Another perspective on the Florida series over the past 20+ years

#1
ConantheVolbarian

ConantheVolbarian

What is best in life? Winning by fiddy!
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#1
It seems a lot of folks have mystical thinking about the Florida game and think "things just happen" or the "ball bounces their way" and we always come out on the losing end. I've heard these talking points from fans and media and I'll admit that I used to think that way. But I'm starting to see this series in a different light. The reality is Florida has been the better team and usually has had better coaching than us, but that is not the case now. We have a better coach and system and will get the win in Gainesville and finally be free of all of our stupid superstitions.
 
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#3
#3
Longsufferingvol said:
It seems a lot of folks have mystical thinking about the Florida game and think "things just happen" or the "ball bounces their way" and we always come out on the losing end. I've heard these talking points from fans and media and I'll admit that I used to think that way. But I'm starting to see this series in a different light. The reality is Florida has been the better team and usually has had better coaching than us, but that is not the case now. We have a better coach and system and will get the win in Gainesville and finally be free of all of our stupid superstitions.
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THANK YOU. I’ve been trying to convince people of this fact. They wanna whine about bad luck or some jinx. Florida has just been better. Most years it wasn’t close, so in the years when it was close, we convinced ourselves that we were actually better. But we weren’t.

Luck tends to favor the teams that are better. So does confidence (which leads to better play in the clutch). Florida has been better than Tennessee from about 2005-2021. But Tennessee is better now. And this year, there’s a gap.
 
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#4
#4
Longsufferingvol said:
It seems a lot of folks have mystical thinking about the Florida game and think "things just happen" or the "ball bounces their way" and we always come out on the losing end. I've heard these talking points from fans and media and I'll admit that I used to think that way. But I'm starting to see this series in a different light. The reality is Florida has been the better team and usually has had better coaching than us, but that is not the case now. We have a better coach and system and will get the win in Gainesville and finally be free of all of our stupid superstitions.
Click to expand...

There have been quite a few years when we were the better team and still lost. But I am hopeful that Heupel can start a winning streak against them. Gonna be tough in the Swamp.
 
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#5
#5
NighthawkVol said:
THANK YOU. I’ve been trying to convince people of this fact. They wanna whine about bad luck or some jinx. Florida has just been better. Most years it wasn’t close, so in the years when it was close, we convinced ourselves that we were actually better. But we weren’t.

Luck tends to favor the teams that are better. So does confidence (which leads to better play in the clutch). Florida has been better than Tennessee from about 2005-2021. But Tennessee is better now. And this year, there’s a gap.
Click to expand...

Lol. Butch should have been 4-1 against UF.
 
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#7
#7
We have actually faced them as the better team and still lost multiple times. We’ve embarrassed ourselves against UF as much as a team of our pedigree possibly can. I don’t think it’s anything mystical, it’s just our guys getting in their heads and making costly errors. I agree that we finally have superior coaching.
 
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#9
#9
The thing about Florida is that it’s a school that recruits itself with the amount of talent residing in that state. They will always have a higher floor than we do just on that. Even when we have more talent, the gap is never huge the way it is when we play Vandy or Missouri. When they have an elite HC, we have to be at our peak to beat them. Our bad teams are going to be worse than their bad teams.

Even when they have a middling coach like Muschamp or Zook, it’s never been a gimme game because of the amount of pure athletes they have on roster. Even the years where we have pulled out a win, we’ve never really had a game where the outcome was never in doubt, and we’ve never been able to get a comfortable lead (hell you could say we had one in 1995 and then they completely blew us out in the 2nd half).
 
#11
#11
Bloodrunsorange27 said:
There have been plenty of years where TN had more talent and found ways to lose. I do think those years are past us
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Yes that's why I said Florida was better or bad better coaching. Butch got out coached badly by them and don't get me started on Pruitt. We always played like crap against Florida when he was coaching.
 
#12
#12
perico said:
The thing about Florida is that it’s a school that recruits itself with the amount of talent residing in that state. They will always have a higher floor than we do just on that. Even when we have more talent, the gap is never huge the way it is when we play Vandy or Missouri. When they have an elite HC, we have to be at our peak to beat them. Our bad teams are going to be worse than their bad teams.

Even when they have a middling coach like Muschamp or Zook, it’s never been a gimme game because of the amount of pure athletes they have on roster. Even the years where we have pulled out a win, we’ve never really had a game where the outcome was never in doubt, and we’ve never been able to get a comfortable lead (hell you could say we had one in 1995 and then they completely blew us out in the 2nd half).
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The reality is we got out coached by Muschamp and shark humper. I don't think Butch ever beat Muschamp head to head. Butch's coaching in the 2015 and 2017 Florida games was unforgivably bad.
 
#13
#13
Longsufferingvol said:
Yes that's why I said Florida was better or bad better coaching. Butch got out coached badly by them and don't get me started on Pruitt. We always played like crap against Florida when he was coaching.
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It was the same with Fulmer too. He routinely got out coached against Florida
 
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#14
#14
Casey Clausen who started four years as a VOL QB never lost neither home or away to the gators. He laughs at the idea of a hex, superstition, or anything else about UF having it over UT on game day. You have to make your breaks and not play bad football to beat the gators even when we're great and they're down. We've already proven ducks can pull trucks in this series.
 
#15
#15
In 2002, as a favorite, Casey Clausen and the center could not execute a simple snap. We lost
Remy said:
Casey Clausen who started four years as a VOL QB never lost neither home or away to the gators. He laughs at the idea of a hex, superstition, or anything else about UF having it over UT on game day. You have to make your breaks and not play bad football to beat the gators even when we're great and they're down. We've already proven ducks can pull trucks in this series.
Click to expand...
 
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#16
#16
We lost bad in 2002, 30-13. Regarding it being a "simple snap", it was monsoon in that game. It was close until Tennessee came unglued at the end of the half. We had 8 fumbles and lost 3 of them. That was the story of that game.

volsfan125 said:
In 2002, as a favorite, Casey Clausen and the center could not execute a simple snap. We lost
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#17
#17
Coaching, discipline, and preparation lead to good execution and performance…which lead to Victory! We’ve been woefully negligent in the first couple of those over the last few years…not anymore! GBO!
 
#19
#19
2014, 2015, 2017 games we lost in spectacular heart breaking fashion. They may have been better coached, etc, but we should have won all 3 of those games. Losing at the last minute when we were winning those games gives steam to the curse narrative.
 
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#21
#21
Longsufferingvol said:
It seems a lot of folks have mystical thinking about the Florida game and think "things just happen" or the "ball bounces their way" and we always come out on the losing end. I've heard these talking points from fans and media and I'll admit that I used to think that way. But I'm starting to see this series in a different light. The reality is Florida has been the better team and usually has had better coaching than us, but that is not the case now. We have a better coach and system and will get the win in Gainesville and finally be free of all of our stupid superstitions.
Click to expand...

Most years they’ve been better than us since Urban’s time, yes. Things like bounces of the ball still matter though, especially in close games. But I don’t think we’ve had a lot of close ones with them
 
#22
#22
jonnon111 said:
2014, 2015, 2017 games we lost in spectacular heart breaking fashion. They may have been better coached, etc, but we should have won all 3 of those games. Losing at the last minute when we were winning those games gives steam to the curse narrative.
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The curse was complacency. Their players were better at executing a more effective gameplan than ours, consistently.
The two last second Butch losses to UF was simply our secondary being less prepared for those 2 minute passing situations than the UF receivers.
 
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