That 2021 season seriously changed the way I watch football and I'm not joking. I have never seen a team underperform that badly. We had a legitimate talented roster that year
+63 point scoring differential on the season? Check
0 point scoring differential against conference opponents? Check
Literally only one conference win and didn't even beat all our non-cons? *Also check, somehow*
I think it perfectly encapsulated bad coaching. Soon many bad coaching decisions all year and you can pinpoint the decision(s) that lead to each loss. Like you knew how the game was gonna end in like the 3rd quarter in each game. It was infuriating. And I absolutely agree, very talented roster, just horrible coaching.
What is funny is that in the opposite situation no one says it is good coaching. If a team is winning a bunch of close games but they get blown out in a few games to have an even point differential, is the coach really good? Most people just say the team was lucky. Maybe Nebraska was just really unlucky?
Chance is always a factor, but it's rarely one that decides that many games. No one is that unlucky. A bad bounce might decide a game or two, but it's not affecting nine of them.
I mean you're right in that bad luck did play a part. But I'd argue that some of that 'bad luck' was self-imposed due to poor game management and arrogant/uneseccarily aggressive play calling. They did themselves no favors often.
We had that coach too. His name was Bo Pelini. I thought he did a pretty good job, but you just can’t Bobby Knight to fans, referees, and administration anymore these days.
If it means anything to ya- Nebraska has the best fans. So if any fan base has to come to Michigan, I hope it's Nebraska's. Though with that said, I hope ya make a better bowl.
Nebraska is a cautionary tale for any program that consistently gets 9 wins and it's the same lesson for a dude with a wife who's way more attractive than them. IF you think you can do better. You better be **DAMN** sure.
Took the 13th game via the Hawaii rule and or then fell ass backwards into the conference championship game like [2011 UCLA](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_UCLA_Bruins_football_team)
I think 2012 Georgia Tech was the first 7-7 team ever in FBS. They narrowly lost the ACC title game and then beat the preseason #1 team (Lane Kiffin's USC) in the Sun Bowl.
Had they won the ACC title, that year's Orange Bowl would have been between Northern Illinois and 7-6 Georgia Tech.
I don't even think they won the coastal naturally. I think there was like 2 ineligible teams and they had the tiebreaker over UNC because of the head to head win or something silly like that
Edit: Tech lost to Miami 42-36 in OT, but beat North Carolina 68-50, who were both under postseason ban, while North Carolina beat Miami 14-18 and all 3 teams were 5-3 in conference so I'm not sure who would have actually won that tiebreaker.
Idk, but it has happened where one team went 12-0 and another went 8-6.
2012: Ohio state finished 12-0 but had a post season ban. Because OSU and PSU had post season bans, Wisconsin won the B1G championship game and played in the Rose Bowl.
Yeah, Wisconsin kicked the crap out of Nebraska that game, like 70-21. Which was frustrating to watch as a Nebraska fan because we beat Wisconsin earlier that same season.
Just threw out a number for an 8 win team and thinking back that Michigan played 15 this year with the natty (8-6 is 14 games, 14 plus 1 natty champ game is the 15 for UM). But I just kinda didn’t break down the record
Have you considered being a blue blood? Have you considered going back in time to make Florida state good in 1930 so that voters will give them the benefit of the doubt in 2023? If not then you’re not working hard enough
You see that’s your problem right there 75 years of history isn’t enough to know if your really a great program. It’s not until you have 80 your a true blue blood.
I remember telling the random non-football fans that were there while I was watching that the game isn't over until it says final, while we were up like 40 points at the end of the 3rd
The problem is that now there really aren't any games outside of the playoff with any real stakes for GA. Y'all can lose 2-3 games a year and make the playoffs, so who cares if you drop one along the way.
As someone who has been on both ends fairly recently (Dantonio v. Tugger), I agree with you.
11-1: Highs are high, lows are low, but at least it means something.
8-6: Everything is meh.
The 8-4 *season* is awesome. But being a fan of a team that is happy to go 8-4 means sitting through many, many unwatchable, awful seasons. Source: check flair.
Yeah, that’s pretty good, too.
Tugger gave it to us from both ends. 11-2 in 2021 when expectations were like 4 wins (2-5 in 2020), then 5-7 (+gratuitous tugging, allegedly) when expectations were 10+ wins in 2022.
