The Scariness of the Gators

[Oneshot]

I'm not one to usually buy into the hype of a team so early into the off-season, but do the Gators scare anyone else?

Urban is the real deal. His track records are incredible. He develops players. Period. His offense is like Spurrier*2 in its effectiveness.

There is no doubt that Florida is teeming with talent, but with some unfufilled prophecy kids on the team.

You think they're making a Title run? I honestly would not be shocked.

What do y'all think?

How about Rose Bowl 2006, Ohio State's disgusting passing defense against Florida's 600 yard-a-game passing offense? (And that's only a slight exaggeration)

I love the upcoming season.

 

[Yertle]

I assume by disgusting, you mean disgustingly good, right? And I also think that 600 yards a game is a HUGE exaggeration. Texas Tech (I forget the QB's name after Kingsbury) threw for 500 yards a game over a 3 game span, and that was plain crazy. I'd give Florida less than 50/50 odds at averaging 350 yards a game through to air.

That being said, I am also impressed with Meyer, and I think Florida will have a solid year. I think they're going to be the best team in the state, and we've already discussed how much the media loves the state of Florida. They'll be up near the top at the end. Their trouble comes in the fact that they play in the SEC, which is a tough conference. No matter how good they are, it'll be hard to run the table. It's not like Florida State, who had a free pass to the ACC championship (until recently).

They have a shot, but don't bet the farm. USC has a much better shot. I may get ridiculed for saying this, but I'd put Florida's chances in the same ballpark as our Bucks'.

 

[FadeproofBuck]

I'm not one to usually buy into the hype of a team so early into the off-season, but do the Gators scare anyone else?

Urban is the real deal. His track records are incredible. He develops players. Period. His offense is like Spurrier*2 in its effectiveness.

There is no doubt that Florida is teeming with talent, but with some unfufilled prophecy kids on the team.

You think they're making a Title run? I honestly would not be shocked.

What do y'all think?

How about Rose Bowl 2006, Ohio State's disgusting passing defense against Florida's 600 yard-a-game passing offense? (And that's only a slight exaggeration)

I love the upcoming season.

I still view them as a 9-4/8-5 team, I think that Georgia, LSU, or Tennessee are more capable of making a title run in the SEC than Florida is.

They'll get the mandatory "vote Florida in the top 10" preseason poll ranking, but I doubt it holds up.

In a few years though, I can see them making a push, once Urban gets his recruits in and his team starts buying into the offense more, but 1 year turnover would be a big deal.

 

[Oneshot]

Haha, yes I meant disgustingly good.

I dont think Urban would stand being with a team as full of talent as florida with FOUR losses. I have a feeling that if his team loses more than a game, they'll be too tired from his punishments to play the following week. :P

I think OSU DEFINITELY has a better chance than Florida. Keep in mind that OSU is a cohesive unit that knows what the game plan is, whereas Florida has just one year to go from a quasi-ball control game (quasi because the "control" part of the game was missing) with Zook to a fun'n'gun offense with Urban.

Jeez, it's hard to see a game they lose, other than the title or BCS game. With pretty much any other team I see some serious pitfalls, but I think Urban is ready to play with the big boys (as demonstrated in the whupping of Pitt last season).

Then again, I feel the same way with this season's bucks, in that I can't see a game we lose.

 

[Yertle]

Then again, I feel the same way with this season's bucks, in that I can't see a game we lose.

I feel good about every game on a single game scale. However, when you look at the season as a whole, it gets a bit trickier. Now, I'm going to dork out on you for a minute....

1. Assume a team (Florida, OSU, who gives a crap) has a 80% chance at winning each game on their schedule. That would be a fairly good chance at getting the win, right?
2. The odds of winning two games is 80% times 80%, or 64%.
3. Three games is 64% times 80%, or 51% (obviously, about 50/50)
4. The odds of winning 11 games is 8%. I'd call that down-right crappy.

You could argue that the team (Florida, OSU) has better than 80% chance at winning each game on average. First of all, I'd argue with you since you have a couple 50-60% games and a couple of 90-95% games. I'd say that the average is around 80%.

However, for shits and giggles, let's say that the team has 3 "tough" games (60% chance at winning) and 8 "easy" games (90% chance at winning). The result is 9% chance at running the table. In other words, it's pretty freaking close to 80% per game.

My point is it's easy to look down the schedule and say this team should be favored in EVERY game. It's another thing to actually win each game. Teams that play in good football conferences simply are playing against the odds.


