To be fair, the statistics like power rankings and FPI are telling an accurate story--it is just not a story that we like to hear. This team is not very good. It has not been very good since 2009. The Gators were able to mask their inefficiencies from 2009 to 2022 because the state of Florida has plenty of high school recruits to feed youth into a program. The new transfer portal set in effect in 2022 has changed the game. The SEC is floundering in this new era because SEC programs are still recruiting like it is pre-2022. The Gators have exactly one senior over age 21 (Ricky Pearsall) as a starter--the rest are under age 21. That is 22 starters not old enough to drink legally and who are a year or two removed from high school. Our opponents have 80% of their starters as older, experienced transfers or longtime starters. So Florida has two concurrent problems, but one will go away as the old Mullen recruits age out of the program. Napier still needs to figure out how to balance his roster with underclassmen and transfers.
What do the power rankings and FPI say? They reveal details beyond what we see with our eyes. Any asshat can look at the Gators and see that they suck, but how specifically do they suck? Check the numerous posts.
I'll add another feature that currently affects our seeming endemic inferiority, one that the rest may well have to adapt to themselves:
Just as WE will have to do a better job of finding and adding more "experienced and mature players" from the transfer portal in the short term, those more relying on it so far will in the long term likewise have to get back to recruiting more young prep talent (that presumably suits their systems) as they once did--and fitting them to their specific needs. As time goes on, ALL programs will have to find ways to reach a balance among the new realities.
(Oh--and THIS "asshat" is well aware how badly we suck--he's merely tired of being inundated with so MUCH evidence of "how specifically"...Sorry: You are right, and I concede the value of noting and analyzing the inescapable history of our decline...There's even a certain comfort in understanding how and why, but for the moment I find myself among those who need concrete "reason for HOPE". That can only be found in widespread improvement--and above all of course in VICTORY (at this point no matter how uneven). A couple of even "ugly wins" about now might go a long way in helping us all be a little more "philosophical".)
PS--
Paul Finebaum (not at all surprisingly, I suppose) is flogging the "Napier About To Be Fired!" story still for all it is worth...
I still generally avoid his show nowadays, but it comes up daily on my YouTube screen and I see its blaring headlines as I flip by--so I cannot help but be somewhat aware of it. I do not click on it, so I am left instead with the continued impression/assumption that is so well argued by you and many others, E--: That for a number of quite solid practical reasons, this simply will not happen anytime THIS year--and probably not even before 2025 "unless he is charged with a crime"...Now, I'm NO LONGER so sure that the limit is either that distant nor so extremely defined, but I DO agree that his "seat" is safe for now. However, this highlights the very "surrounding emotional environment" that continues to contribute to my own general "fan-fatigue"!
PPS--
For MORE OF THE SAME "same old same old" as referred to above, have y'all seen the latest from "Hail Florida Hail" ("Four Red Flags for Florida")?
DEVASTATING.
Nothing really all that new there--just "All of it, all in one PLACE"! Neatly summarizes and encapsulates all the things that are eating at ALL OF OUR MINDS.
Do yourself a favor though:
Do NOT read it before going to bed. Relaxing and getting to sleep is hard enough for Gators these days.