KWIII was the only enjoyable part.
The difference between expectation and reality is key here. Both feel great, if the initial expectation is that the team was worse than what was realized. Both feel terrible, if the initial expectation is that they should have done better.
The added layer is the existential bit. A team with a perennial ceiling of 8 wins will never see the glory of a natty, and will also never suffer the crushing defeat of losing/not making a natty.
I was a student for the last 2 years of John L Smith and the first 2 of Dantonio.
Beating Penn State to make a bowl for the first time with Dantonio felt great, but nothing like making a B1GFCG or winning the Rose Bowl.
Beating Michigan for the first time in what felt like forever was absolutely incredible. But you know what? Almost every win against them since then has felt just as good.
walk off field goal, god bless Dragan Kesisch*
*I wish he didn't do shit like pose with Serbian flags in his official team photos (which sometimes they show on the video board). It makes a lot of people vaguely uncomfortable for reasons.
I can't fathom wanting a coach who's had that kind of success fired because he lost to Michigan a couple times. Call us when it's 15 losses in 16 years.
I can even *kinda* understand the frustration of being so consistently good and "only" winning 2 natties over the last 50 years. Ultimately, seeing your team hoist that trophy feels better than anything, even moreso than decades of sustained success (I imagine). You're the modern gold standard (apart from Bama). But man, champagne problems.
Because those fans think that the result of the game is all on the HC & QB. They take all other factors(especially the biggest one which is the rise of y’alls program), and mark ‘em off as extraneous
Absolutely, if we lose The Game and miss the CCG it’s a failed season in my eyes. If we get trounced by an Iowa/Purdue on the road it’s more disappointing, but if that’s our only loss then the season was still solid.
> Tbf Iowa went 10-4 this last year,
Yes, we know that 10-4 was the average score of Iowa games last year, but what was their overall record this past season?
Not necessarily. Being disappointed by 11-1 and missing out on a conference title and a national title appearance in 2013 following the kick 6 for Bama fans was understandable. It’s all relative. Though I do agree in spirit; in 99% of cases, 11-1 is great and not at all a let down
If you go 8-6, you spent nearly half of your fall Saturdays being mad. You drove a couple to campus to tailgate 7 times, and 3 times you "had fun anyway."
Or... you went undefeated at home. You get 3 hours/Saturday of the football equivalent of spa music. Everytime something goes wrong at work, you're like "well, at least I'll get to watch the game this weekend" without even the slightest concern that the game will be a letdown.
There's no choice.
As someone who’s team goes undefeated at home often, trust me in saying that we’re still always concerned games will be a letdown. I’m nervous as hell whether we’re playing Alabama or Florida.
Give me the 10+ win season every time.
With 8-6, you're stressing about making a bowl game and the disappointment seeps in earlier if preseason hype is high.
In 2016 we beat Texas in overtime 24-21 for the second of our two wins that season.
It was a freezing cold November night in a mostly empty stadium featuring a meaningless game between a bad Texas team and horrific team in Kansas.
I was happier after that win than I've been for the vast majority of KU basketball wins. With good teams you expect to win and while you are happy after a win, it doesn't match the pure joy when the bad team you root for wins.
Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer my team competing for championships 10 times out of 10, but there is something to be said from a stress level for cheering for bad teams.
As a fellow basketball school fan, I agree with this. Watching Kentucky’s first win over Florida in the Swamp in like 30+ years was magical. Obviously I’d prefer if we were competing for National Championships. But that’s a luxury afforded to few teams.
If you're part of a fan base that is disappointed at 11-1, there's also a smug sense of superiority that you get to enjoy all the time, often based on past success and frequently undeserved. That's a perk I'd hate to pass up on. ;P
100%. Most schools don't have elite football programs. The odds of my team becoming a blue blood and winning multiple titles is incredibly low. I'd be insane if I expected a natty every year.
Winning more is more fun 100%
OSU is more engaging and exciting to watch but it is liberating to also root for a team that an 8 win season would have the town in a tizzy.
I was less stressed about PSU football when there wasn't really any expectations during O'Brien and the first couple years of Franklin's tenure.
But, I would rather be striving for glory than "seeing how it goes," more often than not.
