Trying to avoid 3-game losing streak, Chris Doering puts Cotton Bowl in context for Florida
Florida is at a bit of a crossroads entering the bowl season as the Gators meet Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. Coach Dan Mullen’s team is trying to avoid a three-game losing streak after the disappointing loss to LSU, and the tough defeat to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
With that content, former Florida receiver and SEC Network analyst Chris Doering believes this will be the biggest bowl game of the Mullen era in Gainesville. On the one hand, it is a New Year’s 6 bowl, but on the flip side, this is the first season without double digits in victories in the Mullen era. To Doering, momentum is at stake.
“In the preseason your goals were to get over the Georgia hurdle, to get to the SEC Championship Game. You did all of those things, but the mind-numbing loss to LSU took a little shine off those accomplishments,” Doering said Sunday on the SEC Now bowl special, per 247Sports. “Losing (to Alabama) in such a close game was great in terms of morale but I don’t think there’s such thing as moral victories for the Florida Gators at this time. So you’ve taken some steps forward but if you lose in the bowl game that’s a three-game losing streak. Now all of a sudden you’re finishing your year at 8-4, that’s a step backward from where you were so I don’t know that there’s been a more important bowl game since Dan Mullen’s been in Gainesville than this one that he’ll go into against the Oklahoma Sooners.”
The game is set for 8 p.m. on Dec. 30.
Nothing says “2020 CFP Committee” like a 3 loss team in a NY6 Bowl…
Do you think anyone will play Bama as tough as that 3 loss team the Committee put in a NY6 Bowl? Put the best teams in the best games. It’s not that difficult to understand Booches.
92, Douches is more obssed with UF than most of the UGA fans on here!
What are ya gonna do, throw a shoe at me? I guess you have a point, only the really good teams this year have beat LSU… Child please.
I’m thinking you’re a uga fan. They are the only fan base infatuated with the Gator program. However, now there’s you. Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas.
Only fan base??? Come on mannnn…
Tis the season for a B S flag, all team fanbases not named Vandy are infatuated with all their rivals, it’s what makes the SEC the greatest football conference in the country…I certainly saw a lovefest of Bama G8r razzing, as well as LS SHOE and you…
10 hail Mary’s and send me a bottle of Macallan 15 is your penance my son, now go forth and spread the save 3rd n grantham word…
Two gator fans bring up UGA. But we’re the ones obsessed. Funny.
@Marshall: I’m thinking you couldn’t beat Bama, you couldn’t beat TAMU, and you couldn’t even beat LS freakin U. That’s not at all NY6 worthy, sorry it’s just not. All I said is it simply reeks the stench of “2020 CFP Playoff Committee”, you may not like it, but it’s a completely fair to say.
Humper JTF, glad y’all are here. I’d suggest a bottle of Barmore 25 year. That bottle goes faster than a uga quarterback into the portal. Anyways, I sincerely hope you and you’re families have a great Christmas. We’ve got another few days to come up with the zingers to be thrown at each other’s programs. Best of luck, be safe.
Do you mean Bowmore? Good stuff. Merry Christmas.
Yessir, Bowmore. Thanks I can’t see a thing on this phone. Since my major was finance I paid no attention to grammar. Lol.
Let’s see Mizzo play AL that close. The LSU loss was atrocious I agree on that point. Don’t come for the Gators it’s not a good look for you. No SEC championships or Natty’s at Mizzou. Work on that first.
You have a point Booches. Yeah UF didn’t win thise games, but you what game they did win? That’s right, Mizzou.
It never ceases to amaze me how fans from team A, that got steamrolled by team B, run their mouths so much when team B loses to someone else.
What sense does that make? I mean, maybe if your team lost on a fluke last minute play, MAYYYYBE you could do it. But not when your team got straight gobsmacked by the team you’re trying to clown. Not a good look.
@kirby Shart: I wasn’t clowning FL per say, I was clowning the Committee and evidently (but not surprisingly) it went over all of your heads. The funny part is I guarantee you if team A played 3 top 10 teams and lost to TWO of those plus a loss to a bad 3-win team no one had trouble thumping this year you’d be going nuts over them getting in a NY6 Bowl. But then you find out that team is Florida and suddenly you’re cool with it. Give me a break, how lame.
Believe what you want, but honestly I couldn’t care less what teams go where. If it isn’t a playoff (and if I’m not going to the game), I honestly don’t care where the Gators go. Aside from the playoffs, bowl games are basically exhibition games. The game and destination in itself is of little concern to me. What really matters is just getting one more chance to see my team play.
Your about the hundredth person to say that Bowl games are now just exhibitions. When did this transformation occur?
Marsh, you majored in finance? Me too.
