Here Comes August!

[DRU2012]

Guess I'll be the first to take the plunge--albeit in the "medium depth"/"just over my head" rather than the full on "Deep End":
So yes, we have perhaps the toughest schedule in the SEC for 2023--making it of course probably the hardest in CFB this season.
That being said, while I caution continued patience, I do think Napier and his staff have made extensive progress in changing the culture in our program, and are in position to at least improve overall on the field and in our ultimate record at the end of the regular season.
Probably won't quite challenge for the East yet, but I believe we'll have a winning record.
NEXT year is where I see our growing strength, gathering momentum really beginning to tell.
For now though, Gators, go easy. Remain calm:
Take things, the inevitable ups'n'downs, in stride. The "machine" had been "driven into the ditch", to say the LEAST! Hell, we weren't even on the side of the ROAD anymore.
Thanks to Billy & Co. we are steadily putting ourselves back into position for a return.
It's gonna be a fun and exciting run, too.
But first I suspect we'll have to weather the rough and tumble abuse of one more season of spoiled, impatient and often ignorantly short-sighted modern young Gator fans and their knee jerk over reaction to any setback or adversity.
Long as Strickland and those behind him make good on their promises to give this Coach, staff and revamped team culture the time they need (and have so far used well) to renew and rebuild into a winning program once more, that is exactly what we soon will be. "Soon" being a term one has to qualify with consideration of just how much work there was to be done, and how short a period "2 or three years" really IS to get it done RIGHT.

 

[DRU2012]

Well, here it is mid-Aigist, just 2 weeks before we kick off the 2023 CFB season on a Thursday night at Utah. It's at high Elevation, on the road against a highly ranked Utes team on national TV.--at night, on the road in one of the tougher places to play.
Just about everyone picks us to go down in this one; NO ONE has in their preseason lists of "Top Teams", we know that.
But even accepting all that, understanding WHY they feel that way, especially facing the consensus "toughest schedule in college football in 2023", I still am pretty damn sick of seeing, hearing, reading about it everywhere as we close in on opening night.
So...more than ever, I would just LOVE to see us surprise EVERYONE (including ourselves, to some extent, let's face it) and not just win, but WIN BIG.
And I am NOT just talking about the Utah game.
Sure, I am realistic about this being at best likely a "transition year"--improvement, but not yet Championship material...and if pressed I"d have to stand by my statement elsewhere here that our winning even 8 games on this schedule would be an outstanding step forward for Napier and his program.
But still...How great would it be to see this much-maligned team go out and actually collect double digit wins??! Wouldn't THAT just shut them all up? Including those fools who are already announcing Billy's place on "the hotseat".
He DOESN"T need anything CLOSE to that kind of record to be given credit and a pass, all considered--but it sure would be a whole lot of fun if it happened, right?
Sigh...Oh well, even if just a fantasy, it sure is a nice one. Season's almost here: Hope springs eternal and all that, and this is the time for it.
I can handle "reality", of course...but if there were ever a time for us to "shock-the-WORLD", well, this would be a good one.
One of the BEST!