Truth Takes: Moral Victories Are For Losers

[GatorJB]

Great summary. Not much to add except I was thinking the same thing about blocking the punt. A blocked punt gives you great field position with enough time, a great return gives you good field position with little time, and a fair catch (or short return) gives you bad field position with little time. Since the latter is what happens 95% of the time, I thought going for the block was a no brainier. But not wasting the time out before the 2pt conversion is also a no brainier.

The defense gets a lot of deserved criticism, and that overshadows the mediocre special teams. Granted, it's much better now than under Nord, but it's still not a great unit. Just OK at best. The onside kick looked like it had never been practiced before. They were better off kicking it deep.

Lot of what ifs in this game. A team like UF needs to play (and coach) a nearly perfect game to beat Bama. Too bad that didn't happen.

 

[soflagator]

I know it's very trendy nowadays, especially around here, to act like somebody is crazy or being ridiculous when you disagree with them, but let's talk about some facts...


Zook went 6-2 in the SEC twice, with a much harder SEC regular season schedule than what we play. One of those 6-2 years with zook we played 4 SEC teams in the top 15. We went 8-2 in regular season this year and only had 2 in the top 15 (and the other 8 teams we played are not even top 25 now).

is it really that far out of the realm of possibility that zook could have gone 8-2 with an easy schedule when he went 6-2 with a hard one?

WM and Zook(two of your examples) have been fired for completely failing at two different programs. They're likely out of the HC discussion for the rest of their lives, at least at the P5 level. And McElwain was an obvious fraud who never consistently won games with any respectable margin of victory and was blown out twice in Atl. Are you really saying that those three would have handled this season, and the last two, as well as Mullen? If so, that's fine. But I assure you I'm not aspiring to be trendy when I say this--you're still drunk and probably shouldn't go in today.

 

[RiverRat]

Im proud the Gators put up an competitive fight against what will probably be the National Champs. It was a game Fl.could have won if they played a perfect game, they didn't.
You can could of ,would of, should of, all day long , you can bitch, moan and complain, you can chit and fall in it as far as Im concerned.
If you are so dissatisfied with The Gators why don't you take your complaining A$$ up the road and pick another team to root for.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Im proud .

Another Life Champion

 

[Towels 'N Sporks]

WM and Zook(two of your examples) have been fired for completely failing at two different programs. They're likely out of the HC discussion for the rest of their lives, at least at the P5 level. And McElwain was an obvious fraud who never consistently won games with any respectable margin of victory and was blown out twice in Atl. Are you really saying that those three would have handled this season, and the last two, as well as Mullen? If so, that's fine. But I assure you I'm not aspiring to be trendy when I say this--you're still drunk and probably shouldn't go in today.

No I'm saying what I originally said. Muschamp, mccelwain, and zook all could have gone 8-3 with this schedule. Do you disagree? I Agree that Mullen is the best out of those 4.

 

[soflagator]

No I'm saying what I originally said. Muschamp, mccelwain, and zook all could have gone 8-3 with this schedule. Do you disagree? I Agree that Mullen is the best out of those 4.

Yes. I disagree. Could they, of course. Would they, I say no. But there is also more than wins and losses, as I said. Neither are winning those games by an average of 14 points, and neither are beating this year's uga team by 16 or hanging with this year's Alabama team.

 

[ChiefGator]

It is not a moral victory when you could easily have given up at the half. They did not do that. Now of course with a few better decisions we would have won with LSU and TaM as well. With some better luck and more penalties against Bama we could have won this game as well.

I don't blame any players going to the NFL, Toney probably should do so as well.

 

[B52G8rAC]

So let me recap. We don't pay players so our talent level is so bad we can't compete with Bama. Bama has three legit Heisman contender, we have one. Bama has a massive NFL ready OLine. Bama has a 5 star at every position on defense (OBTW-we scored 40 points on the Tiders). Bama has the greatest coach in college football history. They are going to be NCs. They beat the poor benighted Gators by 6 points. I guess our head coach can't do nothing right. Fire the bunch of them. (For Law and Corch-turn on the sarcasm switch.) And yes I agree with all the comments about defensive coaching; we lost at least two games this year 'cause we couldn't get lined up before the snap.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Yes. I disagree. Could they, of course. Would they, I say no. .

McElwain literally did this twice.

But I guess he didnt score enough for a moral victory.

Hey you know how I found this?

Searching for an SEC "East Champion" shirt for you.

Life Championships, baby!!!!

 

[Swamp Donkey]

So let me recap. We don't pay players

More loser talk.

Excusathon for lazy, terrible recruiters.

Ole Disco Dan dont need talent, he gon 3* whisper coach em up!!!!

bUt wE aLmOsT bEaT oGrE!!!!!!!!

