I absolutely underestimated our Gators pushing Bama around in the trenches - that was incredible. My issue is I have zero faith in Dan Mullen to lead any team to any kind of titles. It's a lousy staff.
I hear you and, to date, I agree.
That's what makes this upcoming Tennessee game so intriguing IMO: it's an overmatched opponent whom we've dominated of late coming here to play a night game in the Swamp. They're playing for pride, we're playing--possibly--for more.
Mullen has botched this type of game several times before--no clearer example of this than last year's LSU debacle; but really, the seeds of that were sown in almost every game before that when he had vanilla gameplans and playcalling after the georgia win.
Has he learned from that? Do we come out, dominate from the get-go with disciplined football on both sides of the ball and stomp on Tennessee early/often and cruise to a victory? Or do we try to win the game in second gear and "save ourselves" for the more crucial matchups later in the year vs georgia and--potentially--a rematch with Alabama?
Most importantly, how does the team come out? We can still dominate Tennessee with 100% effort/focus from the players, even IF Mullen and the staff are putting in 70% effort...that's IF the players have team leaders who are demanding focus, effort, and intensity in practice and the game this week. Last year's team took their lead from Mullen and was usually going through the motions vs overmatched opponents and it bit them in the ass. Have the players learned from that and made the improvements/adjustments in both focus and effort to become the team they are?
We'll see. But Go Gators on Saturday.