Alright.
We’ve gotten a glimpse of “the standard” by which we’ll be judged, at any rate.
Clemsen, Notre Dame...Wide open major college offenses clicking on all cylinders...Their defenses looking pretty damn decent—at least against “admittedly lesser competition” (although I THOUGHT USF would acquit itself with a little more pride and overall talent than THEY showed—even WITH the drain of SOME of that “talent” from the State of Fla that the rest of the SEC (and the ACC, to a lesser extent) have managed of late, you’d THINK they’d have grabbed enough of the fertile Florida grounds to make a better showing than YESTERDAY’S against the Irish!).
Now comes OUR chance, along with Alabama, UGA and the REST of the SEC: After yesterday, you gotta believe we will be held to a high standard in the “eye test” come NEXT weekend! Given all the strange and unique circumstances, you just KNOW we’ll have to do a little more than “Just ‘WIN’, baby...’ “—...in the long run, with SEC “playing itself alone” this regular season, “HOW you win” will be an undeniable factor in terms of the “standings” and eventual “playoff choices” as the season progresses. THIS aspect of the proceedings, the reversion to more of the ol’ “beauty pageant”/“popularity contest” to ultimately decide things is the REAL point to all the pre-play discussion: Thank goodness that there IS now still a 4-team PLAYOFF that teams are vying to be named to: in the end, at least it WILL still be “decided on the field”—but WE will have to UNDENIABLY SEIZE OUR PLACE in it to move up and INTO “elite status”, as we have come to expect and focus on. Bama, Bulldogs, LSU will ALL be looking, THEMSELVES “expecting” to hold THEIR places in the pecking order; Clemsen and the Irish have laid THEIR early claims.
Meanwhile, who KNOWS what to make of Miami, whose DEFENSE somewhat surprisingly was their unanticipated “difference maker” in the weekend’s only “Top 20 Match-Up” against Louisville? ...Only that as usual, they aren’t NEAR as good as their trolling fans will be screaming far and wide next few weeks...personally, I will ENJOY their eventual fall, if only for the blessed QUIET it will inevitably bring—along with a return to logic and perspective! Here comes one of those very RARE occasions when I’ll be rooting FOR the ‘Noles: AGAINST Miami...or as my dad used to say, “I hope they BOTH lose!” Lol.
But now word comes of FSU’s latest Head Coach (“/sacrificial lamb”) Norvell has tested positive for Covid and has already been isolated from the team, sat down and for now replaced by his AC on the sidelines...that won’t help them against a streaking-to-start-the-season Hurricanes squad!
Also with a fast start (and perhaps a less illusionary one) is Texas—to a great extent on the arm AND legs of their tough, beefed-up young QB, has managed to raise THEIR profile AND place in the early rankings—and hence in “the talk” here. And of course, Oklahoma is still out there as well. The Big 12 will play their part in this being “a REAL season” after ALL!
But consider what Ohio State will be up against by the time THEY finally begin THEIR campaign: Unless several favorites among those already playing seriously stumble before then, they (the Buckeyes) will have to DESTROY their competition in order to elbow their way into the middle of the “playoff talk”, starting as late as they and Michigan, etc are gonna be starting. But their Conference did this to themselves—not that I especially care, about the “NOT Large Ten” in general OR “The Poison Nuts” in particular!
So all in all, you gotta KNOW how WE will have to “not just win, but WIN WITH AUTHORITY” in order to “Step UP”: Bring our game, image and overall at-large EXPECTATIONS into that ELITE DISCUSSION and STATUS!!! It won’t be enough to just “hold our OWN” this time: It ISN’T a “normal year”. No use pretending differently: We want to see our “Return to Gator Dominance”, we will have to step in and SEIZE IT...One “off week”, one less-than-impressive-showing, whether a loss against a “currently favored SEC power”, or even a barely-pulled-out-LATE WIN against a “lesser (former) rival”, will likely get us left OUT of the late-season PLAYOFF discussion, I’m afraid. Just saying. This is why I have been getting that “sinking feeling” every time I look at E-‘s “before/after”, “a”/“b” lists from back before the season started.