Nash, yes I did. We should have a conversation one day.
I guess losing to a 5 loss team doesn’t affect the feat of losing to Bama.
I’m going to disagree with you on this.
1. The committee looks more closely at actual performance vs. plain records. UF poured on points against nearly everyone they played, including #1 Bama, which was the closest anyone has played that team this year (and I suspect will continue through the playoffs as well).
2. The LSU loss was ugly. It stank of a team that practiced against that week’s competition for two days, and practiced for the next week’s competition three days. But it was uncharacteristic. Think of it this way; if UF were to have somehow beat Bama, would it have been because UF was better, or Bama was off? My guess would be most of the fan base and the CFP would have said the latter.
3. Championship losses are not held against a team as much as regular season losses. Why should a team be punished for losing a game that the rest of their division and most of their conference didn’t play? It’s why ND’s loss was less punishing. If it had been 3 regular season losses, then I agree with your assessment.
@cbmckay,
I’m going to push back a little bit with points 1 and 3 regarding actual performance and championship losses. In 2018, the Dawgs lost the second game of the season in the last minute to Bama in the SECCG. Bama never led until the game winning drive. That championship loss kept us out of the playoff and I don’t think anyone would say, in spite of two losses, we were not one of the 4 best teams in the country that year, in spite of that last minute championship loss. It appears the committee has no set standards to judge teams. How can your Gators not drop to at least 10th after to losing to a 3 win LSU team who had more starters opt-out more than any team in the SEC and with a true freshman QB? Your Gators were just mainly missing Pitts and not multiple starters on offense and defense like LSU. Now, beat Oklahoma and I hope the rest of the SEC wins their bowl games so we’ll remind the rest of the Power 5 who has the greatest conference.
To rebut that point, do you think it was more penalizing UGA for losing, or awarding Bama for winning? To my mind,(most likely wrong) if it is for a playoff spot, it is weighed more heavily that the other NY6 games. But as far as dropping them, who should be ahead? Would you put UGA ahead, since UF beat them and only has 1 more loss because they played 1 more game? If you compare resumes, how do the Bama games for each team compare? No shade intended, serious question.
A close conference championship game loss against a highly ranked team should not hurt your ranking. And it shouldn’t hurt you relative to teams that have only played regular season games.
But I could see it keeping a team out of the CFP in a circumstance where three other teams are perceived to be deserving, in addition to the team that won the aforesaid championship game.
In theory, a conference championship game that includes one or more likely CFP teams should be a de facto elimination game for the CFP, no matter how good both teams are. Just common sense. The weird thing this year is that there was no clear-cut #5 team on the bubble when ND lost. Unless, that is, you think Cincinnati deserves to be in just because they went 10-0 against a bunch of G5 teams.
I think it’s outrageous that Ohio State got in.
As for the Gators not dropping after the LSU loss, I think that’s mostly because Pitts didn’t play. I’m glad they didn’t drop, but I agree they should have. It was a sorry performance.
KBP, didnt UGA get throttled by LSU last year in the SECCG and only drop 1 spot?
Purely ignorant to act like the committee is favoring Florida.
Between computers, Vegas oddsmakers, coaches or media, Florida is consistently ranked top 10:
SP+ – No. 4
Vegas oddsmakers – No. 5
Associated Press – No. 10
FPI – No. 7
Coaches Poll – No. 10
Simulated BCS Ranking – No. 10
The NY6 is meant for the Top 12 teams. (6×2 = 12)
The turd in the punchbowl this year is 4-2 Oregon, No. 25, getting a Fiesta Bowl bid. If you want to be mad about something, be mad about a 4-win team getting a NY6 bid.
I guess Booches is just sad the committee didn’t call him up to rule on whether Florida belongs in the Top 12 and is NY6 worthy.
They dit’n call me either. If they had I’da told them UF with 3 losses in a NYEve6 bowl game is a joke. While 4-2 is a joke, at least Oregon won their CG…conference champs have auto tie-ins…runner-ups are subjective tie in
If it were purely based on Top 12 as originally intended I would agree UF should qualify…but it isn’t. Overall, 12 teams are selected each football season for NY6 to include the champions of the P5 conferences and the highest-ranked champion from the G5. Fortunately for UF this is a strange year so they are probably as deserving as anyone else to go to the Cotton…
Disagree. Im expecting the Gators to have quite a few faces misisng from the Bowl game, Saturday showed what this team should have been and I dont think the bowl game changes that! Im betting many non play off teams will see alot of NFL bound players taking a pass!
I think your right. This may turn out to be tryout for next years team. A win would be nice, but not all that meaningful.
That a way to downplay it…makes 8-4 palatable, yes?