By the way, given 80% chance at winning each game, the record with the highest odds of occurring is 9-3. Good old Earl Bruce.

 

[scooter1369]

The Gators will be a great team this year, but the SEC is not an easy schedule of Baylor, Utah State, New Mexico and Idaho. The Ole Ball Coach is back. Fat Fulmer is still there and Georgia hasn't gone anywhere.

I really think the Gators will turn some heads this year and I'd love to see them go to Pasadena (For Taz), but the road is long and full of landmines.

 

[methomps]

They'll be worth watching

Florida
9/3 Wyoming
9/10 Louisiana Tech
9/17 Tennessee
9/24 at Kentucky
10/1 at Alabama
10/8 Miss State
10/15 at LSU
10/29 vs. Georgia
11/5 Vanderbilt
11/12 at South Carolina
11/26 Florida State

 

[Oneshot]

Whoa. That is a pretty beefed schedule.

Tough opener at Wyoming...

Tennesee at third game? Wow. That's a tall order for any team.

Alabama, LSU, Georgia, SC, and FSU are going to be freakin' bombs on that schedule as well.

Meyer's got his work cut out for him

 

[Zurp]

Ok.. so the offense scares you. What about their defense? I ask this, because I don't know the answer (not because I do know the answer and I'm making a point).

I know its over-said (is that even a word?), but defense wins championships. Look at the 2002 Buckeyes. Or 2003 LSU. Or 2002 Tampa Bay, or 2000 Baltimore. Or the fact that the Patriots always beat the Colts. I'm sure there's countless other games when a high-power offense was shut down by an awesome defense. If Florida's defense is no good, they'll lose 55-52. Or win 58-55. It'll make fun games to watch, but the team will end with 3-4 losses, play in some December bowl game against Boise State, and the two teams will score about 100 points.

 

[daddyphatsacs]

Florida doesn't scare me because I feel that Meyer is a tad bit overhyped. He is being appointed the 2nd coming of christ by most media types. Honestly, he had a good team at Utah. He won a BCS game against Pitt, a team that had no business receiving a BCS bid. His offense is scary good, but then again so is USC's. I haven't read anything about the defense that they have in place in Florida. If you go through history a majority of national champions have had a rock solid defense. I'm not sold that Florida does at this moment.

 

[Steve19]

The Gators will be a great team this year, but the SEC is not an easy schedule of Baylor, Utah State, New Mexico and Idaho. The Ole Ball Coach is back. Fat Fulmer is still there and Georgia hasn't gone anywhere.

I really think the Gators will turn some heads this year and I'd love to see them go to Pasadena (For Taz), but the road is long and full of landmines.

I'm with Daddy and Scooter, but maybe too far off for even them.

I'm NOT sold on Urban Meyer. He has not had success with a major program or really dealt with a sustained tough schedule while driving a team with a bullseye on its chest. I think he has at least three losses for the first two years and that, by then, the bloom will be off the rose.

 

[justanotherbuck]

Depends on how he reaches his guys

I've always pictured the Gators as a soft defensive team. Urban Meyer is an offense guy, but I've also heard he's a hard-nosed guy, so this has to help that Nancy-Boy D. Hey, he's at least going to bring some mid-west toughness to those fancy footed southern boys.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Florida will be good on offense that is a given because they have an experienced quarterback in Leak who is a major talent, but the defense was suspect last year and the schedule is tough to say the least. They have there work cut out for them.

They have slipped the last few years because they lost the big games. I see more of the same this year, they will stumble.

 

[sandgk]

TN and FL Always Meet Early -- Insane

Its one of the nutso things about the SEC schedule.

The TN vs FLA game is one of the highlights of both team's schedules ... and they always run with it very early on the slate. With the SEC Championship game it is not uncommon for a team to have no more than 2 OOC games. (In fact the Vols only show ONE OOC game before the 9/17 contest against Florida, which is on 9/3 vs Alabama Birmingham).

Imagine, to put this in perspective, tOSU playing only Miami of Ohio and then going straight into the Michigan game. (And that's bad-mouthing the Redhawks as I think on it!).

Nuts I tell you, plain nuts. Drop that game and your season is soured from day one of conference play.

 

[Zurp]

That is nuts. Is there a reason for it? Maybe the loser of that game can win the rest of its games and have enough time to make up for it and make it to a BCS game?