Our only real hope, I think, is that Trask and a by now starting-to-be a POTENT OFFENSE, with a seeming LOT of breakout weapons, begins to “put it all together” a season EARLIER than the “whispering underneath” predicts/promises...word in background is that that offense, especially IF it gets its share of prospective FIVE STAR PROSPECTS ALREADY MORE AND MORE SOLIDIFYING IN THEIR APPARENT INTENTIONS TO JOIN US IN G-VILLE after high school DO JUST THAT: BECOME “Fightin’ Gators” and, with growing depth at Qb under Mullens, begin to finally build an exciting, wide open O-Attack to go with the proven product on the OTHER side of the line-of-scrimmage under Grantham.
There will have to develop a clear, almost ‘assembly line’ beginning to routinely develop in the timing and order of things on and around the Gator offense and way-of-DOING THINGS—on the sidelines AND in the locker room...QBs especially (along with assorted potential playmakers) being “taken under-wing”, mentored and guided by both coaches and players as they settle IN here, become a part of the “Gator Family”...
Clearly, were THAT to noticeably occur, “The HAPPY TIMES” will have returned to our town...with the eventual fading (FINALLY) of the Pandemic and whatever this post-Covid “New World” will look like (masks common on the crowded streets of major cities nationwide for years to come, for one thing, I figure...Here’s a game: What do Y’ALL think will be the features that will persist (or even somewhat surprisingly HANG ON or tend to APPEAR) in the months and even YEARS in AFTERMATH to all we’ve been through here this last year-plus??!)...
ON-THE-FIELD, at least, there’ll be some persistent changes. I just hope it DOESN’T INCLUDE A FEAR OF PHYSICAL CLOSENESS:
I MISS THE RAW EMOTION OF SHARING MOVIES, MUSIC, AND THE LIKE WITH OTHER HUMANS IN A CROWD—INDOOR AND OUTDOOR!!! Trying to watch these “Major Sports in a Bubble” has mostly been a strange chore (I suppose the NHL has done it the best—though it just may be that the scale of their product, locally and regionally and with the loyalty of their fans, has helped...).
Some things will HAVE TO CHANGE—hard to say which, or exactly the way.
Let’s see what happens along THOSE LINES! But be thankful for its final fading, when it DOES come. Personally, I’m in “constantly vigilant” mode, searching for signs of relief!
We’ve gotten a glimpse of “the standard” by which we’ll be judged, at any rate.
Clemsen, Notre Dame...Wide open major college offenses clicking on all cylinders...Their defenses looking pretty damn decent—at least against “admittedly lesser competition” (although I THOUGHT USF would acquit itself with a little more pride and overall talent than THEY showed—even WITH the drain of SOME of that “talent” from the State of Fla that the rest of the SEC (and the ACC, to a lesser extent) have managed of late, you’d THINK they’d have grabbed enough of the fertile Florida grounds to make a better showing than YESTERDAY’S against the Irish!).
Now comes OUR chance, along with Alabama, UGA and the REST of the SEC: After yesterday, you gotta believe we will be held to a high standard in the “eye test” come NEXT weekend! Given all the strange and unique circumstances, you just KNOW we’ll have to do a little more than “Just ‘WIN’, baby...’ “—...in the long run, with SEC “playing itself alone” this regular season, “HOW you win” will be an undeniable factor in terms of the “standings” and eventual “playoff choices” as the season progresses. THIS aspect of the proceedings, the reversion to more of the ol’ “beauty pageant”/“popularity contest” to ultimately decide things is the REAL point to all the pre-play discussion: Thank goodness that there IS now still a 4-team PLAYOFF that teams are vying to be named to: in the end, at least it WILL still be “decided on the field”—but WE will have to UNDENIABLY SEIZE OUR PLACE in it to move up and INTO “elite status”, as we have come to expect and focus on. Bama, Bulldogs, LSU will ALL be looking, THEMSELVES “expecting” to hold THEIR places in the pecking order; Clemsen and the Irish have laid THEIR early claims.
Meanwhile, who KNOWS what to make of Miami, whose DEFENSE somewhat surprisingly was their unanticipated “difference maker” in the weekend’s only “Top 20 Match-Up” against Louisville? ...Only that as usual, they aren’t NEAR as good as their trolling fans will be screaming far and wide next few weeks...personally, I will ENJOY their eventual fall, if only for the blessed QUIET it will inevitably bring—along with a return to logic and perspective! Here comes one of those very RARE occasions when I’ll be rooting FOR the ‘Noles: AGAINST Miami...or as my dad used to say, “I hope they BOTH lose!” Lol.
