Saw this on ESPN and wanted to share
https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...sed-a-stinking-playoff/?addata=espn:frontpage
https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...sed-a-stinking-playoff/?addata=espn:frontpage
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If College Football had a playoff 1988-2013
- Thread starter Leakfan12
- Start date
This tells me that the four-team playoff is good enough, and that G5 teams should not expect to get into the playoffs or win championships. This also tells me that Florida had some very good teams between 1988 and 2013.
Thanks! That was interesting, fun AND revealing to read and contemplate...
Gotta agree--on all counts. Add that the STATE of Florida was thoroughly dominant: The (then) "Big Three" of us, Free Shoes and the Thugs were able to pretty well dominate recruiting in our talent-rich state. A number of things have leveled that field, more'n'more lately have narrowed the gap substantially between us and the rest, both nationwide AND among the various other schools INstate...but we also all had some pretty good staffs, each led by LEGENDS (SS, BB and Jimmy--with the depth of talent they had, year after year??? I mean, DAMN...).
And there it is, just as you note, E-: Statistically speaking, in terms of championships and CHANCES at more, seems we were the BEST. No wonder by now there is an empty feeling in the pits of all our stomaches.
Absolutely! And it took years in the run up to all that, starting with Spurrier's return to his almamater from Duke...Even before that--but the NCAA's war on the post-Dickey-led Gator teams on-the-come from ignominy (they'd "awakened the sleeping giant", as Bear Bryant put the danger of UF getting a proper, take-no-prisoners coaching staff and attitude) with Pell, then Hall in turn succeeding at exactly what they were hired to do--play by the same back-room rules the best AND rest were playing by in the SEC and elsewhere then, and getting crucified for it. The hangover from which Spurrier and his first class and seasons at UF in the early/mid 80's continued to be punished for by that self-same selfrighteous (read "dickheaded scumbags") NCAA. At the end of something like his 2nd season here, Spurrier even went so far as to finally have flashy gold "SEC CHAMPIONS" rings made at his own expense for every member of the team (can't remember actual year, but it was mid-80s--'85?--can't be bothered to stop n look it up this second...sorry) that had absolutely dominated their SEC schedule but of course (by reason of "official NCAA rulings") got NOTHING in reward or acknowledgement (let alone official record besides the actual won/loss tally) from conference or beyond.
So yes, there's even more there than the records and raw facts indicate: We were the BEST of a TRIO of dominant programs that seemed to explode out of Florida in the 80s. The frustrating thing to Gator Nation at the time, throughOUT the late 80's into the millenium, was the way that Miami and FSU got full attention and credit durimg that time, while we did not...To the point that you could go to Champs or similar sports gear shops in any mall in America in those years and see (in addition to whatever regional college program that town or area tended to support) the colors, paraphenalia and actual team jerseys of the Huricanes and 'Noles prominently sold and displayed--but (outside N Fla) NO Gator stuff at all.
It was noticeable, and irritating...But being Gators and having endured, first, not deserving any such recognition for so long, then not getting it even season after season of being as good or better than the other Fla teams WERE, we were used to it--and USED IT: It gave us all, team and fans alike, a chip on our shoulders. Like Spurrier's rings (which turned out to be a brilliant way to note, articulate and embrace this very disparity), we became "OUTSIDERS TOGETHER": We turned a negative into a positive. The more "they" (ie. Everyone else BUT Gators) disparaged, insulted and/or generally IGNORED us, the stronger we got, both inside (emotionally) and out (on the field). The level of mutual support fed back with the growing level of confidence, talent and visible success on the field: We kept getting better, our teams came more and more to expect this upward growth, improvement and result from THEMSELVES.
When Spurrier left, it knocked us down and back for awhile, you'll recall (remember Zook? Not a bad guy, just not a good coach, beyond the "exploit emotion" part of the game)...Then our VERY good AD at the time had the guts, judgement, connections to find and bring in the right guy at the right time, from "outside": With Meyer and his already-assembled, just-coming-into-their-own staff onboard, we proceeded to recover our aims, attitude, image, momentum and hence in-state "talent-train" just in time to reestablish and then surpass our place at the head of the Florida (and therefore NATIONAL) college hierarchy just before it all leaked away (pun semi-intentional...LOL...OK, ok, noticed it JUST AFTER typing it)...
THIS time's a little different for a LOTTA reasons. The process took longer this time, for one thing: TWO Head Coaches who each appeared to START well, but that seeming success (and the very nature of each) turned out to not only throw everything off course, but made recognizing that itself a "longer process" in turn getting RID of each one. TWICE.
So, prefaced by the way Meyer and Addazio themselves bumbled, stumbled and fumbled AWAY the very talent lead and general momentum they (Meyer, "and co.", amounting by the end of Addazio alone, the last--and by far least talented--of a great staff who'd all by then otherwise fled) had managed to build back there in the first place, Meyer pulled that whole weird drama, then stabbed us in the back on his way out the door.
His successors, first Muschamp, then MacEllwaine (stubbornly AND with varying degree of apparent intent, in retrospect) took the false lessons they convinced themselves were truths only THEY recognized--and rode them, us, the whole PROGRAM right to the limit and beyond with zero regard for even the possibility they might be wrong.
Muschamp BELIEVED it-and was simply, thoroughly mistaken...I don't hate the man for it, only wish WE'D sooner recognized that though a fine Def Coordinator, that was his limit.
MacEllwaine, on the other hand, we now can see was and is a lying manipulator, a talented CON MAN who is out for himself alone--more than anything all of it measured in DOLLARS, rather than the health, happiness and/or well-being of players, program or anything/anyone else. Him and his type I have long despised--especially dangerous for the very reason that in their sociopathic charm they are so hard to identify early on.
So this time we are now in a much deeper hole, with much more time and damage to undo. Thankfully, I THINK thanks to our AD's connection with Mullen (and so in turn thanks to MULLEN himself), we already now have most of the right pieces on hand. Working together, they will be able to turn this around and eventually, fully rebuild and return to the top.
However, his time, let us be clear-eyed:
Let's neither look for nor be fooled by the kind of "immediate rebound" that seemed to accompany our last two Coaches. For the moment, look for steady, gathering, SYSTEMIC improvement from here. Let us be like the proverbial snowball-into-avalanche: We WILL get there, I think, and it WILL happen faster than the "first signs" might seem to indicate early on. But in the long run, for now let us look for it as "building a firm foundation", and go from there.
That's about as good a year end/New Year START to what we all hope is a NOT unrealistic analysis of where we are at and where we are headed at this point.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, my Gator bro's, to all of us!...
...To our Gator brothers and sisters in general!!!
Happy New Year, Gator Nation!
