<p>Does anyone have any thoughts on UF's football preseason ranking? Fair? Unfair? I'd have to say I was slightly surprised, since they got the number 1 QB recruit (Jeff Driskel), but who knows. And FSU is ranked #5 - very interesting. I guess it's just opinions. What do you all think?</p>
<p>Something interesting that was also pointed out, is that Auburn was ranked at #23 last year, in this same poll, just like we are right now - and they won the national championship. This year, they are ranked #19.</p>
<p>i think its more than fair. jeff driskel isn’t going to play unless we’re so bad that we ought not be ranked at all, so he shouldn’t be a factor. we had a bad season, and i think we’re only ranked by virtue of other teams not being ranked, rather than because we’re good.</p>
<p>FSU being 5th is heartbreaking. it’ll be more satisfying when we beat them at the end of the season though.</p>
<p>Auburn lost all of their biggest players. they’re in the same situation we were, basically, but with less talent overall.</p>
<p>what really surprises me is texas. they have all new coaches, and were horrible last season. you have to wonder why they were ranked at all.</p>
<p>FSU is way over-hyped… don’t even get me started.</p>
<p>UF’s is fair though. New coach with new system, so there will probably be some kinks worked out this year. Based off of last year’s performance by Brantley there is not much reason to have faith in him. With all that going against us though, I do think we’ll surprise a lot of people this season, and I’m definitely excited for the season to start.</p>
<p>All excellent points. I too, thought about many of these. Gator4ever, I read many things about your points in the Alligator. It was mentioned that Will Muschamp likes pro style, and that’s what John Brantley is good at, so he is working on that. I also know that John Brantley will be more experienced this year, and that the only place he can go from here is up. Which brings me to the next point - it definitely is a good thing we were ranked that low. These are all just opinions, and really aren’t based off of too much yet, so we can certainly do well and have a great season and surprise everyone.</p>
<p>I also think that we can beat FSU. Let’s remember strength of schedule, also - we are playing 6 out of the top 25 teams this year, while FSU is only playing 2 (one being us). We may be better prepared. Another thing to remember… while we lost 5 games (and everyone was saying we were having a bad season), FSU lost 4 games, and they were considered to have a “great” season. So honestly, even though they are ranked so high, they really aren’t that much better than us. So we’ll see who is better prepared for the game.</p>
<p>It seems just about right, although I don’t believe Georgia should be ranked ahead of UF at this point in time. Driskel won’t start unless Brantley absolutely bombs at the job; Brantley will be operating in a pro-style offense now similar to what he played in at TCHS in Ocala and has a much better OC (Weis) to work with. If the defense is pretty solid and the offense makes strides, 8-4 would please me. 9-3 would be fantastic.</p>
<p>This is going to be a rebuilding year…and maybe the next few as well. Just enjoy the wins and don’t stress too much over the rankings and losses this year. They will come.</p>
<p>I agree with gator4ever. I know Weis was castigated in the media blogs while he was at ND. But as an assistant coach I think he can help the quarterbacks evolve like when he was with the Patriots. So I do think UF is in a good position to win some key games that may surprise media pundits.</p>