Couldnt help posting this when the two teams topping the misery index are the crocs and hogs.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...regon-michigan-tennessee-boise-state/3691665/
The Misery Index was invented, in some ways, as a vehicle to poke fun at wild mood swings and the ability of fan bases to draw irrational conclusions from snapshot results. And every week, college football teams and fans have provided plenty of fodder for this space.
But there's nothing irrational about the anger of Florida fans right now.
What happened Saturday – a 26-20 loss to Georgia Southern – should not have happened. There is no excuse for it. There is no explaining it away. It was an embarrassment, and there should be consequences.
FOOTBALL FOUR: Rating and debating college football
Whether those consequences include athletics director Jeremy Foley pulling the plug on Will Muschamp remains unclear. Less than two weeks ago, Foley said he was "a thousand percent convinced" Muschamp was the right man for the job and essentially guaranteed his hand-picked would return for a fourth season in 2014. Given how injuries have wrecked Florida's season, that stance was reasonable, even if you didn't agree with it.
But the Georgia Southern loss could – and probably should – change those percentages a little bit.
Florida had never lost to a school in the Football Championship Subdivision before Saturday, and it's not like Georgia Southern has been burning it up at that level this season. In fact, Georgia Southern went 4-4 in the Southern Conference this season with losses to Wofford, Samford, Appalachian State and Furman. The Eagles, who are transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision, have 70 scholarships available this season and have suffered numerous injuries themselves.
It also has to be alarming to Foley how many empty seats there were in the Swamp, a stadium Muschamp's team didn't even fill all the time last season when it went 11-2. Financially, it's a no-win situation. Either Foley will have to swallow a hefty buyout to get rid of Muschamp or face the prospect of entering next season with a significant dip in enthusiasm (read: ticket sales and donations).
Plus, Foley has to carefully consider what this disaster of a season means in recruiting, especially measured against what Florida State is doing this season. Can the Gators afford to fall even further behind?
At minimum, Muschamp was going to have to make significant changes to his coaching staff, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But will that be enough to satiate a fan base that is now out for blood?
Stay tuned.
(Disclaimer: This isn't a ranking of worst teams, worst losses or coaches whose jobs are in the most jeopardy. This is simply a measurement of a fan base's knee-jerk reaction to what they last saw. The way in which a team won or lost, expectations vis-à-vis program trajectory and traditional inferiority complex of fan base all factor into this ranking)
(Disclaimer No. 2: By virtue of firing their coaches, Connecticut and Southern California are hereby excluded from this and future editions of the Misery Index since fans can now look forward to a new regime taking hold in 2014.)
(Disclaimer No. 3: Southern Mississippi has been granted emeritus status for the Misery Index until it wins another game. At 20 consecutive losses and counting, putting the Golden Eagles on this list would be cruel.)
1. Florida: Digging into the box score a little bit makes the Georgia Southern loss even more alarming. Florida got out-gained 429-279, even though the Eagles attempted three passes. Three! They were all incompletions, too. Basically, the Gators got dominated at home by an FCS team. It's just that simple. Now, clearly the cumulative effect of injuries and a five-game losing streak can wear on a team. One would not expect the Gators to be as mentally sharp for Georgia Southern as they were for South Carolina last week.
Still, once you realize that Georgia Southern came to play, doesn't pride kick in? Shouldn't Florida, leading 10-7 at halftime, come out in the third quarter with a totally different mind-set and better plan of attack? Instead, the game just spiraled on them, and the Gators trailed 20-10 entering the fourth quarter.
2. Arkansas: Since joining the Southeastern Conference in 1992, Arkansas has never gone worse than 2-6 in the league. That record book, however, is about to get rewritten. Unless Arkansas pulls a massive upset Friday at LSU, the Hogs will go winless in the SEC and finish 3-9, branding Bret Bielema's first season an unmitigated disaster.
That doesn't mean it's hopeless, of course. Bielema has a track record, and goodness knows he did not inherit a great situation in the wake of the Bobby Petrino/John L. Smith debacle. It will take time to fully evaluate whether this is a good fit or not. But one SEC win would have helped the entire mood going into the offseason, and the Razorbacks had a chance to get it against Mississippi State on Saturday with a 10-0 lead at halftime. Instead, they lost 24-17 in overtime.