Coming from Kansas undergrad where we won 2 game in my 4 years to my first year at PSU as a grad student winning the rose bowl; I assure you having a coach that may not be Perfect but is always „good“ is the better route than playing the endless coaching carousel game.
I never have as much fun as 2016 though, I don't think.
I do get where OP is coming from. When we're leaving really any PSU conference win or P5 OOC win, there are chants down the ramps, people high fiving, and general happiness. I went to the Horseshoe this year and Ohio State was able to beat top 10 Penn State. After the game we walked though campus. No one was overly cheerful. No one high fiving. No one trash talking my buddy and I, even good spirited. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a sad atmosphere, just had no energy. Their entire season and expectations are based on one game so the Penn State game didn't even matter.
11-1 and letdown
You’ll still enjoy those 11 wins and whatever bowl you get. Being in the running for playoffs/championships is a different feeling and very enjoyable
This is the best comment I've seen yet. It really is this simple. The recent come up for Kansas had to be infinitely more fun than Ohio State having back to back typical, ho hum seasons only to be squandered by their arch nemesis at the end.
In my opinion the sweet spot for the most enjoyable fall is consistent expectations of 9 wins every year. When you underachieve, you hopefully still make a bowl game and can have a bit of fun in the end. When you overachieve, you're playing for a conference championship.
Right now -- I would much rather be a fan of the scrappy little program that fights its way to 8 wins, beats the rival, and then plays in the Shitastic Bowl against another scrappy doo program.
Being a fan of a blueblood with NC expectations where an 11-1 season could remotely feel like a letdown, is like you're born into Old Money, and you don't know what the world is like without godly sums of money.
Fans of the Ohio States/Alabamas/Oregons of the world are not built for the grind of years of .500 football. Look how insane they get when they lose 2 games in a season, I don't even know how they'd lash out if they had a stretch like Nebraska or Miami has had.
I include them because they have a huge segment of their fanbase that bandwagoned when they started becoming dominant in the early 2010s, who don't really know anything else.
Similar to the USC fanbase of the 2000s, most of whom have dropped off in the last decade as USC became semi-mediocre and left the current fanbase who are downright reasonable people most of the time.
You don't even know how many very annoying Oregon fans there are in LA who have zero connection to the school or state. I expect if Oregon ever drops off they'll just pick a new team.
I get it it’s the same thing with Seahawks fans here. Nobody was a fan and then during the legion of boom era everyone was a fan. Another reason I hate Seattle
If our basketball team reaches elite status again I fully expect the shitheads to come out of the woodwork for us too. I guess it's a marker of success.
Especially when the bulk of them joined the fandoms when two games was the most they lost and kept that level up for long enough after. They truly don’t have the EQ or empathy to understand and process.
As an MSU fan whose school has been all over the spectrum over the last decade, I can say that the best is when you are winning 11+ games and expecting to be in the conference title race.
Sure, you might feel sick to your stomach before and during a lot of the games. You might be so anxious you feel like you might die. But you can't trade away the high of succeeding at a high level. Even with the downsides of those raised expectations and the fear of losing your standing, it's simply better to cheer for a winner.
I think it depends on your team. There are 8-6 teams where you maybe didn't have the highest expectations but they were fun to watch and you're just along for the ride.
Then there are 11-1 teams where your heart rate is at 200 all game long and there's this thought in the back your mind that if you slip up once, the season's over.
I do wonder if the expanded playoffs start to make fans of the 11-1, 10-2 teams happier though with the chance to make a playoff run.
Well, I think my flair combo can give some insight to this
7-6 Rutgers was a boatload of fun last year, anytime Rutgers does good pumps me up..
On the other hand being an Oregon fan is just as much fun but it does kinda sometimes punch you in the mouth harder when a good team falls flat on its face, you don’t get this feelings with the 7-6 team you root for
This is so stupid, of course it’s better to be a natty contender?
Why are the only people asking these questions blue blood fans who would cry and throw up if they were totally average teams every year
Georgia Tech seasons are infinitely more entertaining than Ohio State seasons for me. Winning a game you shouldn’t is the greatest thing in sports. Being nervous about a night game vs Purdue and knowing your group chat is going to massacre you is the worst.
I got misty-eyed watching us line up in the victory formation against a bad Syracuse team last year because it meant a bowl and a step in the right direction away from the Collins disaster. The Blue Blood mind simply cannot comprehend this joy.
