I think 2016 was the last time our fans collectively felt like "this is the year", 2012 before that. 2009 our coach talked a lot of smack so our fans did too but we didn't think we were winning the SEC that year. Before that, 2006 was a big bounce back year for us, and 2007 was a wild year for everyone, but our fans haven't done the "every year is our year" thing in a long time.
And I don't think our fanbase is any worse than any other SEC team that gets excited about a new coach, or a team finally coming together.
Even going into this year, were we really doing the "this is our year" thing? I saw most people saying 8 wins +/- 2 wins depending on your individual optimism/negativity.