- The BCS title game. I share Michael Elkon’s ambiguous feelings, although I’m wondering how much of it is the result of a familiarity-breeds-contempt frame of mind on my part. I’ve seen ‘Bama struggle this season more than I’ve seen Texas struggle, in other words. I also slightly discount the championship game results that most people seem to be relying upon in predicting a relatively safe night for the Tide. Florida’s collective head wasn’t on straight for the SECCG and Texas took Nebraska a little too lightly. In the end, I think tonight’s game comes down to which defense is better able to impose its will on the opposing team’s quarterback.
- Georgia 1983 = Florida 2010? I started with a shallow observation about the obvious comparison between two programs that achieved a high degree of national prominence led by once-in-a-generation players who left, but I wonder how far that analogy can be carried. Georgia didn’t slide very much the year after Herschel left, but it turned out that the Walker era would be the high water mark of Dooley’s head coaching career. It’s not an exact comparison, in that I don’t expect Florida’s recruiting to decline as precipitously as Georgia’s did in Dooley’s last four seasons, but then again, you’ve got the departure of a well-respected defensive coordinator in both cases and Florida has to contend with the turmoil surrounding its head coach’s health and the nascent reemergence of its two in-state rivals, both of which are potentially bigger problems than the Dawgs faced in the mid-1980s. Who’s to say that history can’t repeat itself a bit?
Random musings at season’s end
Filed under Big 12 Football, College Football, Gators, Gators...
Get The Picture 
There really are no more excuses. With a new and (hopefully) improved DC coming in, a much softer schedule the next two years, UTK taking a step back, South Carolina remaining, well, South Carolina, UK breaking in a new head coach, and most importantly LOTS of departures at UF, UGA MUST win the SEC East next year in order for it to be a successful season to me. It has been too long since a window like this has been open.
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Our defense will probably improve, but our next DC would have to be a miracle worker to take our defense past mediocre to good, or really good, in one season.
And don’t forget we’ll probably have a freshman QB.
Winning the East won’t be impossible, but I’m not expecting it.
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We are already losing a lot of players on D. If Curran leaves, we are going to have a lot of new starters out there.
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We are losing players. But, aside from Curran, there’s nobody that I think of as irreplaceable. With new coaches, I think we get improvement from the unit as a whole.
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It would have been nice to have Rashad Jones back.
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Nice comparison of the Herschel and Tebow areas respectively. Obviously it isn’t totally apples to apples, but close enough. The bottom line is there is a great opportunity emerging in the SEC East to supplant FLA. Will it be us or UT that takes full advantage?
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Alabama wins in a close fought, defensive game. Hopefully, Bama can bring home the fourth straight for the SEC.
Roll Tide.
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“I don’t expect Florida’s recruiting to decline as precipitously as Georgia’s did in Dooley’s last four seasons.”
This was little before my time…Why did recruiting decline? Thanks.
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Jan Kemp was several years after Walker left. The main reason is that Dooley lost his fire.
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Jan Kemp was EXACTLY when Herschel left. The scandal broke in 1982 over players that had failing grades but were allowed to graduate from the remedial program and play in the 82 Sugar Bowl. It wasn’t until 1986 that the suit she brought was finally decided, so maybe that’s what you’re thinking about it being several years after Herschel.
From an old SI article detailing the 1986 case.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1064531/1/index.htm
“The conflict came to a head in December 1981 when Trotter, a former assistant secretary for education in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, allowed nine football players to “exit” from the remedial learning program to the university curriculum, despite the fact that they had all failed their fourth and final quarter in English. The players went on to play in the 1982 Sugar Bowl, but in a position paper the athletic department said there was no wrongdoing. Trotter, a former home economics professor, admitted in court that athletes received preferential treatment at the university, but defended her action on promoting the nine students.”
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Jan Kemp
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First, Dooley wasn’t any better or worse from 1984-89 than he was from 1965-79. We still had some very big wins over those last five years. In fact, there were more big wins in that 5 year stretch than we saw in the 12 season stretch from 1989-2000. I don’t think that Dooley ever recruited that well, he just did very well with what he got. (Dooley was second to Bryant in SEC titles during the time they were both active in the SEC, but look up how many NFL Hall of Famers played for Bear. I know we had n0ne.) Add to that the fact that in the 1980’s Charley Pell, Danny Ford and Pat Dye were buying everyone who they could to come play for them. There is no secret that we are surrounded on all sides by the 3 most corrupt programs in the history of the sport. Auburn holds the record for most times placed on probation followed very closely by UF and you could hardly watch a Clemson game on TV in the 1980’s because they were banned so often.
That being said, I don’t think that UF will fall as far as UGA did, I just think they are liable to come back to the field a little, as will Bama. The conference really is 10 or 11 deep right now so I don’t see a whole lot more 8-0 SEC records coming down the pike.
A better question maybe whether the SEC will have a drop in MNC’s after this year like it did in that time frame. Bama won in ’78 and ’79 and UGA won in ’80 and played for it again in ’82. It was ten seasons later before another SEC team had shot at it. And that wasn’t because the conference wasn’t good, it was because it was very good and very deep just like it is now.
Maybe the 2010 Broncos will be the second coming of the 1983 BYU Cougars?
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For those on the outside looking in, with the BCS set up as it is now, a team from The SEC is an automatic qualifier for the BCSCG each year.
Hershel was to Dooley as Tebow was to Urban.
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So far.
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That’s some great perspective. Good post.
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The part of Derek’s post on dirty programs is spot on. The only thing you left out was Bear Bryant at Bama. He invented the player buying scheme. It was copied by Charley Pell, Danny Ford and Pat Dye.
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Pat Dye’s checkbook = UGA’s recruiting decline.
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This one is a huge reach…
Meyer had success prior to Tebow starting at QB – see 2006 BCS national championship.
Reemergence of two instate rivals? Based on what? Free Shoes went 7-6 and Miami 9-4 (with an embarrassing bowl loss to a big 10 team in the carquest bowl) this year, trying to see where that is re-emerging?
ESPN has Florida’s recruiting class number 1, and that was before grabbing two more huge commits last weekend at the Under Armor game.
The bastards have prooved us wrong at every turn…Meyer’s offense won’t work in SEC, Meyer got lucky (w first NC), Meyer is going to ND, Meyer can’t win w/o Tebow, …guess we’ll see, again.
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Congratulations. I guess you guys have the most dominant college football program since Oklahoma in the ’50s…
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Knowledge … you are correct. Florida will keep rolling ….
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I agree with Beer Money. If we don’t win the East next year it will be a disappointment.
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Erk left after 1981 didn’t he? That 1983 bunch was the best UGA defense ever. Bill Lewis DC??? Think he was here a little longer.
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