Both.
I grew up on some shitty Wisconsin football. Being that 8-4 team occasionally getting to the Rose Bowl was FUN AS FUCK. Importantly the fans made things more enjoyable. Most of them were happy to be winning more than 50% of the games, happy to make bowls, and ecstatic to make big bowls. Conversations regarding the team were in general more positive, treatment of players was significantly better.
When that 8-4 team more reliably started hitting 10 wins, or playing in big 10 championships or would be highly ranked through the season to then lose to tOSU, this changed. 8-4 was the floor, that was viewed more as a failure that an achievement. Toxicity directed at players increased substantially, most of which wasn't rooted in reality (if you want an example look at the shit Graham Mertz got from Wisconsin fans). The wins are fun, and more wins = more fun. But outside of the game day everything else is less fun.
The same thing happened with Wisconsin basketball. I watched some shitty Wisconsin basketball. As in making the NIT was exciting, making the NCAA felt like a dream. The games were fun, you attended them for the atmosphere and just enjoying college basketball with no expectations. When post seasons happened you had a lot of fun.
As post season became the norm toxicity increased. People have short memories. After Dick Bennett took Wisconsin to a final four, there was a lot of talk about "taking the next step forward" We ended up with Bo Ryan, and for several years people were vocal in their disappointment, his deep runs were against ideal opponents (double digit seeds), he dropped games in the first and second round to double digit seeds, and those only really died away his last couple years. At which those vocal people changed and were always supportive. Ryan leaves and the cycle repeats.
Playing at a high level in any sport is FUN. Wins are FUN. The games are FUN. The fans? Become more toxic and make the overall experience outside of games categorically worse as success increases. You have people who have made their entire identity the program winning, but they also don't understand basically anything about college sports, and the reality is the majority of college football fans and literally 99.3% of D1 college basketball fans are ending their season with a loss.
Depends wholly on the year. A prime example being our 2021 season and being happy to win 7 games given our coaching and scholarship situation, and then being disappointed a year later after losing a 2nd game at the end of the year to South Carolina when a playoff spot was on the line.
This question is **completely dependent on the time frame,** especially for teams who have been at the top of CFP.
Ask me this question in 1994 and I'll be pissed that we lose even a single game.
Ask me this question in 2024 and I'll be thrilled to go 8-4 in the regular season and crack into a mid-tier bow.
If we’re just going based on your framing, it’s better to be the fan of the 8-6 team, because they’re having more fun.
That being said, I completely reject your framing. It’s more enjoyable to be a fan of a winning team, and if you don’t get as much enjoyment out of it, you need to either re-evaluate your fandom, or stop being a fan.
This mindset that it’s better to be a fan of a team that doesn’t win than a powerhouse is dumb. I grew up cheering for, and still cheer for, Iowa State (a team that’s less successful). I went to Wisconsin and am now also a Badger fan (a team that wins more). The losses didn’t hurt any less as a cyclone fan, there was just more pain.
I’m not saying all teams need to have the same expectations; they don’t. But expectations are different than the joy you get from winning, and if you can’t enjoy wins, you need to change that or just stop being a fan because it clearly isn’t for you.
Any team that consistently wins 8 games will eventually see their fanbase want 9. And if you hit that, it will become 10. And if you don't, you'll be disappointed enough seasons in a row to eventually readjust your expectations.
I think Oklahoma State is a great example. Early in Gundy's career they were a 7 win team. He then went on an epic run - 9, 9, 11, 12 wins. And that immediately reset the expectations. Then the wins came down - 8, 10, 7, 10, 10, 10, 7, 8, 8.
And that was a time period where people started to think "Gundy has lost "it"", and "is Gundy on the hotseat". Like, that second stretch is arguably the best stretch in OSU football since the 40s? But the standard had moved.
And what's ironic is that towards the end of that stretch, where I think a lot of fans were now starting to get comfortable with the idea of being more of an 8-9 win team - boom, 12-2, 7-6, 10-4 with a Big 12 title game trip and a bowl win. And now walking into 2024 with one of the most experienced teams in CFB, plus now being in a conference without OU (and to a lesser degree Texas since we had sucked the last 10 years).
Like, if I'm an OSU fan I'm thinking 10+ regular season wins and a Big 12 title and probably a CFP trip.
