2024 Week 1 Power Rankings

[Escambia94]

Yes. It is that bad.

Rank	Team	Result
1	#1 Georgia	W34-3 vs #14 Clemson
2	#6 Ole Miss	W76-0 vs Western Kentucky
3	#4 Texas	W52-0 vs Colorado State
4	#5 Alabama	W63-0 vs Western Kentucky
5	#15 Tennessee	W69-3 vs Chattanooga
6	#11 Missouri	W51-0 vs Murray State
7	#16 Oklahoma	W51-3 vs Temple
8	Vanderbilt	W34-27OT vs Virginia Tech
9	#20 Texas A&M	L13-23 vs #7 Notre Dame
10	#13 LSU	L20-7 vs #23 USC
11	Kentucky	W31-0 vs Southern Miss
12	Auburn	W73-3 vs Alabama A&M
13	Mississippi State	W56-7 vs Eastern Kentucky
14	Arkansas	W70-0 vs Arkansas Pine Bluff
15	South Carolina	W23-19 vs Old Dominion
16	Florida	L17-41 vs #19 Miami

 

[DRU2012]

We are light-years distant from even being in any DISCUSSION of current "CFB Power Rankings"...
So much so that it pains me to even contemplate it. I honestly do not have even the smallest grasp of some bare EDGE of a corner of the fabric of such a discussion--so I will have to leave all that to YOU for the moment, E--.
I suppose there are plenty of "guests" whom at least search for scraps of insight into such things even now, so these things continue to be weighed. Life, the game, THE SEASON goes on.
But personally I am empty. Adrift.
I finally forced myself (overnight, in other words just maybe an hour or so ago) to check out Ali Peak's own finally posted "first impressions", and frankly only could get as far as "Well, the results on the field spoke for themselves..." before finding myself, moments later, staring at a blank screen after somehow blindly hitting the "ESC" key with the thought, "WHAT MORE IS THERE TO SAY??!" still echoing in my head.
"What more..." INDEED?
I certainly don't have any answers. Not yet.
The "Who do we GET?" discussions have already begun (a LOT of which, not surprisingly, is just plain silly--I mean, can "Bring back Urban" really be a serious discussion?--...so far, former Gator, fresh-faced newly-ascending UW Coach Jedd Fisch is probably the most potentially creative suggestion I've seen--but all in all, there is so much in the way of work, baggage, and long-range research and consideration (not to mention MONEY) between here and there that maybe we all better see how events play out just over the next couple of WEEKS before even beginning to weigh all that.)
So I will, after this, be leaving a great deal of ANY such discussion HERE to y'all.
E-- will lay out the basic underlying data, sticking as always as much as possible to what FACTS can be identified.
The rest of you can have at it.
If and when I find anything in the way of CLARITY myself, I will not hesitate to share it.

 

[DRU2012]

2, maybe 3 wins. After assessing our talent level coming in, plus our over-reliance on our "Gator insiders on-the-scene at practice" throughout Spring and Summer camps, I really thought we had a shot at 8 wins.
Whatever level you rate Miami at now , however much of their demolishing of our Gators you stuck around for, personally I would still put our respective "TALENT LEVELS" pretty damn close to even (that of course includes not having much clue as to what happened to Graham Mertz on Saturday....most of the rest I chalk up to poor coaching, poor preparation, and a team with an emotional "glass jaw"--OURS!--but a porous O-line does NOT completely explain a sudden inability to throw the long ball as accurately as he showed all camp)...which leaves the shellacking explainable mainly by POOR COACHING.
I honestly thought we had a shot at 8 wins.
But now I have doubts about our even reaching Vegas' "4.5".
And we will be on the hook for 26 MILLION DOLLARS in order to buy out the contract of the guy brought in to accomplish THAT in his 3rd year??! Yeah--Tell me that the guy (or guyS) who engineered THAT arrangement doesn't deserve firing!!!

