trajectory from the second to third year.

That's why getting what appears to be a solid dual-threat guy to run his offense was so crucial.
 

Bama&GatorFan

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I think the key is competitiveness and respect. If they go 6-6, that is acceptable, as long as they are putting up a fight and the games are reasonably close. They should have a chance to win almost all games. Maybe not Georgia this year, but most all other games.
 

lizardbreath

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I enjoy the "what-ifs" and the WTFs as much as the next guy, but I just don't know enough about the team or the new staff to make even a semi-educated guess about next season - for a couple of reasons. First, the last staff was so thoroughly inept and morale was so low due to the extreme suckitude of everything associated with last season, I just don't know what to expect from many of our returning players. I know that some of them looked piss-poor (coaching?, talent? attitude?) while others looked like they were in a daze and just praying for it all to end. Rehabbing the damage to minds and bodies that occurred the last few seasons may not be as easy as we think. We all know the S&C was pathetic as well. Until I see the effects of some actual coaching and conditioning, and how well the EEs do in the Spring, I just can't get a handle on what DM has to work with next season. Is it Spring yet?
 

BMF

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I enjoy the "what-ifs" and the WTFs as much as the next guy, but I just don't know enough about the team or the new staff to make even a semi-educated guess about next season - for a couple of reasons. First, the last staff was so thoroughly inept and morale was so low due to the extreme suckitude of everything associated with last season, I just don't know what to expect from many of our returning players. I know that some of them looked piss-poor (coaching?, talent? attitude?) while others looked like they were in a daze and just praying for it all to end. Rehabbing the damage to minds and bodies that occurred the last few seasons may not be as easy as we think. We all know the S&C was pathetic as well. Until I see the effects of some actual coaching and conditioning, and how well the EEs do in the Spring, I just can't get a handle on what DM has to work with next season. Is it Spring yet?

I think the bottom line is: we'll see a more competitive, more competent football team (in 2018).

We're going to lose some games. We may even lose to a team (or two) we "shouldn't lose to" (like Miss State - in a perfect world, we should always have more talent and always have a better team than the MSU's of the world....but, Mullen is competent and build a solid team there, he left them in good shape, and they hired a good coach). Easier said than done; a lot of the 2018 season depends on what happens at QB. McElwain left this team in very bad shape, it's not going to be turned around overnight.
 

SCColaGator

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I think the bottom line is: we'll see a more competitive, more competent football team (in 2018).

We're going to lose some games. We may even lose to a team (or two) we "shouldn't lose to" (like Miss State - in a perfect world, we should always have more talent and always have a better team than the MSU's of the world....but, Mullen is competent and build a solid team there, he left them in good shape, and they hired a good coach). Easier said than done; a lot of the 2018 season depends on what happens at QB. McElwain left this team in very bad shape, it's not going to be turned around overnight.
Miss St has a legit shot at being number 2 in the west next year. That is a solid team.

But I dont think the roster is as inept as some believe around here. Keeping Ivey, CC and Scarlett is a big deal for this year. A real possibility we have a top 3 Dline, top 5 oline, top 3 rb, top 5 secondary. Add to that, Mullen's offense simplifies a lot of things for the QB and the Oline.
 

Durfish

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Also, in the games we do lose. We need to at least look like we belonged on the same field as the other team. To many times under Mac we looked completely overmatched in our losses.
Hell, in a couple of the WINS (UT, UK) we looked overmatched.
 

TheDouglas78

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That's what everyone said about LSU this past year.

We were a worse dumpster fire.... there was no reason for that game to be as close as it was, except for the fact Coach O was on the sideline for LSU.
 

chferg

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So you watched one game and you are now an expert...

Yeah they got their asses handed to them. They also took it to LSU and played Bama better than most in the west...so reality is that we really don't know what we are going to get with this staff who will have more talent at their disposal than they've ever had
 

BMF

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So you watched one game and you are now an expert...

