Florida vs Georgia 2013-2023

[Escambia94]

The Gator Nation is overreacting to last weekend’s loss to Georgia. Remember that two things are going on here: Georgia has replaced Alabama as the dominant team in the country and Florida is still recovering from 12+ years of bad coaching, recruiting, and program management.

Let’s start with coaching stability. Gator fans are all over social media clamoring to fire Napier this year or next if he does not win an arbitrary number of games. Newsflash: whether a team wins 6 or 7 or 8 games, they are still a mediocre team. Firing coaches every four years does not help the situation. The Florida administration built in a long runway for Napier. They cannot afford to fire him until 2026 at the earliest. Get used to it, Gator Nation—Napier will be the coach until 2026 even if the Gators win 6 games each year. Read that again and take a sip of whiskey if that hurts your head.

To be the best, Florida has to beat Georgia instead of Alabama—and the teams play each other every year. They also recruit the same talent every year. Georgia has been stacking up blue chip players while Florida is playing with lesser talent. Florida stole a few victories with great offensive coaching, but has not been able to have a good offense and defense simultaneously. Georgia recruited well and coaches well on both sides of the ball and has stability in its program, unlike Florida.

	UF	UGA
2013	3	12
2014	9	8
2015	21 (McElwain)	6
2016	12	8 (Smart)
2017	9	3
2018	14 (Mullen)	1
2019	9	2
2020	7	1
2021	12 (NCAA sanction)	3
2022	17 (Napier)	3
2023	12	2

 

[DRU2012]

The Gator Nation is overreacting to last weekend’s loss to Georgia. Remember that two things are going on here: Georgia has replaced Alabama as the dominant team in the country and Florida is still recovering from 12+ years of bad coaching, recruiting, and program management.

Let’s start with coaching stability. Gator fans are all over social media clamoring to fire Napier this year or next if he does not win an arbitrary number of games. Newsflash: whether a team wins 6 or 7 or 8 games, they are still a mediocre team. Firing coaches every four years does not help the situation. The Florida administration built in a long runway for Napier. They cannot afford to fire him until 2026 at the earliest. Get used to it, Gator Nation—Napier will be the coach until 2026 even if the Gators win 6 games each year. Read that again and take a sip of whiskey if that hurts your head.

To be the best, Florida has to beat Georgia instead of Alabama—and the teams play each other every year. They also recruit the same talent every year. Georgia has been stacking up blue chip players while Florida is playing with lesser talent. Florida stole a few victories with great offensive coaching, but has not been able to have a good offense and defense simultaneously. Georgia recruited well and coaches well on both sides of the ball and has stability in its program, unlike Florida.

	UF	UGA
2013	3	12
2014	9	8
2015	21 (McElwain)	6
2016	12	8 (Smart)
2017	9	3
2018	14 (Mullen)	1
2019	9	2
2020	7	1
2021	12 (NCAA sanction)	3
2022	17 (Napier)	3
2023	12	2

Everything you say is true, E--...and I DEFINITELY feel exactly the same way: Barring some huge scandal that I do not in any way foresee, Napier isn't going ANYWHERE--and frankly THAT'S A GOOD THING:
I am GLAD that there are practical forces in play to prevent some knee-jerk, mob-ruled premature firing, as well as whatever promises and logic that presumably were discussed at his hiring.
Of COURSE it is time for us to GET OFF the "wrong Coach/fire/REPEAT"-treadmill if we are ever to rebuild our program--but in Gator Nation, logic quickly escapes.
Escambia94 mentions just a few of the highlights of "practical protection from our own worst tendencies", but there are more, mainly having to do with keeping Coach AND the AD who hired him HERE for that extended "several more YEARS"-envelope that E-- refers to.
Hopefully, that will be enough to show at least the START of a true and believable "turnaround".
Because E-- is RIGHT: We did NOT bring Billy in to get us up to "8-wins" or anything LIKE it...Hell, as we saw a coupla times over the last dozen years, even "lesser talent" coached up to 10-win seasons and New Years Day Bowls is really just "Second Rate" masquerading as "Almost Excellence"!
We have been to the Mountain Top.
For us, well, we understand that things come in cycles and that you cannot ALWAYS be at the top...But if we AREN'T "there", we must at the very least be able to envision us getting BACK there. We need to SEE ourselves ON THAT ROAD once more.

 

[Escambia94]

The thing about sticking to a 4-year plan to win 9-10 games is that a coach can cut corners to get those wins. Napier warned us that he was going to build the right way—slowly, deliberately, and purposefully. He warned us that we would get frustrated with him. None of us (at least not the ones most vocal on social media) listened to him and are demanding that Stricklin fires him now (which will cost $60M buyout plus another $60M for the next coach) or that Ben Sasse fires Stricklin. This is insane.

 

[DRU2012]

The thing about sticking to a 4-year plan to win 9-10 games is that a coach can cut corners to get those wins. Napier warned us that he was going to build the right way—slowly, deliberately, and purposefully. He warned us that we would get frustrated with him. None of us (at least not the ones most vocal on social media) listened to him and are demanding that Stricklin fires him now (which will cost $60M buyout plus another $60M for the next coach) or that Ben Sasse fires Stricklin. This is insane.

As I say, "forces ..." (including those from above in the Gator Hierarchy) "...continue to be arrayed AGAINST such a premature surrender to mob rule". Let us fervently hope that continues to be the case for the reasonably foreseeable future--at least the next 3-to-4 seasons anyway:
Hence the ongoing calls for "Patience!"...It'll continue to be a rough road for at least another season or two. We'll have to absorb some more blows, find moments of hope, even triumph where we can along the way.
My feeling is that while there'll be stretches of inarguable progress, even bursts of dazzling dominance as talent, depth and the "culture of winning" Billy continues to herald all continue to grow, we may not see real and steady balance and self-confidence--the kind that the team, program and all a part of it naturally carry with them game-to-game, season-to-season--until 2026...and what one day may well be looked upon as "The Return of the Gator" not until 2027, at the latest.

 

[Escambia94]

If you listen to the Shane Mathews podcast he recommends being more patient than what I am saying. Mathews reminds us that Florida has 3 national championships in nearly 120 years, so try not to get accustomed to the idea that these are easy to come by. Florida will not be competitive until 2026. Georgia has their version of Steve Spurrier— an alumnus who gained coaching experience elsewhere before returning home under decent circumstances.