No it def wasn't...Were we a "phony" top 5 team in '17? Yes of course we were, I agree with you there...But we were a clear top 15-18 team, and metrics point all of that out. We were as unlucky in '18 as we were lucky the year before in '17.
And Golden's 9 win team, was comparable to Richt's 10 win team (2017) for sure...I have no problem you saying that. But definitely not better, and definitely not more well coached. Richt did an excellent job of riding some of that luck and winning 4th quarters and close games, Golden did not. That 2 touchdown BS you are preaching is pure nonsense, dead wrong, you are off there...and losing Richards/Walton/Herndon for the last 3 is every bit as important as losing Johnson and some WR injuries late that season as well.
He was better than Golden, although I like Golden's vision and think he could have been successful here if he scrapped D'Nofrio and hired better assistants after some of his better ones were plucked. Loyalty to a system and assistant coaches were both of their downfalls.
Overall Golden left in comparable shape to what Richt left Diaz...And both left the talent level in way way way better shape than What shannon left Golden, especially when you factor in a large part of what Shannon did leave Golden were seniors and many ended up being suspended between 2 and 6 games (Vernon and Armstrong for instance)
