2020 Prediction Thread

[SeabeeGator]

Well, I’ve never brought up “cool” or my credentials to try to win an internet discussion so I have that going for me. There’s nothing cool about message boarding. Skiing in aspen tomorrow is cool. Sadly, I won’t be able to hold your hand through this difficult period of Gator football the next week but I promise to come back reinvigorated.

 

[YLGator]

To your first paragraph, I felt like we weren’t competitive in 2 games last year - UGA and MIZZOU. Didn’t feel that way this year. That’s my opinion though and I can certainly appreciate yours.

To your second, I had my expectations at 8-9 wins this year so I felt there was progress from that. And my predictions in the OP was 11-1/East win which will also double as my expectation. Think we in line there. Thanks for the thoughtful post!

Interesting, to me we were way more competitive against the pups in 2018 than we were this year. We had the lead in the second half and were still in the game going into the 4th. We were never in the game this year.

Progress is a bit of a nebulous thing for me. I base it more on what I see on the field rather than just the final recored, short of winning a title that is. Even though we won 1 more game, didn't seem like we made any real progress to me. I am looking forward to next year though. Its put up or shut up time now.

 

[GatorJB]

Schedule is very weak so anything less than 10-2 next year should be considered as failure. That said, I don't think we have the horses to get over that hump. We're still a couple of really good recruiting classes away from being in the top 5 discussion.

 

[GatorInKnox]

We're still a couple of really good recruiting classes away from being in the top 5 discussion.

We are literally going to finish in the top 5 in the AP poll THIS year.

 

[JCTow]

Thank goodness, a dumper came in to make the first post. I notice no predictions from you which makes me think you’re not feeling good about your relationship with Papa Mullen.

If your metric for success is championship based, then yes - bad year all around. And you probably hate being a sports fan because it leaves no room for joy in non-championship season. But for those who can appreciate progress and understand it takes time to right a disaster, an 11 win season is a success. Plus, recruiting is better - about the same rank as last year but doesn’t look like we took as many reaches and it looks like the transfer market will be fruit bearing again. And before Donk or someone comes in with moral victories or the joy of second place.... not what I’m saying at all. Just appreciating a season that built on the last with real progress towards the championship goal.

Agreed if every sports fan judged a season on a super bowl victory, World Series, national championship, then there would be a lot of unhappy fans and I wouldn’t want to be around 90% of this board. Sure the goal is to win “it all” every year but only 1 team gets that honor. I’d hate to watch games with some people on this board. We could be up 30 and they would be bytchin we aren’t up 40. Enjoy being miserable

 

[NavetG8r]

It's good to see this is going pretty much as expected. My prediction is about the same next year unless Mullen is willing to make some staff changes this off-season. Recruit in the top 5-10 and you'll regularly finish in the top 5-10. If you want to push into the top 4 and have a chance to win championships, you need to recruit in the top 4. It's pretty simple. That and the fact that our safety play has been very sub-standard in recent years, we'll continue to get beat by good passing teams until we get somebody on the staff that can actually coach safeties to be an actual safety, meaning stop letting guys get behind you all the damn time and stop whiffing on tackles in open space. You're called a safely for a reason. You're the last line of defense. Screw up and bad things happen.

Added to that is a question that's been nagging at me. Mullen made a comment earlier in the year about our Oline and guys not putting in the work in their free time. How is this tracked other than performance on the field? Are our players required to sign in when they use the film rooms? That's one way to document the amount of time they're putting in, right? I just wonder if small things like that can kind of hold the players accountable and can be used as a tool to show them, well, you're only spending 1 hour in the film room each week, how much improvement did you really expect to make like that? Just a random idiot thinking out loud...

 

[Marine1]

If your expectation was to win the championship this year then it was not a success. I don’t recall anyone in here predicting a championship this year.

Georgia’s expectations was to win it all. They are after all 5 Star U and Bangs is practically worshipped on here by some.

Their season was a colossal failure. Possibly the #1 underachievers in the nation.

Florida Gators: 5 losses in 2 years of a rebuild. 3 to top 5 teams including a possible national champion. Yeah...we’ve had 2 successful seasons.

 

[AnObfuscator]

Our receiving corps will drop off noticably, but our OL should improve with Braun and White (and possibly others) stepping up. The improvements to the run game and better pass protection should compensate enough for us to field an offense about as good overall as this year's.

Defense is a question mark. I'm hoping Cox will be able to step into Greenard's role, and that players like Dexter and Wingo will be able to make immediate impacts at least as backup or role players. I'm still expecting some drop off here, though.

