One of the questions I tossed to you fine folks before the season started was what you would consider a successful season; some of you tossed out a number of wins, others just wanted to see improvement to know we had reached rock bottom and were on the way up instead of continuing the way down.
The more I thought about it, the more it distilled down to three points to me; two of them are boxes we can check now with one more still on the board:
- Show improvement. We were a two-win team last year. Can we show we are better than that? We're at 5 wins, so this can answered as a yes.
- Can we get a signature win? Hope was fading for this one this year, to be honest. even our wins were tough to look at ... until last week. Now the entire landscape of recruiting and season goals has changed, and we are literally the talk of the SEC.
- Get to a bowl. It's right there, in front of us.
Thoughts? How are you measuring the season?
My expectation was 5 wins, and I think most on here was the same. We got those 5 wins. Now, is that "success"?
Success can be different things based on the state of the program, which is never static and un-moving. What could be considered moderate "success" some years could be excellent "success" other years, and even mediocrity or a down-trend for still others. Based on where the program was over the past number of seasons, I really wasn't going out on that limb looking for "success". I was more looking for a solid foothold back towards a positive direction that one day could lead us back to "success".
5 wins this season is a solid start. I - like most others here who responded to the other thread - were looking for intelligent everything: intelligent player development and positioning, intelligent play-calling in games, intelligent player execution and conduct during games. Smart football. A definite improvement from Muschamp Mode.
Can't really say that we've seen a lot of that this season, with a possible exception of last week's game. But we did get those 5 wins.
We're in a strong position to grab us another win from the last three games of the schedule. Best bet is this coming Saturday. Hate to talk about it before the fact, but bowl eligibility this season would be "success". I guess success to me is setting expectations that are pleasing to me, and then seeing those expectations met or exceeded. That is "success" in my mind. Expecting 5 wins does not quite fall into this category for me, as 5 wins is an expectation that is not really "pleasing" to me, but is what I settled for based on our season's schedule of opponents, and with good grasp of the current reality of where our football program is. It's better than where we were last season - is a step forward for the better - but based on where the program is right now, it's about all that we can fairly expect. That sounds as "pleasing" as the prospect of kissing one's sister does.
Getting the opportunity to prepare and play in a bowl game - getting those players an extra 2 weeks of practice with our new coaching staff - is stealing steps forward that normally we'd not get. It's sort of jumping ahead of the curve. That IS pleasing to me. I hope I didn't jinx anything......
