Not never produced - just never produced enough to warrant the hype. All of our preseason hype was based off of recruiting stars - not previous production. So what if Bowe had the most yards or Davis had the most catches and JaMarcus got some experience. They weren't very good last season - certainly nothing worth the hype they got before this season. The hype was based on potential (largely looked at from a recruiting standpoint), not the fact that these players had proven to be All-American or even All-SEC players. Florida had the same situation. They had some talented guys who hadn't produced, but Meyer was expected to make them start producing. I remember Corso or somebody did a summer tour & said that when he stopped at Florida, they had as much talent as anyone in the country. That was hype based on potential because we all know those players hadn't proven it on the field yet. And the season came around & guess what, they didn't prove it this season either.
Can't say what is more hurtful when you almost attain your expectations like reaching the SEC game and losing(LSU) or just totally falling to mediocrity like Florida
To answer the question of how it would feel to be a Florida fan? They probably feel pretty simular to a lot of people on this board, still morning over the loss of their former coach. UF has had a little more time to grieve but they should get over it like we should get over Saban leaving. :geauxtige
cparso- first of all, the so called experts of the media tend to have a bandwagon effect when a coach or player is hyped before the season. urban and his florida team were just that, media darlings. the people like me, who are professionals sitting behind a desk by day, sports fans by night, don't know anything, if you believe coaches and the media. well, I didn't think that offense that urban brought from the wac was going to see much success in the SEC. I still believe that, even when he gets his players comfortable into the system. the athletes in the SEC are too fast to consistently get burned on yards after the catch however, back to my original point. One thing you failed to mention was that UF lost its best offensive and defensive players fairly early in the season. caldwell was injured prior to the LSU game and that beast of a DE, Mcdonald has been hurt most of the season. so, if I were a reasonable UF fan, I think I would be fairly pleased after the first urban season, at 8-3, beating GA and FSU and heading for a new year's bowl game.
I would be more patient with Meyer because of the extreme difference in offensive philosophy. He also had alot of success in previous years which would reduce my criticism. Miles had more talent in my opinion and ran a offense similar to last years. He also had success in previous years, which reduces my criticism. I feel a lot less confident with Miles as coach than I did with Saban because Saban proved his mettle. Miles has had only one year, not much time to prove anything, but his first year was not a success IMO (and that's all we have to go on so far). He had a great record, but by the seat of his pants. I am waiting for next year to start getting restless, but I am definitely demoralized. Miles went 10-2, but I don't feel confident that any other coach wouldn't have done the same. He is supposedly recruiting well, but as you often point out, those stars don't mean anything once you wear the purple and gold. We shall see what Miles' real worth is in the next few years, if not next year. We didn't have it as a team this year. We never turned the corner.
You definitely hit the nail on the head when you stated UF fan's expectations were way too high, but remember that the UF program was buried in mediocrity when Meyer arrived..... not exactly the same situation that Miles walked into, IMO. Here's the primary difference though...... the LSU administration isn't stupid enough to fire a 10-win coach, especially in his first year. They'll leave that for the Mal Moores of the world :hihi: Message to Urban : You're in the SEC now.... where your competitors have deeper, bigger, & faster DE's in the 4-3 set than you could've possibly imagined in the Mountain West conference. Your "system" won't work here - ever.... even with a faster, more mobile QB than Leak. You don't have the academic advantage over your fellow conference members that you previously used to secure better athletes back in the MWC .... everybody here has solid athletes. IMO, Meyer is about to endure a very humbling experience the next two seasons. If he's smart, he'll make Darwinian changes to his offensive "system" to allow them to compete. If he doesn't, IMO, he's destined to be a perrenial 8-3, 7-4 team that scares everybody they play because of their upset potential on any given day..... but not consistent enough to win week-in-week-out. LSU doesn't have this problem with Miles/Fisher/Pellini leading the charge. They'll pull this team together and the system will "take root" and begin to flourish. My prediction? .... If Meyer doesn't change, he'll be gone long before Les Miles. Welcome to the majors, Mr. Meyer !
Speaking of Florida... I remember when Leak came in as a freshman and some of his teammates tried to fix him up with a "date of sorts" and Chris would have nothing to do with it. He said he would spend his time looking at film so he could bring a NC to the Gators. So, it begs the question.... has Leak had sex yet? Just wondering. We'd hate to come all the way down there and catch him in a bad mood.
I can't resist to ask... but.... If Saban gets disgusted with Miami, would LSU fans want to see him come back? Because Spurrier did appear to express an interest in returning to the Florida job but wasn't treated all that well by Foley and Machen. (Machen was the former president at Utah where Meyer also came from)