Overall I'm expecting us to be about as good as this year overall, with more talent but less experience. And the schedule is soft, so it'd be really disastrous to finish worse than 9-3. I expect another 10-2 year, +-1 depending on how the progress and regressions balance out.

 

[RocketCityGator]

2019 is in the books and only the most dumper of posters would contend it wasn’t a success. Perfect? No. Staff adjustments needed? Yes. Improved recruiting required? Of course. But hard to hate an 11 win season, especially just two years removed from a 4 win season and still using many of the same players that contributed to that fiasco.

So what do you have for 2020? Which staff adjustments do we make? Do we plateau in recruiting or improve/get worse? Do we finally beat UGA and take the east? Does @Swamp Donkey stop braying non-sense that’s been proven false numerous times? Does @ThreatMatrix completely lose touch with reality and get absorbed into his spreadsheets? Does @ltraz finally address his daddy issues with Papa Mullen? Gonna be a great year!

Bold predictions: 11-1, beat the dawgs, take the east. Lose to LSU. English is shown the door as is Billy G. Knox stays and I melt down. Grantham stays for 2020 and is the cause of that 1 loss. Recruiting stays the same but we finally land a consensus 5 star, non-transfer edition. We pick up 2 former 5 star transfer and Donk melts down. Billy G’s replacement is from a more modern offense and @ltraz celebrates... only to be disappointed when nothing changes.

If we can beat the dwags, then we can beat LSU in the Swamp.

 

[deuce]

Meyer is a very good football coach but a terribly flawed person, I have a problem separating the two. I can't discount his record but I'm not thrilled by what little I know about his methods. Personally, I don't accept the theory of "winning is everything". No one or no group wins everytime..... There is value in the effort, win or lose. The secret is knowing when to go all in!

But, I'm over 60 so what do I know?

Nothing

 

[78]

 

[GatorJB]

We are literally going to finish in the top 5 in the AP poll THIS year.

I find that very unlikely since everyone playing in the Rose bowl and Sugar bowl are currently ahead of us.

 

[GatorInKnox]

I find that very unlikely since everyone playing in the Rose bowl and Sugar bowl are currently ahead of us.

Check again. We are currently 6th. Oklahoma (4) already got curb stomped.

 

[GatorJB]

Check again. We are currently 6th. Oklahoma (4) already got curb stomped.

I see. You're looking at AP, and I'm looking at the playoff ranking which has us 9th. But if you'd like, I'll change my statement to, "We're still a couple of really good recruiting classes away from winning the SEC or being in the college football playoffs."

 

[Gatorraid81]

If we can beat the dwags, then we can beat LSU in the Swamp.

I believe LSU caught lightning in a bottle this year, If Brady gets snatched up by some other team, they'll likely take a big step back. I believe they lose a bunch off this years team as well, we should have a good shot at them next year.

 

[t-gator]

Schedule is very weak so anything less than 10-2 next year should be considered as failure. That said, I don't think we have the horses to get over that hump. We're still a couple of really good recruiting classes away from being in the top 5 discussion.

Idk, if LSU loses burrow, Brady and Jefferson. They'll be the same old one dimensional overrated LSU that we're used to.

 

[t-gator]

Edward's helair could go early too.

 

[78]

I doubt Brady sees another season on the LSU sideline, and the landing point is just as likely to be the NFL as a college post. Martindale, the Ravens DC who’s getting a lot of run in coaching carousel talk, is said to have interest in pairing with Brady.

 

[gatorkev85]

While we had a great season, it was not a success imo. We didn't meet any of our goals. SEC East Championship , SEC Championship , Playoff birth , National Championship . I credit Mullen for the 11 wins but it all means nothing because it wont be remembered 10 years from now.

2020 prediction is 10-2 with the usual UGA loss where were outplayed but the score makes it seem close and someone else.

We finish around 8th in recruiting again and Mullen still dont make any changes. Still no elite skill players either.

2021 will be the same as well. As well as 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. 2026 will be the year the fan base finally let's go of all hope and start making noice about not beating UGA and Strickland will begin to take notice when.attendance goes down, but he will keep him one more season. 2027 Mullen will finally resign to save face instead of being fired.

 

[GatorInKnox]

I see. You're looking at AP, and I'm looking at the playoff ranking which has us 9th. But if you'd like, I'll change my statement to, "We're still a couple of really good recruiting classes away from winning the SEC or being in the college football playoffs."

I’ve enjoyed this top 5 discussion