Bielema, who spent much of the last offseason yapping at the rest of the SEC, would be well-served to spend this offseason recruiting and figuring out how to win some games with the little talent he has.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...regon-michigan-tennessee-boise-state/3691665/
The Misery Index was invented, in some ways, as a vehicle to poke fun at wild mood swings and the ability of fan bases to draw irrational conclusions from snapshot results. And every week, college football teams and fans have provided plenty of fodder for this space.
But there's nothing irrational about the anger of Florida fans right now.
What happened Saturday – a 26-20 loss to Georgia Southern – should not have happened. There is no excuse for it. There is no explaining it away. It was an embarrassment, and there should be consequences.
FOOTBALL FOUR: Rating and debating college football
Whether those consequences include athletics director Jeremy Foley pulling the plug on Will Muschamp remains unclear. Less than two weeks ago, Foley said he was "a thousand percent convinced" Muschamp was the right man for the job and essentially guaranteed his hand-picked would return for a fourth season in 2014. Given how injuries have wrecked Florida's season, that stance was reasonable, even if you didn't agree with it.
But the Georgia Southern loss could – and probably should – change those percentages a little bit.
Florida had never lost to a school in the Football Championship Subdivision before Saturday, and it's not like Georgia Southern has been burning it up at that level this season. In fact, Georgia Southern went 4-4 in the Southern Conference this season with losses to Wofford, Samford, Appalachian State and Furman. The Eagles, who are transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision, have 70 scholarships available this season and have suffered numerous injuries themselves.
It also has to be alarming to Foley how many empty seats there were in the Swamp, a stadium Muschamp's team didn't even fill all the time last season when it went 11-2. Financially, it's a no-win situation. Either Foley will have to swallow a hefty buyout to get rid of Muschamp or face the prospect of entering next season with a significant dip in enthusiasm (read: ticket sales and donations).
Plus, Foley has to carefully consider what this disaster of a season means in recruiting, especially measured against what Florida State is doing this season. Can the Gators afford to fall even further behind?
At minimum, Muschamp was going to have to make significant changes to his coaching staff, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But will that be enough to satiate a fan base that is now out for blood?
Stay tuned.
(Disclaimer: This isn't a ranking of worst teams, worst losses or coaches whose jobs are in the most jeopardy. This is simply a measurement of a fan base's knee-jerk reaction to what they last saw. The way in which a team won or lost, expectations vis-à-vis program trajectory and traditional inferiority complex of fan base all factor into this ranking)
(Disclaimer No. 2: By virtue of firing their coaches, Connecticut and Southern California are hereby excluded from this and future editions of the Misery Index since fans can now look forward to a new regime taking hold in 2014.)
(Disclaimer No. 3: Southern Mississippi has been granted emeritus status for the Misery Index until it wins another game. At 20 consecutive losses and counting, putting the Golden Eagles on this list would be cruel.)
1. Florida: Digging into the box score a little bit makes the Georgia Southern loss even more alarming. Florida got out-gained 429-279, even though the Eagles attempted three passes. Three! They were all incompletions, too. Basically, the Gators got dominated at home by an FCS team. It's just that simple. Now, clearly the cumulative effect of injuries and a five-game losing streak can wear on a team. One would not expect the Gators to be as mentally sharp for Georgia Southern as they were for South Carolina last week.
Still, once you realize that Georgia Southern came to play, doesn't pride kick in? Shouldn't Florida, leading 10-7 at halftime, come out in the third quarter with a totally different mind-set and better plan of attack? Instead, the game just spiraled on them, and the Gators trailed 20-10 entering the fourth quarter.
2. Arkansas: Since joining the Southeastern Conference in 1992, Arkansas has never gone worse than 2-6 in the league. That record book, however, is about to get rewritten. Unless Arkansas pulls a massive upset Friday at LSU, the Hogs will go winless in the SEC and finish 3-9, branding Bret Bielema's first season an unmitigated disaster.
That doesn't mean it's hopeless, of course. Bielema has a track record, and goodness knows he did not inherit a great situation in the wake of the Bobby Petrino/John L. Smith debacle. It will take time to fully evaluate whether this is a good fit or not. But one SEC win would have helped the entire mood going into the offseason, and the Razorbacks had a chance to get it against Mississippi State on Saturday with a 10-0 lead at halftime. Instead, they lost 24-17 in overtime.
Bielema, who spent much of the last offseason yapping at the rest of the SEC, would be well-served to spend this offseason recruiting and figuring out how to win some games with the little talent he has.