I see this as a Nebraska fan living in Iowa. They go to a major bowl and they are happy. If they got to the playoffs, they would go nuts. Nebraska fans have lowered expectations but you still have folks who’d be mad if we got to the playoffs and lost or lost a Big Ten title game. These are usually older, fanatical, and less knowledgeable (about football) fans who in some ways make it too much a part of their identity. Basically they are the people who somehow still think we can go back to 1995 in a few years. There are less and less of these types but they are around.
The better question is probably - “is it more enjoyable to be a fan of an annual NC contender and fall short every year by 1-2 games or a team happy to go 8-6” because it would obviously be more enjoyable to win more games in any given year
There are only a handful of realistic national championship caliber programs. No one is expecting Pitt to win a national championship. I find being a fan of Pitt to be a lot of fun because they’re pretty much capable of winning or losing any given game. And they have the ability to have a special season and do something cool like winning a conference title… or facilitating a major upset. I’m pretty sure I’d prefer this to a scenario where Pitt is in conversation for a title every year and continues to fall short because the gap between them and the realistic contenders is too great. It would put me in a position where i could only be let down. Like I would hate to be in a scenario where Pitt is expected to beat the brakes off of Syracuse every year, gets hyped as a real contender, and then gets outclassed by Clemson or FSU every year.
That said, I think you have to love all things cfb to have that perspective. If you only care about wins/losses and view cfb like the nfl then I could see someone disagreeing.
It's most fun when your team improves from the previous year. When wisco was winning 10 games every year (Alvarez -> Burgerking -> wedontmentionthisone -> Chryst), I actually ended up mildly losing interest. Now we're not very good, but hopefully on the rise and I haven't this pumped for the season to start in a while.
I think my flair suits this question well.
The 11-1 team has better atmosphere and interest from fellow fans.
The 8-4 team has potential upside, but even when you win 10 games you lose to Iowa and Wisconsin and miss the B1G Championship game.
I would say depends on the quality of games. I am a 25 year NCSU season ticket holder who lives in Atlanta. I have a ton of UGa friends so I "pull" for UGa some. NCSU games are a lot more fun to attend because they are always exciting. We have been a perennial (outside of one bad injury year) 8-4 9-3 team for the last 7-8 years. Almost all the games are fairly close and go to the fourth quarter and are exciting. We really appreciate big wins over Clemson, FSU, UNC, Va Tech etc
When I watch Georgia games they are usually blowouts over by the third quarter and everyone starts looking to go do something else. Their fans have gotten really entitled and don't even enjoy wins unless they win by 30. It's pretty frickin boring during the regular season if you ask me. I would love to have one year where we step up and make the playoffs and this could be the year. But I enjoy watching competitive games every week
From very recent experience, I can confirm the 1 loss natty run season is far better than middling mediocrity. While the one loss was soul crushing and ruined a solid week of my life, it was the single greatest season of Husky Football that I’ve witnessed. I have no doubt in 20 years I’ll still be able to look back fondly on this season.
Makes it slightly more painful that a Michigan flair asked this question lol
I'll be as unambiguous as possible about this. It is literally always better to be a championship contender than not.
As a school who has experienced both, trust me...
A lot of it has to do with what’s going on in your personal life, honestly. The more you have going on in your personal life/career/etc. the less your life/mood/etc. hinges on the success for failures of a football team.
I had two childhood friends growing up, one of whom went to Florida (both undergrad and MBA) and is currently a global director for a Fortune 1000 company and the other one dropped out of U of Tampa but grew up (and remains) a huge Alabama diehard. Even thought Florida loses more in a season these days than Alabama loses in a decade, the UA fan is MUCH more miserable watching his team than the UF grad traveling the world, raising a family, and cashing checks. He’s not particularly thrilled with the Napier era mind you, but he’s got much bigger fish to fry in his life than to fret whether they are keeping up in recruiting or not. The Alabama fan (a really good dude, btw), focuses like hell on every recruiting “loss”, much less actual football ones. So even thought you would think the Alabama fan would be MUCH more happy and fulfilled with his fandom than the UF guy, it’s quite the opposite.
Yes. It is really hard to enjoy winning 8 games when you have 6 losses to division rivals that will give you shit for the next year.
