The SEC East

#51
#51
99gator said:
I’m not claiming to be unhappy. My point is hat I usually think of a 9, 10 win team is a pretty good team. The 2007 Gators went 9-4. That team would kick the every living crap out of the 2018 Gators who have a chance to end up win a better record.

It is a highly flawed team that has managed to overcome its flaws to obtain the record it has. Part of the reason, which relates to this thread, there aren’t a lot of great teams in the league this year.

I hope I’m wrong, but every rumored bowl matchup I’ve seen Florida to be a part of is against a team hat I think is vastly superior to Florida.
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I’m an MSU grad and have seen first hand how Mullen can evaluate talent and develop QBs. Y’all are about to average 10 wins per year and if you hang on to Grantham you’ll run the table within the next 2 years. Mullen doesn’t rely on top 10 recruiting classes, so there’s no reason to think there’s anything standing in his way of winning the east most of the next 10 years, EXCEPT PRUITT 😂
 
#52
#52
99gator said:
I’m not claiming to be unhappy. My point is hat I usually think of a 9, 10 win team is a pretty good team. The 2007 Gators went 9-4. That team would kick the every living crap out of the 2018 Gators who have a chance to end up win a better record.

It is a highly flawed team that has managed to overcome its flaws to obtain the record it has. Part of the reason, which relates to this thread, there aren’t a lot of great teams in the league this year.

I hope I’m wrong, but every rumored bowl matchup I’ve seen Florida to be a part of is against a team hat I think is vastly superior to Florida.
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I mostly agree, although I think you have to give more credit to damn good coaching. We’ve both seen elite teams at Florida, and this team definitely is not elite. That’s why I would be amazed with 10-3 or even 9-4. But I have no problem imagining Florida being elite under Mullen. Imagine his offense when he’s got a legit dual-threat guy running his offense. You’ve seen what that looks like in his offenses.

Also, I’m much more confident in where we’re headed with offseason strength and conditioning. That, along with what I mentioned before regarding FSU and Miami’s demise benefitting UF in recruiting, and I think UF is very close to another upswing. An upswing from 10-3 or 9-4 puts you in the elite category.

Regarding the possible bowl opponents, I have zero interest in playing West Virginia or Oklahoma. That would probably be Missouri all over again for UF. Just a bad matchup. I think UF would thump UCF.
 
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#53
#53
99gator said:
I don’t know.

I know how far Florida has to go. They pulled an upset over LSU. That’s great.

But, it’s still a one dimensional offense vs. a decent defense. It’s a defense that’s going to get lit up by any two dimensional offense that’s competent at the run and the pass.

I’ll put it this way. Every game (except the cupcakes) I’ve thought Florida has had a better than decent chance to lose.

When Florida or other teams go into contests against teams that aren’t going to a bowl and I take the game for granted, then Florida, or whoever, is back.

Florida State is terrible and I think we should win, but losing would not surprise me.

If Florida is what I want them to be, I’d be salivating at the butt kicking I know would be coming. But, I don’t have that level of trust yet and it hasn’t been earned either
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Sure, but your response is driven primarily by emotion, as a fan who wishes your team were back in its championship days.

Objectively, looking purely at results on the field, in 2018, the East is at least as good as the West, and the two divisions together are better than every other conference.

So maybe Tennessee still has a long way to go (we do), and Florida is no championship team yet, either. Nonetheless, they and their five division mates are objectively, as a group, much stronger than in any of the past ten years.
 
#55
#55
ThreatLevelOrange said:
Records-wise, of course not. But they played ND off their feet, and were far more competitive vs Fla and Mizz than we were. We’ve lost 5 games by 26 or more points. Vandy only 1.
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Vols are like the titans. It just depends on which team decides to show up. Calling this game is nothing but a guess I think.
 
#57
#57
VFL-82-JP said:
Sure, but your response is driven primarily by emotion, as a fan who wishes your team were back in its championship days.

Objectively, looking purely at results on the field, in 2018, the East is at least as good as the West, and the two divisions together are better than every other conference.

