Now that the offseason has officially begun.....

Woof woof

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If we just beat the shite out of Tennessee this season I'll be happy. I live up here with the butt chuggers so it'd be nice

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I was reading this article and I really feel like as much as I'd love to beat Tennessee (I married a Vol... shoot me), so long as that game is competitive, we don't get hurt that much by a loss. UF is such an important game to win this year IMO.

I say this for 2 reasons:
1) UF has been the bane of our existence pretty much since Spurrier got the job, and with few exceptions, we've failed to meet that challenge. Generally, this has been the difference between an SEC East title and not - even when they don't win it, they've usually the obstacle between us and the prize.

2) Tennessee has the unfortunate distinction of having Bama as a permanent west rival, so it all but assures at least 1 SEC loss for them in most years for now, so they have a smaller margin of error. Granted LSU and Auburn can cause problems for us and UF, but let's be honest, neither of us would trade to be in UT's shoes.

If the goal is eventually Natty's, step 1 is consistently winning or at least challenging for the east. Of those 2, beating UF is the priority (see 2015 with no QB, still wins east). Winning the east doesn't assure us of anything, *except* "for the chance to compete". If that's the message we're selling the kids, that's what we have to expect as a program. Go win the east, and compete for the SEC Championship. Do that, and then Kirby's message has a lot more power when he goes to make his recruiting pitch for 2017, 2018, and beyond.

I just wanna see us be competitive. over the past 5 seasons or so the overwhelming majority of fans will agree it wasn't necessarily that we lost some games, it was how we lost some games. Bama steam rolling us in our own Stadium last year was the tipping point for me...then the nail in Richt's coffin was the UF disaster.

And whats with the shite talking and bullshite antics. I want those gone. I want a cool collective team that just gives everyone they play a game. win or lose, this is the mindset I hope Kirby brings to Athens. Even if you have more talent then us...we are gonna give you a fricking game regardless.

This is fair. I think the issue here is not that it is an "every year" play in scenario, simply because we haven't been in a position to win the east every year going into that game for the past 15 years. We've had our share of down seasons, (thankfully the only real b2b was 09/10) as have they.

15 - Win and you end up in the game
14 - Win and you end up in the game
13 - Uncharacteristic losses to Mizzou & Vandy, you were never going this season
12 - Did win - Did take East
11 - Did win - Did take East
10 - Miserable season...
09 - Miserable season for us... UF still goes
08 - Win and you end up in the game
07 - This is the big outlier - Losses to USC/UT, lose tiebreaker to UT
06 - Bad losses to Vandy and Kentucky... no one derails UF this year
05 - Win this year and you lock up the east, instead you need SC to win due to loss against AU
04 - Another UT outlier... don't remember this season that well but I believe this is the last time UT beat UF...
03 - 3 way tie... UGA/UF/UT - clusterfrick of a year, and if you beat UF, it's an outright division win
02 - Lose to UF, coincidentally prevents undefeated regular season and shot at NC
01 - Richt's first season - UF/UT basically a play in game at end of season for the east

It's not exactly just the UGA/UF game, but just on a quick glance without cross referencing everything, 11 of the last 15 seasons, UF has been a major factor (if not THE factor) in determining the east.

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Zook, Meyer, and mcelwain all started their UF careers with wins over UGA.

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Also, this. If you want to start off on the right foot, going down to Jax and putting a shite stomping on them is a nice signature win to quiet the "didn't win the right games" crowd. You can afford to lose a close contest against UT this year, where they are considered the favorites to win the east (and I still like our chances in that game at home assuming we have a healthy Chubb). Florida on the other hand is at least perceived to be weak, even coming off of an SEC Championship game appearance, so coming up short there just looks and feels like more of the same IMO. Kirby needs the guys to play competitive in the big matchups like UT and Ole Miss, and needs a win in the worst way down in Jax.

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you are forgetting about years where beating UF would have sent us to the sec championship....the last 2 for example...

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Not to mention the early Richt years. We always played them close and it seemed if we could of won those games instead of UF, we would of been up there playing for a national championship instead.