I remember in 2012 the Irish looked real strong on both lines. Then we ran into the Tide and both of our lines were thrown around like rag dolls.
I honestly did not think the SEC was as strong this year and that the bowls might indicate that.... especially Auburn. I think I am allowed to be wrong in my assessment. If I thought the SEC was kick-ass I would say that.... with no holds barred and you are well aware of that. You guys are pretty impossible sometimes.
The season starts with you touting the SEC clearly better than everyone else and you use the title game as proof of this. You ignore the mudhole stomping Florida took at the hands of Louisville. You choose to focus on the mudhole stomping Alabama put on ND. Fair enough. As the season goes on, somehow your Gators are magically better and amazing. Alabama is amazing. Georgia is amazing. South Carolina is amazing. LSU is amazing. They are all so amazing. The season gets going, all your 'realities' become flaming turds plummeting toward the earth, while the two teams you just knew were horse **** (Missouri and Auburn) turned out to be the 2 teams playing for the SEC Championship. Your conference had exactly ONE quality bowl win (Missouri over Okie State). Auburn lost the BCS title game. Alabama lost the Sugar Bowl. The rest played a selection of mid-level to barely mid-level teams that in any other year, you would contend are 'beneath you.' But because Auburn didn't get housed by FSU and Missouri got a quality win, you're #1 again? It never ends. The flames of your grandiosity have been fueled by the media driven BCS and I'm a little worried for you if/when this all comes crashing down.
"You choose to focus on the mudhole stomping Alabama put on ND. Fair enough." I never said much about the butt whipping ND endured ( boy was I thinking it ) but I'll admit beginning the season I had good reason to think the SEC was pretty damned good.... and I had high hopes about UF before injuries and those hopes were pretty well squashed early on after I watched the Miami debacle in the 2nd game of the season. You never seem to get it right about what I am actually saying just what you prefer to believe went down. Yes... my thoughts were as the season wore on that if two teams that both had losing records the year before were playing for the SEC title then something was amiss..... something was not exactly right with the strength of the conference. Care to show me the conference bowl records for any conference playing a minimum of 3 games? The SEC by the way placed 4 teams in the Final top 7 of the AP post bowl rankings.....
It's funny because you can somehow excuse Florida sucking because of injuries on one hand, while calling for Muschamp's head on the other. All the while, you never once considered (or bothered to learn) that Missouri was absolutely gutted by injuries right out of the gate last year, which may well explain their poor showing. I saw those absurd rankings. Instead of saying 'hey, we placed 4 in the top 7' would you care to address your thoughts on whether or not South Carolina, Missouri (who you claimed was garbage all year) and Auburn are truly better than Alabama? The highest ranked of all those, Auburn, won on one of the great miracle plays at the end of the game that anyone can remember. Everyone, including you, seem confident that a rematch of those teams would yield a resounding Alabama win. South Carolina, the #4 ranked team in the country, was beaten by both Georgia and Tennessee (no offense, Tom and Cindy). It took a miracle rally by their senior QB to beat Missouri and win by 3. They beat that God awful Florida team 19-14. Hell, Georgia Southern hung more on Florida than the Gamecocks. As for bowl records, I know the SEC was 7-3. The Pac12 was 6-3. I know this was the point you were going to make. I'm sure you thought this was your big softball hanging over the plate. You played one more game. Take a look at that laundry list of punching bags the SEC beat in bowl action, and I'm about 100% certain that Utah takes care of them had they managed to finish 6-6 instead of 5-7. Your little qualifier of 'at least 3 games' is cute, because you already knew the SunBelt (MACtion with a tan) finished 2-0. Everyone else major went .500 except the ACC who went 5-6 (Jesus, 11 bowl teams from the dumpster fire?) but the ACC went 2-0 in the BCS games that you value so much. The difference is that most Pac12 fans are disappointed with 6-3 this year, all you care about is being #1 by using qualifiers (minimum 3 games) and the fact that you played one more game. Jesus, you embody the BCS experience.
I don't understand why Michigan State was not ranked #2 in the final poll. As tough as Auburn played FSU, they ended up with 2 losses. It's a "Who's to say...?" situation, but IMO at the end of the season, Michigan State proved it belongs right behind the NC team in the polls.
Those high hopes were for a Florida team that had not yet been decimated by injuries although we lost Andre Debose..... the all time KR at Florida before the season to injury.... Matt Jones had a virus all fall practice.... and Chaz Green probably our best OL never made the field because of injury in the preseason and 4 days after losing Driskel the best DL Dominique Easley was also lost for the season. In other words... I kind of did ignore those injuries and expected more out of Muschamp and UF against Miami. I think that game more than any other is what turned the fans against Muschamp. The Gators still had Driskel available and yet were hard to watch against the canes. The mounting injuries and loss of Driskel would have been more accepted except that it seemed the offense's style as much as inexperienced personnel was to blame for the ineptitude on the field.
that's a whole lot of 'best of' and 'all-time greats' for a team who got the **** kicked out of them by Louisville. I don't understand. You guys said Driskell was the worst thing ever, but are so quick to point him out as a quality loss on your depth. He can't be shitty and a quality starter at the same time. Sid, I actually agree with you. In fact, I wondered why they were so obviously skipped over in favor of Auburn. I'm not saying Auburn shouldn't have been there, but I do believe that Michigan State should have at least been seriously considered.
Driskel was the best we had and he knew how to run WM's plodding offense. True the Louisville game was the kick start to the "disappointed with Muschamp" campaign. Hey.... who's knocking Louisville? Coached by the future HC of the Longhorns and Qb'ed by a future NFL top 10 pick. After watching them dismantle Miami I was just glad we were sitting this one out.... 8)
Did you see UF vs. Miami?? DUH!!!! :lol: :lol: Losing to Louisville was no crime.... they were pretty damned good. But Miami was pedestrian at best .... sorry Ralph.
To be honest Miami was too highly rated and not a very good team at the end of the season....I thought our best game was against the Gators and we were not that great then.... But we did finish our 50+ years of playing UF with a win so the season was great in that context.... 8)
I know how you feel Ralph. UF had a crappy season but managed one high note when they somehow beat Tennessee.... which never gets old and is always very painful were the opposite to happen. Other than that lone bright spot the entire season was a negative and hopefully soon forgotten.