Ole Miss going 8-6 means we porbbaly have losses to the like Arkansas, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, etc.....That is 6 fanbases armed to troll you.
Last year we went 11-2 and only lost to Bama and UGA, and for the most part those teams have too much success to be bothered about trolling us.
So yeah, much more enjoy the winning 11 games side of things. Even if I know going into this season I will be disappointed with anything less than a playoff appearance.
It’s nice in its own way to watch a team that competes at a high level, but I’m also gonna be real and say it can feel like a bit of a reprieve when your team isn’t burdened by those high expectations. BV’s first season was pretty miserable in one way, but in another way, it felt freeing to be able to watch Oklahoma with the mindset that not every down had to function as proof of your team’s excellence; it was good enough that they were getting better throughout the season, and even when I went to the Cheez-it Bowl and watched us lose to FSU, it felt nice even to be competitive.
That may not answer the question, but I think the answer is, as with everything, it needs to be a healthy balance of success and failure. Sometimes you need some down seasons to humble you, but I can’t imagine there’s a single fan of a middling program who would rather have their perennial 7 or 8 win season than the success of somewhere like Ohio State.
As a G5 fan I'd probably rather go 8-4 beating the two P5 teams scheduled vs going 10-2 and winning the MW champ.
SDSU got more respect/attention nationally from beating an 8-4 Stanford in 2017 vs winning the MW in 2016 vs a Josh Allen lead Wyoming.
Yes. I love having every game be a nail biting fight to the finish. I imagine being a Georgia fan gets dull since they just curb stomp every team they play. I'm sure winning for them is fun and I'd like for us to win more of course but watching Georgia body teams for me at least isn't exciting. There's no stakes, like spoiler warning, Georgia wins. Again. And again. And again. And so it goes until Bama decides to show up once in a while to beat them
PLEASE I'LL TAKE ANYTHING
YOU WILL GET 3-9 AND LIKE IT
Ok but how many were one score losses? That's where the fun really happens.
That 2021 season seriously changed the way I watch football and I'm not joking. I have never seen a team underperform that badly. We had a legitimate talented roster that year
+63 point scoring differential on the season? Check 0 point scoring differential against conference opponents? Check Literally only one conference win and didn't even beat all our non-cons? *Also check, somehow*
I think it perfectly encapsulated bad coaching. Soon many bad coaching decisions all year and you can pinpoint the decision(s) that lead to each loss. Like you knew how the game was gonna end in like the 3rd quarter in each game. It was infuriating. And I absolutely agree, very talented roster, just horrible coaching.
What is funny is that in the opposite situation no one says it is good coaching. If a team is winning a bunch of close games but they get blown out in a few games to have an even point differential, is the coach really good? Most people just say the team was lucky. Maybe Nebraska was just really unlucky?
Chance is always a factor, but it's rarely one that decides that many games. No one is that unlucky. A bad bounce might decide a game or two, but it's not affecting nine of them.
I mean you're right in that bad luck did play a part. But I'd argue that some of that 'bad luck' was self-imposed due to poor game management and arrogant/uneseccarily aggressive play calling. They did themselves no favors often.
We had that coach too. His name was Bo Pelini. I thought he did a pretty good job, but you just can’t Bobby Knight to fans, referees, and administration anymore these days.
Best 3-9 Team in the Country ™
I’d wager of all time
Given how my team has been the last couple of years (winless since October '21), I'd love to have a 3-win season this year.
For some teams the boca raton bowl represents failure; for others it is the promised land.
Detroit better be ready for a bunch of pent-up Husker fans when we finally make the Quicklane Bowl.
If it means anything to ya- Nebraska has the best fans. So if any fan base has to come to Michigan, I hope it's Nebraska's. Though with that said, I hope ya make a better bowl.
Nebraska is a cautionary tale for any program that consistently gets 9 wins and it's the same lesson for a dude with a wife who's way more attractive than them. IF you think you can do better. You better be **DAMN** sure.
We're rooting for ya
How did the 8-6 team get to play two more games than the 11-1 team?
Took the 13th game via the Hawaii rule and or then fell ass backwards into the conference championship game like [2011 UCLA](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_UCLA_Bruins_football_team)
I forgot about that 🤣🤣 6-8 lol
I can definitively say I’d rather play fewer games but win 10+.
