I admit I TLB;dr a lot, so I'll try and be brief.
I admit a lack of deep football knowledge, so I'll try and speak from my fan perspective.
We went into this game projected to lose by 14ish. Many here predicted worse. There's a lot of talk in this thread (yes, I read it all) about "an L is an L", "there is no such thing as a good loss", "moral victories are still a loss". I'll agree nobody tells their grandkids about that time they lost to the top team in the nation by 2pts....it's still a loss. Nobody celebrates second place, it's still a loss.
But, considering we expected to get our butts kicked up and down and lose by more than the projected 14pts, there is hope. Maybe not for those that want Dan gone, but for the realists this is hope. This confirms we can hang, and possibly beat, the #1 team in the nation. It confirms we can run the table, with our only real challenge being UGA. I'd much rather be sitting here thinking we've got a chance, maybe even a very good chance, than thinking we're F$U or MIA at this point and facing yet another losing season, perhaps record breaking losing (Hi, Jacksonville State :D, when's the last time F$U started 0-4? ). Yes, we can still sht the bed, lose several games we shouldn't, give up 3rd and Granthem over and over and over. But we can also smash just about anyone we face. When's the last time we could say that? When's the last time any of us felt, or have seen a performance like this which gives us, hope?
Those knocking Dan saying he'll always be who he has always been - likely true. But when has he ever had a roster with this talent (I'll let you judge how good it is), and went toe-to-toe with Bama to the wire? It's still a loss, but is this on par with all the others, or is this game better than the others? Is it the talent on the roster, or the play calling, that put us within 2pts of winning? We know it was the talent AND the play calling that cost us the two points, and spotted Bama to a 21-3 lead, but it was also that talent and play calling that brought us back to within 2pts.
Who doesn't believe we could have won if we hadn't given away the first quarter and 3TDs? How many feel like if we'd had one more posession (fk that INT hurt) we wouldn't have a good chance to win it?
I don't like playing 'IF' games. A lot on here a complaining AR would have been the difference in the win. Maybe, but it didn't happen. Just like we might have won if we didn't give up an INT. Or maybe AR goes in, gets hurt, and EJ is the only QB for the game and the next several following. Or....there are a lot of 'IF' points to ponder, but they won't change the fact we lost. We were close, but still lost. Spending time gnashing teeth about AR's lack of playing time is moot (or mute, in GC vernacular) - we are what we are, we performed as we did. And for me, it shows a lot more hope for our future than several naysayers on here seem to repeat themselves with.
So much for being brief. Sorry. This isn't celebrating the loss, but taking the reality from it that's there. Yes, we CONTINUE to have mistakes in play calling and execution. But most are fixable...some may not be, given our talent (Coach's clock management, 3rd and G; EJ's slow mental clock and decision making). But we are still way ahead of where we've been, with a better future than I've thought possible (I was in the 8-4 camp to start this season as well). Be real, quit btching about what could have been, it's gone. Take what we can from the game - D forcing punts, run game dominating, a team (and fans) with enough heart to come back from being down 21-3, ALL against #1 in the country - and accept that while we aren't yet to the top, we're a heckuva lot better than we have been.