FL Cane
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I've been seeing how giddy UF fans are for next season and looked a bit into how this past one went for them. With all the Manny threads, I thought it'd be interesting to look at a topic we're gonna discuss a lot in the offseason. UF finished the season 10-3 and had a huge turnaround from their 4-8 2017 season. Here are a few observations of them, having watched them at times this year. Tried to be as objective as possible.
The Good
1) They had solid wins against LSU, Michigan, and Mississippi State. These teams were all highly ranked when they played UF. The only handicap on these wins is that these teams ended up being somewhat overrated. Mississippi State and Michigan were big disappointments (good not great teams), and LSU came back down to Earth after putting a smackdown on our overrated team. Mullen deserves credit for coaching these guys up to some big wins, but they were against good (not great) teams. UF fans are under the perception that these teams were great.
2) Mullen made Felipe Franks look like a consistent and serviceable QB throughout the season (58.5% Cmp%, 23 TD 6 INT). Emory Jones looks like a guy who could be a problem for a lot of teams but got very limited reps against a terrible Idaho team. He did get some snaps in other big games. If Mullen can make Franks look good, he'll make a guy with better talent look great.
3) The skill player positions were far better this year. Got some good production out of their top two RB's, Perine and Scarlett, and have a good one in Pierce. Them three are sharing all the reps. Their WR's are solid, but no one stood out or had more than 450 yds of receptions all year. They'll have a lot of Seniors at that position next year though. They barely used their TE's.
4) Mullen has a solid staff, overall they had the #27 defense and #45 offense in the country. Major improvements from McElfraud and Muschamp.
The Bad
1) They got manhandled by UGA, UK, and Missouri. The same Missouri team that lost against a really bad 6-6 Oklahoma State team in the Liberty Bowl. Mullen's team got outplayed and outcoached in those games (particularly outcoached against Kentucky).
2) They were two lucky wins away from 7-5. Muschamp corched South Carolina to a loss despite a 31-21 lead going into the 4Q at The Swamp. Vandy ran out of gas up 21-20 going into the 4Q.
3) They lose a lot of talented guys on both sides of the ball and have to rebuild their entire OLine (Jaawan Taylor being one). Franks looked a lot better than he actually is because of that line and Mullen's playcalling. Their WR's will be experienced and solid, but they're not stellar.
4) Most peculiar observation of them all. Throughout his career, Mullen's always followed up a good season with a straight-up bad or worse one. This is more of an interesting observation than an absolute fact, but every other season he coached at Mississippi State (starting in 2009) his team regressed. With better talent and resources this may not be the case at UF, but it's interesting that his teams consistently regressed following a good season.
Overall: Like Manny said today, we're 243 days away from this game and lots of developments are going to happen in that time period. Nonetheless, it's amusing to see UF fans so giddy about this game. If you're a UF fan, you'd have to be at least 33 years old to have been alive the last time UF beat Miami twice. In our last 10 games we're 8-2 against UF, and in our last 16 games, we're 12-4. This isn't a rivalry UF has dominated since the mid 70's, and we all know why they stopped playing the regular series. Things change no doubt, but they consistently sh*t the bed against us. Their excuse for losing to us in 2013 was because of injuries, but that game happened two games into the season when they had all their players healthy and they were ranked #12. Al Golden beat them.
We've got issues to fix, and I have no doubt they'll be favored going in, but this has consistently been a game when our team shows up. Even when they beat us in 2008 with their National Championship team, it was their lowest scoring game of the season and it was 9-3 going into the 4Q against a Randy Shannon coached team with a bunch of true freshman playing. Not to mention, the game was at The Swamp. To get their one win against us since 1985, they needed a Heisman QB, a loaded team, a top coach, and overwhelming advantages across the board. No doubt they could beat us come next year, but this isn't going to be a cakewalk like their fans think. This game has always been different for them, and they've got a massive blind spot when it comes to us.
The Good
1) They had solid wins against LSU, Michigan, and Mississippi State. These teams were all highly ranked when they played UF. The only handicap on these wins is that these teams ended up being somewhat overrated. Mississippi State and Michigan were big disappointments (good not great teams), and LSU came back down to Earth after putting a smackdown on our overrated team. Mullen deserves credit for coaching these guys up to some big wins, but they were against good (not great) teams. UF fans are under the perception that these teams were great.
2) Mullen made Felipe Franks look like a consistent and serviceable QB throughout the season (58.5% Cmp%, 23 TD 6 INT). Emory Jones looks like a guy who could be a problem for a lot of teams but got very limited reps against a terrible Idaho team. He did get some snaps in other big games. If Mullen can make Franks look good, he'll make a guy with better talent look great.
3) The skill player positions were far better this year. Got some good production out of their top two RB's, Perine and Scarlett, and have a good one in Pierce. Them three are sharing all the reps. Their WR's are solid, but no one stood out or had more than 450 yds of receptions all year. They'll have a lot of Seniors at that position next year though. They barely used their TE's.
4) Mullen has a solid staff, overall they had the #27 defense and #45 offense in the country. Major improvements from McElfraud and Muschamp.
The Bad
1) They got manhandled by UGA, UK, and Missouri. The same Missouri team that lost against a really bad 6-6 Oklahoma State team in the Liberty Bowl. Mullen's team got outplayed and outcoached in those games (particularly outcoached against Kentucky).
2) They were two lucky wins away from 7-5. Muschamp corched South Carolina to a loss despite a 31-21 lead going into the 4Q at The Swamp. Vandy ran out of gas up 21-20 going into the 4Q.
3) They lose a lot of talented guys on both sides of the ball and have to rebuild their entire OLine (Jaawan Taylor being one). Franks looked a lot better than he actually is because of that line and Mullen's playcalling. Their WR's will be experienced and solid, but they're not stellar.
4) Most peculiar observation of them all. Throughout his career, Mullen's always followed up a good season with a straight-up bad or worse one. This is more of an interesting observation than an absolute fact, but every other season he coached at Mississippi State (starting in 2009) his team regressed. With better talent and resources this may not be the case at UF, but it's interesting that his teams consistently regressed following a good season.
Overall: Like Manny said today, we're 243 days away from this game and lots of developments are going to happen in that time period. Nonetheless, it's amusing to see UF fans so giddy about this game. If you're a UF fan, you'd have to be at least 33 years old to have been alive the last time UF beat Miami twice. In our last 10 games we're 8-2 against UF, and in our last 16 games, we're 12-4. This isn't a rivalry UF has dominated since the mid 70's, and we all know why they stopped playing the regular series. Things change no doubt, but they consistently sh*t the bed against us. Their excuse for losing to us in 2013 was because of injuries, but that game happened two games into the season when they had all their players healthy and they were ranked #12. Al Golden beat them.
We've got issues to fix, and I have no doubt they'll be favored going in, but this has consistently been a game when our team shows up. Even when they beat us in 2008 with their National Championship team, it was their lowest scoring game of the season and it was 9-3 going into the 4Q against a Randy Shannon coached team with a bunch of true freshman playing. Not to mention, the game was at The Swamp. To get their one win against us since 1985, they needed a Heisman QB, a loaded team, a top coach, and overwhelming advantages across the board. No doubt they could beat us come next year, but this isn't going to be a cakewalk like their fans think. This game has always been different for them, and they've got a massive blind spot when it comes to us.
