Recruiting classes mean nothing without the right coach. I think Florida learned that with Muschamp his first go round.

Since Fulmer was canned things have been a dumpster fire and there's no denying that. No one cares what the program did 30,40, 50 years ago. History longer than 10 years is completely irrelevant in college sports, something many fans can't fathom anymore.

Most of it is self inflicted. Bad hires over and over again and an unreasonable fan base have done this. You can't go and blame others for what has happened to this program.

I'm just wondering what people think qualifies a school for "Tier 1 Status" nowadays. Because clearly, being a former power and offering a lot of money doesn't matter as much as people think.

We beat Clemson 5 years in a row and they were able to recruit as good as anyone during that stretch, with said recruits winning a Natty. Muschamp can recruit, he just needs some offensive coaches to be on par with him and T-Rob.

For a normal job, yes. Money is no object to someone like Saban or Meyer who have already made millions upon millions. Money will change the mind of a first time coach, or a coach going from a mid major to a Power 5. It won't change it for someone moving horizontally when they already make multiple millions a year.

Have to love Tenn fans. They crap on Schiano for just coaching at Penn State (no evidence he knew anything) but won't say anything about Manning who sexually assaulted a girl while at UT. Pot meet Kettle.

1) 2 National Championships in baseball (fairly recently too). Also 3 I think for the Equestrian team. 2) As far as subpar academics, try and get into our International Business program and get back to me. It's the number one program of it's type on the planet Earth.

Agree about Athens but Columbia, Knoxville and to an extent Lexington and Baton Rogue are "cities" in many ways because of the colleges that are a part of them.

I like how all of Roper's success at Duke isn't even mentioned here. He had ONE season to try and make things better at Florida and by all means he did, with a bunch of guys he knew next to nothing about. There is so much wrong with The Brown's organization and offense blaming Roper makes little sense as he's nothing more than a consultant. For what it's worth, Connor Shaw gave the guy glowing reviews. In any event, the offense can't be any worse than last year and it's not as if there's a ton of great offensive coordinators around waiting for a new job.

Spurrier didn't try to recruit, that was his problem.

This loss is moreso on the defense than Spurrier lacking any "magic". He has a young offense with a lot of freshmen getting significant playing time. At this point I've run out of excuses for our defense. Total catastrophe from the coaching to the players. No excuses.

Playing against our JV defense doesn't count for much, but still, he put up video game numbers.

Agree 100%. Nunez seems to be coming along great and has the physical tools. Mcllwain by all accounts may be the best QB prospect Spurrier has ever recruited (if he doesn't jump ship). If Mitch wasn't ready at this point I doubt he'll be ready at all. Even with the injuries he had, he doesn't have the "it" factor.

The defense is more experienced and talented at EVERY position this year. All of the players who struggled through growing pains last year are bigger, faster and more experienced. The defensive line has been completely reworked and we have what is hopefully a better scheme. The offense however has question marks. Cooper and the RBs will be fine, but can the O-line hold up? If Deebo Samuel isn't a stud, do they even have a #2 receiver? What kind of QB is Connor Mitch?

And one crazy sequence away from missing a bowl game vs. Florida.

Has little to do with his actual play but what he means to the University and people of South Carolina. In my 25 years I don't think there has been a more loved person than Marcus Lattimore at South Carolina. Grown men were weeping like their children got killed when he blew his knee out the second time.

Holtz over Lattimore is atrocious. Rogers, Spurrier, and Lattimore have to be in just because of what they meant to the program. After that there are a lot of guys who could be in the fourth spot.