 

[B52G8rAC]

So let me recap. We don't pay players so our talent level is so bad we can't compete with Bama. Bama has three legit Heisman contender, we have one. Bama has a massive NFL ready OLine. Bama has a 5 star at every position on defense (OBTW-we scored 40 points on the Tiders). Bama has the greatest coach in college football history. They are going to be NCs. They beat the poor benighted Gators by 6 points. I guess our head coach can't do nothing right. Fire the bunch of them. (For Law and Corch-turn on the sarcasm switch.) And yes I agree with all the comments about defensive coaching; we lost at least two games this year 'cause we couldn't get lined up before the snap.

Donk-Stoned was just hurtful. No, wait, I don't care.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Donk-Stoned was just hurtful. No, wait, I don't care.

How about that one, proud loser?

if you have a request let me know.

 

[B52G8rAC]

How about that one, proud loser?

You know there is a quote somewhere from a novel about war that goes "we don't expect kittens to fight tigers and win, we just expect them to try." Not saying the Gators have a bunch of kittens, but you guys have been telling us we shouldn't expect a championship until we consistently recruit in the top three. That is not going to happen. That's the facts. Until the NCAA enforces the rules equitably.

 

[stephenPE]

To the original point, no I don’t believe in moral victories. But I will say this. In Jan of 1996, when the plane returning from the Fiesta Bowl arrived, it was greeted with a large gathering of fans who came out to support a devastated team that was close to winning its first national title. They went on to win it a year later. There are no moral victories. No one finds pleasure in losing. But sometimes you appreciate what you have and just be a fan.

I went to that fckn game. SOS learned then you cant beat a bunch of convicts and murderers. Your last line resonates with a lover of "losers" like me. NO fck, now I wont quote TEddy again about the man in the arena but I will never forget Kadarius leaving it ALL on the fields. The incredible talent and toughness of Pitts. And the QB who came from nowhere to have one of the greatest seasonss in SEC history. And I quote,:
"No one in the world gave us a DAMN chance We believe in ourselves" With his 50 yd TD pass to GRimes he became the single season UF passing yardage leader. IN FEWER GAMES than all the greats we have had..............let that sink in. trash MY gddmmm ass.............
Like Sofla I will appreciate what we had. These fellas deserve no less.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Until the NCAA enforces the rules equitably.

No, it is a fact that he have a staff full of people who have never been even mediocre recruiters (save the Null Brewster and Frozone), we have probably the second tiniest recruiting support staff and second worst facilities in the SEC (thanks Vandy) and an admin who isnt going to change and a fanbase that increasingly supports being losers.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Like Sofla I will appreciate what we had. These fellas deserve no less.

I appreciate it was an opportunity lost by an 8-4 coach and staff. Not surprisingly his best year at Cowbell w a generational QB was 3 losses too. He is what his resume says he is.

This was the weakest SeC east in history, the weakest Ugly has been in a while, and a total rebuild Bammer w the worst defense theyve had since 2006.

But this year, and the next three were lost on National Signing Day. Those of us with sense knew that already.

But you can celebrate only being a loser by a little if you want.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

You know there is a quote somewhere from a novel about war that goes "we don't expect kittens to fight tigers and win, we just expect them to try." Not saying the Gators have a bunch of kittens, but you guys have been telling us we shouldn't expect a championship until we consistently recruit in the top three. That is not going to happen. That's the facts. Until the NCAA enforces the rules equitably.

The exception proves the rule. We had an opportunity this year despite having less overall talent. The stars may align once every 4-5 years for that to be true. We aren't going to regularly compete at this level of recruiting.

 

[oxrageous]

To the original point, no I don’t believe in moral victories. But I will say this. In Jan of 1996, when the plane returning from the Fiesta Bowl arrived, it was greeted with a large gathering of fans who came out to support a devastated team that was close to winning its first national title.

You obviously weren't there; I was. We weren't gathered there to honor the team, I assure you. The verbal filth that was hurled at those players as they got off that plane was the stuff of legend. Several people spit. Others threw physical objects. I flung an AA battery that laid open the forehead of Reidel Anthony; I was actually aiming for Spurrier and Reidel was in front of him. Fortunately for both of them, I had missed with a D battery the previous throw that put a nice dent in the side of the plane. I'll bet that dent is still there today.

The cops tried to find those that threw things, but we were able to blend into the crowd and get away (I also had one of the cops that was there tell me later he secretly supported it). It was an incident the university wanted to cover up and did so successfully. However, it's time for the truth to come out. Also, it was that kind of "tough love" that put the team over the top the following year. That kind of thing is necessary and is unfortunately happening less and less.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I definitely threw things at Zook.

 

[rogdochar]

I’d be curious to know how he makes his face look like molten lava rock.

Multiple meltdowns.

I definitely threw things at Zook.

I threw up.