TBlack

LU has talent at WR and RB too, but their offensive line has regressed significantly from last year; which is odd considering all five starters returned from the 2020 group. It's hard to scheme around o-line issues, especially against teams with superior talent, but if Coach Freeze and LU can figure out how to do it this could be a good game.

Liberty had 11 injuries in the ULM game and Malik played his worst game of the season. This is only Liberty's third year as a full FBS member, and they've only had last year as a year of national semi-relevance (being ranked and beating P5 teams), so they don't have the depth to compete with many people while having injury challenges. All that said, a loss is a loss, and the ULM loss is still entirely inexcusable for LU.

Sad, but true; even though it legitimately made me laugh.

Kiffin* Taking a lap now...

It wasn't as long ago as the off-season when some fans/commentators thought he was elite. A close loss to 'Bama had many fans believing UF could run the table and beat 'Bama with a healthy AR and a new kicker. While I'm not completely on the, "Fire Mullen" side of things, I don't know how likely he is to adapt and make necessary changes to win consistently and be a perennial national title contender. I also think there are generally two types of coaches. There are coaches who prioritize toughness and discipline (Saban, Meyer, Smart) and coaches who prioritize outsmarting/out-scheming opponents (Mullen, Kiffing). Of those two types, which type most often sustains conference and national relevance? Oh well - at least my Braves looking good heading to LA for game 3 of the NLCS.

I think this is, at times, the maddening part of being a UF football fan right now. Yes, clearly Mullen is an above average coach, but from the outside looking in, some things just don't make sense. In constantly talking about, "relentless effort" and "The Gator Standard" UF regularly plays to the level of their opponent and is too often plagued by, what appears to be, a lack of discipline/focus/professionalism. From the shoe toss LSU game (and the postgame response), to the OU bowl game (and the postgame response), and to a lesser extent this UK game with all the penalties (and the postgame response) plus mid-level recruiting (and CDM's responses) - something seems inconsistent. Obviously, everyone wants Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, but they're exceptional and treating them as the standard probably isn't wise. However, it seems other coaches have more palpable responses when these unacceptable things happen to their teams; and as Jimmy Johnson has said, what you see on the field is either what is coached or what is allowed. Good may have to be good enough to avoid becoming FSU, but trading punches with elite and ultracompetitive schools like 'Bama, LSU, and uga while still losing to Missouri, UK, and others in the same season (followed by bizarre postgame comments) is driving fans crazy.

If this is a game of, "which one is not like the others," my vote is for SC.

I think it depends on who you're referring to. UF fans generally don't like Todd Grantham, and blame Dan Mullen for the defense because he isn't firing the DC. Mullen seems to be hands off with the defense, so with his approach, his main responsibility is to hold defensive coaches accountable when their unit fails to produce. If he doesn't hold them accountable, by perception or by reality, UF fans blame him for it. On the flipside, Will Muschamp had a few different OCs when he was at UF, but it was believed that he still tried to be very hands-on with the offense despite his strengths/weaknesses; therefore, he got blamed more directly for the offensive woes at UF. If Smart isn't trying to micromanage the offense, given his strengths are on the defensive side of the ball, you really can't blame him much considering he's brought in different OCs to try and improve the unit.

It's a little early in the season for you to be thinking about the Iron Bowl, Aubie, but that's probably a pretty good guess.

If Coach Freeze leaves LU, I think it'll be for a P5 program in the south or midwest.

I appreciate this post. Upvote!

Wisdom is a non-essential in Tallahassee.

rmart, that surprises me. As a Nebraska fan, are you happy he's still there and optimistic he'll get Nebraska back to national relevance?

Not that it matters, and it's a semantic argument, but will fans be booing EJ or Coach Mullen? Generally speaking, most of the fans I've read on message boards like Jones, they just don't think he's good enough to start; so they'd be booing Coach Mullen for his personnel choice.

If LSU plays barefoot, UF will roll with EJ at quarterback. Fair enough?

That's a really good point. I remember watching the ESPN series that followed Alabama's fall camp in 2019. In one episode, at the end of a practice when Coach Saban brought the team together to talk before being cut loose, a player stood up and cussed out the team for 10-15 seconds because everyone wasn't being quiet and still. When a coach can create a culture that raises up leaders like that, the team is nearly unbeatable by other teams that don't have that kind of player leadership. Hopefully UF can help reinforce Coach Saban's message about toughness and attention to detail by beating them soundly in week three.

In the history of SDS, there has never been a better opinion than this.

Duval, Junkyard - when we try to justify our successes, in part, because we almost beat 'Bama, we all look bad.

What year was the clock violation game? I was assuming that would be on the list, but it wasn't.

UF is a pretty big mystery, specifically with the offensive line and defense. Does more size and time together make the offensive line effective against elite competition? Does arguably more talent/depth across the defense, and new coaches for the secondary, make the defense compete well against 'Bama, uga, and other schools with exceptional talent? If yes, UF could be really good this year. If not, UF could be in for one or two losses per month.

I'm a Liberty grad, so I hope Hugh Freeze stats at LU forever and they can eventually get invited to a good P5 conference. However, since I grew up watching UF and still follow them consistently, I hope Freeze is the next UF coach if Mullen leaves for the NFL in the next year or two.

Do you agree Clemson is the one loss?

Liberty/Ole Miss should be a really good game. It'll likely be a Top 25 match-up, plus with the background story of Coach Freeze's return, this game might host College Gameday that week.

Allow me to be the first to prove your point, Jay. Kaiir Elam barely making the Top 20 seems a bit curious. I would have originally guessed Top 10.

Coach Freeze led LU to victories over Va Tech in Blacksburg and a Top 20 Coastal Carolina. Those two wins should count for something, depending on how you'd define, "huge."

Not a bad list, but Hugh Freeze should definitely be listed.

With that being the case, we'd have to hear something official regarding organizational structure within the SEC at least a year or two before Texas and OU come, right?

By the time Texas is an SEC member, Sam Pittman may have the Arkansas/Texas game as a battle of equals. All things considered, I thought he did a good job in year one; and the trajectory of Texas is TBD under Steve Sarkisian.

I actually like that Texas is coming too. I share Kirk Herbstreit's concerns regarding tradition, and how tradition makes NCAAF unique, but Texas didn't have any great rivalries in the Big 12 anymore, outside of OU. Since Texas and OU are both coming, you keep that rivalry, and reignite the rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M.

How does scheduling affect this timetable? It seems like many schedules are created, at least in part, years in advance. Wouldn't the SEC need time to figure out how it's going to organize itself (divisions? pods? something else?) and then have each school create a schedule in accordance to that structure, while still honoring commitments made with out of conference opponents? This, of course, is just considering football, but it would apply to all other sports as well - baseball, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, etc. It seems like 2025 might be the earliest conference expansion can happen when you consider scheduling.