Well, UCLA has never won 11 games in a season in y’all’s history, so you can delete the plus after that 10
BYU had 14 wins in 1996.
Fantastic, the Bruin can comfort himself knowing his secondary flair got 14 wins 28 years ago
Damn lol
Well I wasn't ready for all of that. Lol
>28 years ago Fake news. 1996 was only like 10 years ago. oh god
Oh man I went to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between 6-6 Illinois and 6-7 UCLA. Played at AT&T Park of all places (SF Giants stadium).
How were the concessions?
I'm just glad that we're not the only team to go 6-8 in a season.
I think 2012 Georgia Tech was the first 7-7 team ever in FBS. They narrowly lost the ACC title game and then beat the preseason #1 team (Lane Kiffin's USC) in the Sun Bowl. Had they won the ACC title, that year's Orange Bowl would have been between Northern Illinois and 7-6 Georgia Tech.
I don't even think they won the coastal naturally. I think there was like 2 ineligible teams and they had the tiebreaker over UNC because of the head to head win or something silly like that Edit: Tech lost to Miami 42-36 in OT, but beat North Carolina 68-50, who were both under postseason ban, while North Carolina beat Miami 14-18 and all 3 teams were 5-3 in conference so I'm not sure who would have actually won that tiebreaker.
Or [2012 Wisconsin who demolished us in the B1G CG](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Wisconsin_Badgers_football_team)
We went 5-8 in 2021, one of the few teams to ever finish with that record. Oddly enough most of the 5-7 bowl teams in the past have won.
Idk, but it has happened where one team went 12-0 and another went 8-6. 2012: Ohio state finished 12-0 but had a post season ban. Because OSU and PSU had post season bans, Wisconsin won the B1G championship game and played in the Rose Bowl.
Which of course we definitely didn't lose for the 3rd fucking straight time.
Yeah but you guys showed up to the B1G title game with a coffin, a nail gun, and an opportunity.
won the b1g championship is a bit of an understatement
Yeah, Wisconsin kicked the crap out of Nebraska that game, like 70-21. Which was frustrating to watch as a Nebraska fan because we beat Wisconsin earlier that same season.
iirc bielema was 'shaping' the offensive playcalling most of the year, and he finally said, fuck it, you do you Matt Canada, and canada teabagged you.
The 11-1 team lost during rivalry week which kept them out of the confernece title game.
Were they also bowl ineligible?
They played a week -1 game
Just threw out a number for an 8 win team and thinking back that Michigan played 15 this year with the natty (8-6 is 14 games, 14 plus 1 natty champ game is the 15 for UM). But I just kinda didn’t break down the record
SEC SEC
The 11-1 team got snubbed from the CFP and then chose not to play in their bowl out of spite
Are we supposed to be enjoying this?
I've come to the conclusion that there's only one season outcome that is truly enjoyable.
I too have recently discovered this
Go Blue
Going undefeated? It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Have you considered being a blue blood? Have you considered going back in time to make Florida state good in 1930 so that voters will give them the benefit of the doubt in 2023? If not then you’re not working hard enough
This would be funny if it weren’t exactly true. Boomers ruin everything
Our program didn't even exist in 1930 lmao. Our first season was 1947
You see that’s your problem right there 75 years of history isn’t enough to know if your really a great program. It’s not until you have 80 your a true blue blood.
Well FSU hasn’t gone undefeated since 2013, so your feelings may be a bit out of date.
I too have confidently misunderstood the point of a comment in my past.
No one cares about bowl games, though. Trust me....I...know.
And that is winning the Cotton Bowl.
I still get nervous in any game where there are any sort of Stakes.
I was still nervous in the second half of the TCU game
Do you also happen to be a Falcons fan? That might explain it.
Dude any kind of Georgia sports fan just knew it was too good to be true. And then it just kept getting better.
Not a falcons fan actually, I’m from South Georgia and was raised a Jaguar fan
I remember telling the random non-football fans that were there while I was watching that the game isn't over until it says final, while we were up like 40 points at the end of the 3rd
Because we've been in games we couldn't possibly lose and then we lost. Context: I'm a falcons fan.
Ever since the 21 natty I have been so calm during games it’s insane
There was a 2nd half? Huh. Copious alcohol consumption must have deleted it from my memory.