I say NO, play hard and bring home the W for the SEC dmmmmit…feel the same way bout Cincy for my humpers, while we will have Monty Rice, Richard LeCounte, Ben Cleveland, Eric Stokes, DJ Daniel, Tre’ McKitty, Jermaine Johnson and Mark Webb out at the very least I won’t downplay our guys just trying out…it’s time for next man up mentality. Y’all need to spank those Okies, nuff said.
Lets be real, these bowl games will be glorified scrimmages and will be viewed the same win or lose. I can understand your point during a normal season, but we all know this is far from a normal season. Entire programs are opting out of bowl games. There’s no question whoever is playing will try to win, but I’m not sure too many Gator fans, at least the logical ones, will feel like the world is falling if they lose.
Joe, I understand your points. My thoughts are we go and beat the living daylights out of the boomers. Recruiting is still on the front burner. Mullen is changing the culture. Erasing the last three games is a very important situation for us. We need lineman on both sides of the ball. Hope you and you’re family are safe,healthy and have a great Christmas. Go Gators!
I’m both with you and not on this lol.
I always want the SEC to show out, regardless of the context. I want to see them win every game, prove our conference is the best there is, and elevate every team that’s in it. Even if a good number of players were to opt out for UF (Pitts, Grimes, Toney, Carter, heck, even Trask), there’s still plenty of talent and experience to play competitively. Opt outs are not a reason to downplay a loss.
Having said that, bowl games simply aren’t what they were even 10 years ago. While a majority of the fan base see them as a way to prove the might of their team, an increasing number of fans and players see it as a celebration game. A scrimmage. A preview of the future (since it’ll feature a ton of young talent). It’s a fun way to cap off a season. If you have the opportunity to go make millions, getting injured for a celebration game seems like a bad choice. And it is. We all need to get used to the fact that bowl games are changing, adjust, and enjoy them for what they are.
Marsh, recruiting needs to focus on much the program has progressed. They need to sell the idea that UF is on the cusp of greatness, and needs a few pieces to truly compete. Mullen and crew can sell that they were a TD away from dethroning Bama, and two field goals away from going 10-0 in the regular season. Bowl game expectations will continue to change from must-win, program defining things to scrimmage games featuring younger talent. Winning is nice, and gives you bragging rights, but they will never again be best-vs-best. Opt outs will just increase.
CB, I understand your point. I’m just too old and beat up to straddle a fence anymore. With all the comments CDM gave us the one I agree with happened before the season.
“I expect to win every game this year”
That’s what we should expect as well.
Id like to see trask opt out. Let’s see what Fla looks like with EJ behind center. I think Fla’s offense is going to be better in 2021 with Emory at QB.
^^^can I get an amen?
^^^can I get an Amen…
“I expect to win every game this year”
That’s what we should expect as well.
Fla still will have good skill players in 2021 with Justin Shorter, Kemore gamble,Henderson and tgey will also have Demarkus Boaman at running back. I think Fla might be better on defense with the young players that pkayed in the secondaru and if Diwun Black and Chief Boarders play which i thought i heard they would both see playing time immediately then they also signed the 5 star corner.
It is my sincere desire to beat the crap out of Oklahoma. I don’t see Trask opting out of a single second of football that he has a chance to play. Grimes and Toney, maybe, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they played. If they don’t, I still feel good with Shorter, Henderson and Copeland (that said, Copeland needs to catch a few thousand balls during the offseason).
Campbell, Stewart Reese and Shawn Davis are UDFAs at best. Carter needs more film and won’t get a draft grade to justify declaring early. He should be a monster next season.
Marco looked like a three and done after his freshman season, but he desperately needs his senior year now. Maybe he can be an Elijah Moore type redemption story.
I think Doering does well as an analyst but completely disagree with his take. The Florida-Oklahoma outcome, good or bad, holds little significance on 2021 and beyond.
UF has played its measuring-stick game, and that was this past Saturday. The Oklahoma game won’t tell me anything new about the program.
We all know the defense is poorly coached. We all know the offense is going to look different in scheme and personnel next year. If Oklahoma wins?
If the Gators win, cool. Mullen and co get to hoist a “trophy” for a non-championship bowl win and Jordan Brand gets to print some new “champion” shirts and the record is 9-3 instead of 8-4, numbers that won’t matter on the recruiting trail.
The non-CFP bowls are exhibition games that are fun to watch and make a lot of money for ESPN and the SEC. Enjoy them for that.
I will fully enjoy getting to watch one more Gator game in 2020. Hopefully, one more Trask Gator game.
I can’t believe it. An article by Farner that doesn’t rip Gary Danielson.
That’s funny but true.