I don't know if we are serious contender either, but the potential is there. I wouldn't be shocked if we won the East but I'm not expecting it. I'm not exaggerating about Mitch in the sense that he has the tools to be a better passer than Thompson, Shaw, or Garcia. His arm is just as good or better than all of them and he can make all the throws they all could make. He isn't the athlete Shaw was, but he's a better athlete than Thompson. Whether or not he goes out and performs is another matter. He should know the playbook well by now, but obviously he hasn't had the game experience needed to succeed. The other running back is David Williams, a guy who is more talented than all of the running backs before him. He's got all the things you want in a running back but up until this Spring didn't have the playbook down, which he seems to now have learned well. He's going to be quite good, and has shown flashes in limited play last year. Like you said, it comes down to the O-line and defense. I think the O-line could either way, but I don't see how the defense could be any worse.

Our offense will surprise many this year. From a passing ability standpoint Mitch has more talent than any QB we've had in the past decade and is probably just a hair less athletic than Garcia was in when he was in shape. If he knows he offense and plays with confidence he'll be fine. Cooper is the best WR in the SEC and Deebo will become a great threat opposite him. We've got other young talent receivers and a good TE corps. We of course also have two RBs who can carry the load and good depth behind them if we need it. It all comes down to the OL. If healthy I think this group could be better than last years as they have more of mean streak. But, staying healthy for them could be a huge issue. They need to keep Mitch upright and just open decent holes and our skills players will take care of the rest. It's weird to say, but with UGA and MIzzou as the favorites and Tennessee on the rise, I'd call us the Darkhorse to take the East this year.

They put Dierks Bentley there who isn't half the musician Darius Rucker is.

The fact that you omitted Darius Rucker is awful.

Country has certainly changed and become more mainstream and pop like but honestly I'm glad it changed, just wish it could find a happy medium between what it is now and older songs that were so depressing I wanted to stick my shotgun in my mouth.

Not disagreeing that he isn't ranked to high but you compare him to the choke artist that is Murray is laughable.

It's a huge question considering what all Cooper is capable of. He's going to be a True Junior who as a Sophmore had barely any experience as a receiver (he was recruited as a CB). Given that he's less likely to miss time as Williams he has a very strong argument for being #1.

Not like Pharoh doesn't deserve it as I think he could have made All Purpose or WR for the first team but I think that's a little unfair for other players.

I hope so because Ward is a good guy and can coach the hell out of our secondary better than Grady Brown.

Honestly, we aren't losing that much given how the guys we lost performed. Our "SEC best offensive line" under performed all season. Offensively, we've got plenty of weapons coming back and I expect Cooper to have a spectacular year no matter who's throwing the ball. The Wilds and Williams will also be a two headed monster in the backfield as I think both of them have more heart and desire than Davis. O-line is questionable moving forward but I think we'll be alright. Again, don't think it could be much worse than what we performed this year. Defensively, give me a break, there's no room to go but up. I like Brison Williams but he played out of position most of the season. Our secondary will be greatly improved because our guys will have a chance to learn more and grow in the weight room. Aside from possible coaching changes on defense, next seasons boils down to two main things. 1) Who is our QB. I hope Mitch is the real deal because he's a better athlete than Thompson (not Shaw but he's fast enough) and is the best rated passer we've had sine Garcia. 2) D-Line. If not for the importance of the QB position this would be #1. We need a pass rush, we need to keep our DL class together and hope guys like Wildeman and Dante Sawyer are ready to go Day 1 and that either Blackshear or Key are too. If this class stays together it has the makings of the best or second best all around D-Line we've ever had (on paper assuming these guys are as good as advertised).

I wish it would happen but I think Ward is going to end up saving his job. Spurrier likes Muschamp but I don't see him giving Ward the boot for him. Could be wrong, but I just don't see it. In a dream world Muschamp would come in as the DC and Ward would step down and take over as DB coach. Muschamp could then clean out all our other D coaches, convince Brad Lawing to come back to Cola and we have the best defensive coaching staff in the conference.

Two years in a row we beat ourselves playing you guys, Dobbs is gonna be good (probably) so congratz on that. But let's be serious both Tennessee and SC suck this year. Have fun in the basement of the SEC with us this year.