So maybe Tennessee still has a long way to go (we do), and Florida is no championship team yet, either. Nonetheless, they and their five division mates are objectively, as a group, much stronger than in any of the past ten years.
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Oh, I agree. I think if you take Alabama out of the equation, there are a bunch of teams that aren’t separated by a whole lot.
 
#58
#58
Vol_from_86 said:
I think our biggest problem moving forward will be Florida. Georgia doesn’t scare me. Smarts best signing classes are behind him and he hasn’t shown me that he can out-coach many people in this league.

Mullen, on the other hand, has proven that he doesn’t need top 5 classes to compete at the highest level. Look at the impact his departure has had on MSU’s offense. And look at how much better Florida is since his arrival. People say “yeah but he had Dak” well who signed and developed Dak? Mullen also won 9 games with Fitzgerald in the SEC West. Not easy. Florida will be as good as Georgia within the next couple years and I think we’ll be nipping at their heels.

Kentucky is having a once in 3 or 4 years run that good programs of their caliber have but they’ll never be stronger contender than they were this year.

Missouri is benefiting from having the best QB in program history. They’ve peaked and unless they find another Lock, they’ll regress.

Vandy is Vandy but right now they’re at least as good as us.
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What you said about Kentucky can be said about us for the last decade or so. Just saying.
 
#59
#59
Vol_from_86 said:
They should be very good for 2 or 3 more years at least. Just don’t see them being any better than they have been for the past couple years.

The best thing they’ve got going for them is recruiting and a stable staff. He’s got a career OC, career QB coach, a career OL coach, and obviously he’s the leader on defense. That creates great stability. He could go on a Fulmer-like run and sneak a national championship in there but these people thinking he’ll dominate the SEC like Saban are crazy.
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lol no one thinks any coach will have a Saban type run. It's the first time it's happened and probably wont' happen again. Also judging a coach off their first year seems a bit strange too. Any coach will tell you it takes time to implement your system. Just look at Frost, Meyer, Saban, Kelley, etc. Kirby's been an elite recruiter for a while, so that probably won't change. If UT and UF get back to winning, then it will certainly be harder for UGA to recruit, but also more difficult for UF and UT as well. I honestly see a lot of similarities between Pruitt and Smart. Both were successful DC's, both are elite recruiters, and both of their team's success will have a lot to do with who their OC is. From a UGA fan's perspective, I see UT being a threat before UF simply from a recruiting standpoint. Pruitt has done a great job drawing interest from elite recruits in a short amount of time. Mullen isn't known as an elite recruiter, but the UF fan does make an interesting point about FSU and Miami being down.
 
#60
#60
ThreatLevelOrange said:
The SEC is fairly competitive, as everyone in the East (besides Georgia) has lost 3 or more games to other East teams. Lots of down to the wire games:

UK vs Mizz
Mizz vs SC
SC vs Fla
Vandy vs Mizz
Vandy vs Fla
UT vs SC

What’s disheartening is that we’ve gotten trucked 3 times this year vs the East, twice vs teams that have struggled vs other Eastern Teams. I hope Vandy isnt a 7-4 team with a 5-6 record.
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Florida is the luckiest team in the East every year. They should have 2-3 more loses this year. We happen to be the unluckiest.
 
#61
#61
Atlanta917 said:
lol no one thinks any coach will have a Saban type run. It's the first time it's happened and probably wont' happen again. Also judging a coach off their first year seems a bit strange too. Any coach will tell you it takes time to implement your system. Just look at Frost, Meyer, Saban, Kelley, etc. Kirby's been an elite recruiter for a while, so that probably won't change. If UT and UF get back to winning, then it will certainly be harder for UGA to recruit, but also more difficult for UF and UT as well. I honestly see a lot of similarities between Pruitt and Smart. Both were successful DC's, both are elite recruiters, and both of their team's success will have a lot to do with who their OC is. From a UGA fan's perspective, I see UT being a threat before UF simply from a recruiting standpoint. Pruitt has done a great job drawing interest from elite recruits in a short amount of time. Mullen isn't known as an elite recruiter, but the UF fan does make an interesting point about FSU and Miami being down.
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I’m obviously not saying anyone thinks he’s as good as Saban. Good grief. Don’t take everything so literal. And what makes you think I’m only looking at his first year?

