There's been lots of talk about what our final record could be. Consensus seems to be 2-8 or 3-7 (though 1-9 has gained steam in recent days). My question, though, is does it matter? How much different are those records than 0-10 in terms of where the program stands? Say we go 3-7, does that mean we are in substantively better shape than if we went 0-10? My opinion is, no. 3-7 is still terrible. Sure, 0-10 looks much worse and carries the "winless" stigma, but when you get right down to it, it's not that much different. By Year 5, we are solidly out of the rebuilding phase. Done. Over. This is fully Champ's team. We've gone from 9 wins, to 7 wins to 4 wins to, most likely, something less than that this season. In conference we've gone from 5 wins to 4 wins to 3 wins. We may get to 3 conference wins this year, but only because we're playing 2 extra conference games. If this was Champ's first year and he was taking over a winless team and took us to 3 wins, you'd say "ok, that's at least progress." But by Year 5, not the case. Covid has impacted a lot about the world, but it has no bearing on the product we've see on the field so far this year. Anything short of 5-5 this year shows further regression. When you've regressed from Year 2 to Year 3, Year 3 to Year 4 and Year 4 to Year 5, that's a pattern.
I'm fairly certain Champ doesn't go anywhere this year because of the financial impact of covid (though I think 1-9 or 0-10 forces a conversation), but when we come to the end of the year and are sitting at 2-8 or 3-7, what's the message going to be? It can't be that we're making progress. It can't be that we're moving in the right direction. So what exactly will it be? Ray gave us the old "I still believe in Coach Muschamp" speech last year. He can't think fans are dumb enough to fall for that 2 years in a row.
Can Ray, with a straight face, say that he has faith in Champ and his staff? Ray's hands may very well tied b/c of the financial hit from covid, but this would be the time for him to flex his muscle as AD and say something along the lines of "There's no denying that it was a disappointing year. We certainly expected more in Year 5, and we owe better to our fans. Coach Muschamp and I have talked about the direction of the program and what the expectations should be going forward."
The sad reality is that we likely will go something like 3-7 this year. Next year, we'll get to pad the schedule again with some creampuff teams so we'll probably pick up a couple extra wins to go 5-7 and the message will be "Hey, we were 3-7 last year and 5-7 this year, so we're moving in the right direction."
I'm fairly certain Champ doesn't go anywhere this year because of the financial impact of covid (though I think 1-9 or 0-10 forces a conversation), but when we come to the end of the year and are sitting at 2-8 or 3-7, what's the message going to be? It can't be that we're making progress. It can't be that we're moving in the right direction. So what exactly will it be? Ray gave us the old "I still believe in Coach Muschamp" speech last year. He can't think fans are dumb enough to fall for that 2 years in a row.
Can Ray, with a straight face, say that he has faith in Champ and his staff? Ray's hands may very well tied b/c of the financial hit from covid, but this would be the time for him to flex his muscle as AD and say something along the lines of "There's no denying that it was a disappointing year. We certainly expected more in Year 5, and we owe better to our fans. Coach Muschamp and I have talked about the direction of the program and what the expectations should be going forward."
The sad reality is that we likely will go something like 3-7 this year. Next year, we'll get to pad the schedule again with some creampuff teams so we'll probably pick up a couple extra wins to go 5-7 and the message will be "Hey, we were 3-7 last year and 5-7 this year, so we're moving in the right direction."