 

[Escambia94]

I made some minor edits to the power rankings to reflect the LSU score. It looks like Florida and South Carolina are going to fight for the bottom spot in the SEC. South Carolina will only be favored against Akron and Wofford. Old Dominion was supposed to be their first of three guaranteed wins. Arkansas could surprise everyone, but so far it looks as if they are going below .500 and will only be favored against UAB and Louisiana Tech with a chance to beat Mississippi State on the road. Mississippi State will likely be favored over Arizona State, Toledo, and Florida with an opportunity to shock a few teams with that explosive offense. Auburn is the next worst team, but they should handle California, New Mexico, and UL Monroe as well as a surprise win. Their game against Vanderbilt looks very different this year, so I will stop ranking the bottom feeders and put Vandy at the cusp of the middle of the pack.

 

[Leakfan12]

2, maybe 3 wins. After assessing our talent level coming in, plus our over-reliance on our "Gator insiders on-the-scene at practice" throughout Spring and Summer camps, I really thought we had a shot at 8 wins.
Whatever level you rate Miami at now , however much of their demolishing of our Gators you stuck around for, personally I would still put our respective "TALENT LEVELS" pretty damn close to even (that of course includes not having much clue as to what happened to Graham Mertz on Saturday....most of the rest I chalk up to poor coaching, poor preparation, and a team with an emotional "glass jaw"--OURS!--but a porous O-line does NOT completely explain a sudden inability to throw the long ball as accurately as he showed all camp)...which leaves the shellacking explainable mainly by POOR COACHING.
I honestly thought we had a shot at 8 wins.
But now I have doubts about our even reaching Vegas' "4.5".
And we will be on the hook for 26 MILLION DOLLARS in order to buy out the contract of the guy brought in to accomplish THAT in his 3rd year??! Yeah--Tell me that the guy (or guyS) who engineered THAT arrangement doesn't deserve firing!!!

I can see the Gators winning the next four games. After that I don't know. Maybe it's a reach but maybe 3 out of 4 might be more fitting.

 

[DRU2012]

I can see the Gators winning the next four games. After that I don't know. Maybe it's a reach but maybe 3 out of 4 might be more fitting.

That's probably a pretty good combination of realism and positivity; I was about as down/disappointed/disgusted as I've been. Even with this latest apparent misfire at Head Coach...Truth is, the more I think on it all since, the more I blame Strickland and the "old guard" power base that has supported and "advised" him throughout this now LONG SLIDE (damn near INTERMINABLE!).
Now we have various other "idiots-at-large" out there throwing around all kinds of names with apparent certainty as to who will soon be coaching which programs in less than a calendar year...
For example, just in the last coupla days I have read of Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and Prime Time Saunders all having been inked in as "done deal next Coach", all three at both UF AND FSU.
Any ONE of these at any one of those programs would demand a strong debate--but all three presented in that way at BOTH SCHOOLS?
Who can take these "analysts" seriously?
There've been others and there'll be more, but I am already just about at my limit,
A big "F-YOU!" to ALL of them.

 

[DRU2012]

Every now and then, even amongst all the self-contradictory BS. some wag comes up with a well-targeted turn of phrase. The latest such "meme" has surfaced in describing Strickland & Co. as having shown "an extended penchant for BLAND HIRES at the Coaching position". Caught my attention: In fact, that IS one "shared feature" that does appear to run through the last dozen or so years of failure (ie. post Urban championships)...However, I'm NOT so sure that is necessarily the defining characteristic that should be used to decide our next "big move". But it might end up (coincidentally) LOOKING that way, depending on what ends up happening next.
IF a "BIG MOVE" is suddenly soon made, (considering the huge "Buy Out" and "Buy In" money that might well be involved), one for enormous amounts of cash to bring in one of the more "questionably controversial" names being thrown around (I won't even start the reactive clamor GOING by actually naming any of them: YOU know who they are), there is a certain appeal to the idea that maybe the NEXT guy SHOULDN'T be "bland".
Just saying: "Big Changes" are seldom "SAFE" ones.

 

[Escambia94]

To be fair, even the best athletic directors miss more than they hit when hiring college football coaches. Jeremy Foley is considered one of the greatest athletic directors of all time, but let’s analyze his hiring record:
- Ron Zook = miss
- Urban Meyer = big hit
- Will Muschamp = miss
- Jim McElwain = miss

Compare that to Scott Stricklin:
- Dan Mullen = small hit
- Billy Napier = miss

By the logic applied by fans sitting at a desk in a basement in central Florida, Stricklin is not doing that bad.