Yeah they got their asses handed to them. They also took it to LSU and played Bama better than most in the west...so reality is that we really don't know what we are going to get with this staff who will have more talent at their disposal than they've ever had

I watched the Alabama game and MSU gave them all they wanted (and really should have won). MSU had several LBs get injured and kept plugging backups in who did an admirable job. MSU has a roster full of 3-star players (like Butters UF roster by year 3) and they get a lot of mileage out of those kids.

UGA took it to a lot of teams last year. UGA had a damn good senior laden football team. There's no shame in getting your ass kicked by one of the better teams in the country....but I get where Itraz is coming from - I would have rather seen MSU give UGA a game (vs. getting rolled). But, it's college football. Sometimes it's hard to get 18-20 year old kids up for every game. They had just beaten LSU 37-7 and probably got a little full of themselves (they then lost big to UGA and Auburn back to back weeks). It's college football....it's Miss State - they're supposed to lose to the UGA's and the Auburn's....
 

chferg

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I watched the Alabama game and MSU gave them all they wanted (and really should have won). MSU had several LBs get injured and kept plugging backups in who did an admirable job. MSU has a roster full of 3-star players (like Butters UF roster by year 3) and they get a lot of mileage out of those kids.

UGA took it to a lot of teams last year. UGA had a damn good senior laden football team. There's no shame in getting your ass kicked by one of the better teams in the country....but I get where Itraz is coming from - I would have rather seen MSU give UGA a game (vs. getting rolled). But, it's college football. Sometimes it's hard to get 18-20 year old kids up for every game. They had just beaten LSU 37-7 and probably got a little full of themselves (they then lost big to UGA and Auburn back to back weeks). It's college football....it's Miss State - they're supposed to lose to the UGA's and the Auburn's....

Itraz just like Donkey would rather root for Mullen and Co to fail than be wrong and that's mighty apparent with how their tune has been on the decent 2018 class...

Sure, I'd like to see MSU take it to these teams also but the reality is that Mullen probably hit the ceiling there at MSU; I'm going to give him a couple of years with more talent to see how he does
 

T REX

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They were outmanned.

This is going to be the running BS excuse from here on out...

were they outmanned vs South Alabama in 2016?

BYU? Kentucky?

Outmanned...build it in now. The pumper buzzword for 2018 is "outmanned".
 

T REX

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So you watched one game and you are now an expert...

Yeah they got their asses handed to them. They also took it to LSU and played Bama better than most in the west...so reality is that we really don't know what we are going to get with this staff who will have more talent at their disposal than they've ever had

Mullen's been outmanned his whole career! Out-manned. That 2-17 record vs ranked teams is all because of the outmanning.

Out-manned, get it while its hot!
 

SCColaGator

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I watched the Alabama game and MSU gave them all they wanted (and really should have won). MSU had several LBs get injured and kept plugging backups in who did an admirable job. MSU has a roster full of 3-star players (like Butters UF roster by year 3) and they get a lot of mileage out of those kids.

UGA took it to a lot of teams last year. UGA had a damn good senior laden football team. There's no shame in getting your ass kicked by one of the better teams in the country....but I get where Itraz is coming from - I would have rather seen MSU give UGA a game (vs. getting rolled). But, it's college football. Sometimes it's hard to get 18-20 year old kids up for every game. They had just beaten LSU 37-7 and probably got a little full of themselves (they then lost big to UGA and Auburn back to back weeks). It's college football....it's Miss State - they're supposed to lose to the UGA's and the Auburn's....
Watch their concurrent opponents. Tamu uk LSU. We would have gotten absolutely stomped by Miss st last year
 

MJMGator

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This is going to be the running BS excuse from here on out...

were they outmanned vs South Alabama in 2016?

BYU? Kentucky?

Outmanned...build it in now. The pumper buzzword for 2018 is "outmanned".
:jerkit:
 

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