But now word comes of FSU’s latest Head Coach (“/sacrificial lamb”) Norvell has tested positive for Covid and has already been isolated from the team, sat down and for now replaced by his AC on the sidelines...that won’t help them against a streaking-to-start-the-season Hurricanes squad!
Also with a fast start (and perhaps a less illusionary one) is Texas—to a great extent on the arm AND legs of their tough, beefed-up young QB, has managed to raise THEIR profile AND place in the early rankings—and hence in “the talk” here. And of course, Oklahoma is still out there as well. The Big 12 will play their part in this being “a REAL season” after ALL!
But consider what Ohio State will be up against by the time THEY finally begin THEIR campaign: Unless several favorites among those already playing seriously stumble before then, they (the Buckeyes) will have to DESTROY their competition in order to elbow their way into the middle of the “playoff talk”, starting as late as they and Michigan, etc are gonna be starting. But their Conference did this to themselves—not that I especially care, about the “NOT Large Ten” in general OR “The Poison Nuts” in particular!
So all in all, you gotta KNOW how WE will have to “not just win, but WIN WITH AUTHORITY” in order to “Step UP”: Bring our game, image and overall at-large EXPECTATIONS into that ELITE DISCUSSION and STATUS!!! It won’t be enough to just “hold our OWN” this time: It ISN’T a “normal year”. No use pretending differently: We want to see our “Return to Gator Dominance”, we will have to step in and SEIZE IT...One “off week”, one less-than-impressive-showing, whether a loss against a “currently favored SEC power”, or even a barely-pulled-out-LATE WIN against a “lesser (former) rival”, will likely get us left OUT of the late-season PLAYOFF discussion, I’m afraid. Just saying. This is why I have been getting that “sinking feeling” every time I look at E-‘s “before/after”, “a”/“b” lists from back before the season started.
Our only real hope, I think, is that Trask and a by now starting-to-be a POTENT OFFENSE, with a seeming LOT of breakout weapons, begins to “put it all together” a season EARLIER than the “whispering underneath” predicts/promises...word in background is that that offense, especially IF it gets its share of prospective FIVE STAR PROSPECTS ALREADY MORE AND MORE SOLIDIFYING IN THEIR APPARENT INTENTIONS TO JOIN US IN G-VILLE after high school DO JUST THAT: BECOME “Fightin’ Gators” and, with growing depth at Qb under Mullens, begin to finally build an exciting, wide open O-Attack to go with the proven product on the OTHER side of the line-of-scrimmage under Grantham.
There will have to develop a clear, almost ‘assembly line’ beginning to routinely develop in the timing and order of things on and around the Gator offense and way-of-DOING THINGS—on the sidelines AND in the locker room...QBs especially (along with assorted potential playmakers) being “taken under-wing”, mentored and guided by both coaches and players as they settle IN here, become a part of the “Gator Family”...
Clearly, were THAT to noticeably occur, “The HAPPY TIMES” will have returned to our town...with the eventual fading (FINALLY) of the Pandemic and whatever this post-Covid “New World” will look like (masks common on the crowded streets of major cities nationwide for years to come, for one thing, I figure...Here’s a game: What do Y’ALL think will be the features that will persist (or even somewhat surprisingly HANG ON or tend to APPEAR) in the months and even YEARS in AFTERMATH to all we’ve been through here this last year-plus??!)...
ON-THE-FIELD, at least, there’ll be some persistent changes. I just hope it DOESN’T INCLUDE A FEAR OF PHYSICAL CLOSENESS:
I MISS THE RAW EMOTION OF SHARING MOVIES, MUSIC, AND THE LIKE WITH OTHER HUMANS IN A CROWD—INDOOR AND OUTDOOR!!! Trying to watch these “Major Sports in a Bubble” has mostly been a strange chore (I suppose the NHL has done it the best—though it just may be that the scale of their product, locally and regionally and with the loyalty of their fans, has helped...).
Some things will HAVE TO CHANGE—hard to say which, or exactly the way.
Let’s see what happens along THOSE LINES! But be thankful for its final fading, when it DOES come. Personally, I’m in “constantly vigilant” mode, searching for signs of relief!
