And, of course, they won, so you got your chaos. Texas is now the only undefeated left in the SEC. As bad as the Gators have looked at times, they're actually tied in the conference standings with all the other former top-10 teams.
That may have been one of the best college football Saturdays in a while. Such a chaotic day and no one expected it. There are a lot of good matchups coming up this Saturday too Watching clips of the Vandy students taking the goal posts down Broadway was hilarious At the end of the Vandy game one of the bama players was throwing a temper tantrum on the field. Saban would not have tolerated that A&M is 3-0 in SEC play. That ND loss still stings.
I couldn't stay awake and finally turned off the Miami / Cal game in the 3rd quarter, figuring that the lead was safe. The next morning -- guess it wasn't.
???? As far as being a restrictor plate race? Where everyone is equal? You'll get that now, have you seen these high school facilities all over the USA? And the coaching? The skill level difference between a #1 player and a #50 player is minimal... if any at all. Couple that with great players transferring from colleges you never heard of and making an impact on the 'name' schools they are picked up by... and vice' verse'. What it is NOW is players can jump teams immediately, no one year sit-out, so if you are a GREAT player stuck behind another GREAT player, you can put yourself out there on the market to the highest bidder. And if you do really well, you can put yourself out there in the transfer 'market' AGAIN and go to someone else that offers an even higher bid for your services.... 1) Las Vegas has to be going nuts, trying to figure point spreads and odds.... 2) I've seen teams picked to win by 20.5 LOSE by 21... 3) The games overall are more exciting. 4) I am not sure I like it, I think I do? Look at the clown from UNLV that quit on his team after game 3, to preserve an entire season somewhere else... did he ever end up anywhere? I hope not. Matt Sluka, I have not found him to be anywhere as of this writing, some reports have said he is still at UNLV...
So the Gators are 3-3, halfway to a bowl game, and their near-miss against Tennessee shows that they are playing better. But can they make it to 6-6? They should be able to beat Kentucky, and also FSU if the Seminoles don't suddenly find themselves. But they would also have to beat a ranked team, probably either LSU or Ole Miss, and they get them both at home. Consider that their three losses have been to teams currently ranked 6, 10 and 14, and they have yet to play teams ranked 1, 4, 8 and 15! Who made up this schedule, the Marquis de Sade?
Texas is the best team money can buy. They may not always win, but nobody can outspend them. My two favorite teams are: whoever is playing Notre Dame, and whoever is playing Texas. It's the SEC, what do you expect? That conference always gets preferential treatment when it comes to ranking the Top-25, so Florida is ALWAYS going to be playing a bunch of rated teams - everyone in the SEC is. ESPN is who controls college football, and - don't kid yourself - they also control the polls. They need rated teams for TV ratings, people are more tempted to watch two rated teams, as opposed to a game where one is rated and one isn't. Also, once you get outside of maybe the Top-5, the PARITY between the teams is insane. How many games have we seen be decided by a turnover - or especially a couple of really bad calls by the refs? I've seen the refs decide too many games with very 'suspect' calls late in games that turn a 3rd and 6 into a 3rd and 21, or have pushed a FG attempt from 45 yards to 60 yards - these guys know exactly what they are doing.
Or get rid of refs and have it all done with video replay officials in the booths. How many times have we seen a ref stare at another ref - and if one throws a flag, the other feels compelled to also throw the flag? Both college and the NFL really need to slightly loosen up the dumbass 'illegal shift', 'player not on the line', and 'holding' calls. We all agree you could call holding on EVERY play if you really wanted to go 'by the book', but I am convinced they wait for an opportune time to call it...
Your Florida issue is they lost their starting QB for the season... Is the backup any good? Will it matter?
On the one hand, Lagway was one of the top-rated QBs coming out of high school, and he's a better runner than Mertz. On the other hand, he's a freshman, so he's bound to make some mistakes. But if they use his talents properly without putting him in bad situations, they can still win. And the defense is playing much better than early in the season, as evidenced in the Tennessee game. They can still make a bowl game, but it's not likely. Napier's job is probably safe for the rest of the season, at least for now.
Still, if you compare Florida's schedule with some of the other conference teams, I think they got a raw deal. But some of their problems are self-induced. They used to regularly be one of that "bunch of rated teams", but they were asleep at the switch at the wrong time and let Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss and maybe even Vanderbilt get in front of them. I'm not sure who's to blame, but if they had done the right things they'd still be a top-10 team.
The problem is you're biased. Now, if you want to talk about a TOUGH schedule, let's discuss Notre Dame.... (LOL)
Of course, I'm biased, but if you compare this year's schedule with any from the past 25 years, this one somehow came out worse than any of the others. Before the season most polls rated it the #1 toughest in the country.
Here's the problem: Nobody knows how good (or bad) your opponents will be when they make up the schedules. SOMEONE is going to get screwed, no matter what. I'm sure they didn't AIM to screw Florida.
No one predicted that Indiana, Army, Navy, Pitt and BYU would be undefeated this far into the season? Or that FSU would be 1-6?
I'm a Die-Hard Hurricane fan and I know we have the easiest schedule (which includes your team) Sorry, Had to get my dig in. But I do have to agree with you. The Gators do have one of the toughest schedules in 2024
I presume you're also cackling at FSU's misfortune this year. Just don't let them sneak up on you this Saturday.
I never said anyone did, but they (Indiana) looked a helluva lot better coached than Alabama (so far), the other four... will run into some buzzsaws and lose. I was reading that Army/Navy may meet in the AAC Conference championship game, and THEN have to play their annual game against each other a week later(?) Army/Navy has been on my 'bucket list' forever, I think I will aim for it next year. Not much on my bucket list: Isle of Man motorcycle races, Bathhurst 1000 race, not much else. Maybe Harvard/Yale game, I'd LIKE to see an Ivy League game in the snow in the Fall....