Edit: just finished reading your post. You overestimate Mullen’s need to recruit at an elite level.
 
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#62
#62
Vol_from_86 said:
I’m obviously not saying anyone thinks he’s as good as Saban. Good grief. Don’t take everything so literal. And what makes you think I’m only looking at his first year?
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Because the second year wouldn't for your narrative? I'll be the first to admit that UGA has underachieved in the Richt years, but it's also fair to say they overachieved last year. . So in Kirby's only 2 years as a HC, he has an average first year in terms of first year coaches and an exceptional second year. With only 2 years of data there just isn't a large enough sample size to determine if he's a "good" coach or not. As far as the Saban comment, I guess I got confused by you saying a lot of people expect him to dominate the SEC like Saban. Every fanbase has its crazies, but my point was that no rational person I've talked to expects that. Not trying to flame your post. I just like talking to fans of other fanbases and getting different perspectives. I could be over simplifying it, but do you think Pruitt and Kirby are similar HC's?
 
#63
#63
Jaws said:
The scariest thing for the rest of the SEC, and I’m not sure who all has put this together yet, is that the demise of FSU and Miami is HUGE for Florida. When Meyer wigged out at UF, and FSU became stable with Jimbo Fisher, they started dominating recruiting in the state. Florida was still getting some big time guys, but they weren’t getting basically whoever they wanted like they were under Meyer. If Mullen starts dominating Florida recruiting again, look out. And yes, even Alabama has to look out. Bama has been so dominant for the last decade that people forget that UF had a mini-dynasty before Saban and Bama burst on the scene, and simultaneously had its coach freak the hell out on the doorstep of his own dynasty.
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Yes. And to add to the gloom, the Vols aren't recruiting Georgia and the Carolinas like they did when UT was a force. I hope Pruitt can reverse this.
 
#64
#64
Vol_from_86 said:
Mullen overachieved in year 1 at UF while Smart underachieved in year 1 at UGA. Smart has never beaten a team that was more talented than his own. Smart has recruited well though. I’ll give him that.
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Mullen is 0-2 vs Kirby.

Take year one out of Kirby's not quite three year career and he's lost a total of 3 games. Auburn at Auburn, Bama (by 3 in OT for the NC), and LSU at LSU. The Auburn and LSU games really meant nothing, as the SECE, and SECC are the ultimate goals. I think Mullen is one of the four best HCs in the SEC. 1) Saban 2/3) Smart/Fisher 3/4) Mullen/O 5/6/7/8) Stoops/Pruitt/Musachamp/Mason. Mullen is 0-2 vs Kirby.
 
#65
#65
TXStiger said:
Nobody who knows much of anything regarding Mizzou’s program has Lock in the top five. He’s not even in most people’s top three since 2000.
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I live in Mizzou country and read and listen to reporting regarding that program and Lock every day. He is regularly discussed as a contender for the best QB in the program's history, and both local and national writers discuss that he is far more likely to be a successful QB in the NFL than any in the program's history.
 
#66
#66
Jax_Vol said:
Two keys:

1) Gotta tell the O-line whatever we told them before Kentucky game. Time for the buttercups to toughen up.

2) Defense front-7 gotta play with hair on fire:

Tuttle!
Phillips showing out in front in his hometown!
Johnson!
Bain!
Taylor!
Kirkland!
Buuuuuuuuuuuutoooooli!!!!!!!
Ignont!
Sapp!

These guys gotta ball. The back end will be ok, if the front can bring some heat.
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I agree with this. Also, there is no need to contain Shurmur the way we had to against the UK QB. Just pin your ears back and go get that %$#@!
 
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