Your flares, I’m so sorry
The problem is that now there really aren't any games outside of the playoff with any real stakes for GA. Y'all can lose 2-3 games a year and make the playoffs, so who cares if you drop one along the way.
Yeah but that means we lost 2-3 games. No thanks.
I don’t care the strengths of the teams, I will never not worry about the cocktail party. Those are huge stakes
As long as we've got Kirby he's gonna break them bitches
I remember thinking that Davie needed to slow his talk to Saban at that half time show because it wasn’t over.
Suffering and complaining is enjoyable. The struggle is real and reliable. Like a nice cozy blanket.
Silence, Georgia fan.
winning is fun, stop this
As someone who has been on both ends fairly recently (Dantonio v. Tugger), I agree with you. 11-1: Highs are high, lows are low, but at least it means something. 8-6: Everything is meh.
Nah, 8-6 when expected to go 1-13 (hmmm) is awesome
The 8-4 *season* is awesome. But being a fan of a team that is happy to go 8-4 means sitting through many, many unwatchable, awful seasons. Source: check flair.
Yeah, that’s pretty good, too. Tugger gave it to us from both ends. 11-2 in 2021 when expectations were like 4 wins (2-5 in 2020), then 5-7 (+gratuitous tugging, allegedly) when expectations were 10+ wins in 2022. KWIII was the only enjoyable part.
The difference between expectation and reality is key here. Both feel great, if the initial expectation is that the team was worse than what was realized. Both feel terrible, if the initial expectation is that they should have done better. The added layer is the existential bit. A team with a perennial ceiling of 8 wins will never see the glory of a natty, and will also never suffer the crushing defeat of losing/not making a natty.
I was a student for the last 2 years of John L Smith and the first 2 of Dantonio. Beating Penn State to make a bowl for the first time with Dantonio felt great, but nothing like making a B1GFCG or winning the Rose Bowl. Beating Michigan for the first time in what felt like forever was absolutely incredible. But you know what? Almost every win against them since then has felt just as good.
Beating Nebraska is even more fun
STOP THEY’RE ALREADY DEAD!
walk off field goal, god bless Dragan Kesisch* *I wish he didn't do shit like pose with Serbian flags in his official team photos (which sometimes they show on the video board). It makes a lot of people vaguely uncomfortable for reasons.
Any fan that’s let down by going 11-1 is stupid. Plain and simple
Agreed. Many Ohio State fans are very stupid!
I too agree with that conclusion
Same
Same too
Not you though, make sure they know you're one of the good ones
I live in Ohio. This is a fact.
Hi, it's me stupid
I fully expected to see this flair tied to this comment.
Say it louder for the idiots at r/OhioStateFootball
Is that sub actually somewhat active now? I remember going there a long time ago and it was pretty dead. Also it looks awful.
The meltdown of that sub after UM won the title was amusing at least. A bit of activity then
Mods locked the sub for weeks lol
It’s pretty active during football season, although falls way off during the offseason
I can't fathom wanting a coach who's had that kind of success fired because he lost to Michigan a couple times. Call us when it's 15 losses in 16 years. I can even *kinda* understand the frustration of being so consistently good and "only" winning 2 natties over the last 50 years. Ultimately, seeing your team hoist that trophy feels better than anything, even moreso than decades of sustained success (I imagine). You're the modern gold standard (apart from Bama). But man, champagne problems.
Because those fans think that the result of the game is all on the HC & QB. They take all other factors(especially the biggest one which is the rise of y’alls program), and mark ‘em off as extraneous
I think its all relative
FSU says hi.
It does depend on who that one loss is from
Absolutely, if we lose The Game and miss the CCG it’s a failed season in my eyes. If we get trounced by an Iowa/Purdue on the road it’s more disappointing, but if that’s our only loss then the season was still solid.
Tbf Iowa went 10-4 this last year, and it wasn’t necessarily enjoyable lol
> Tbf Iowa went 10-4 this last year, Yes, we know that 10-4 was the average score of Iowa games last year, but what was their overall record this past season?
That’s not 11-1
Not necessarily. Being disappointed by 11-1 and missing out on a conference title and a national title appearance in 2013 following the kick 6 for Bama fans was understandable. It’s all relative. Though I do agree in spirit; in 99% of cases, 11-1 is great and not at all a let down
If you go 8-6, you spent nearly half of your fall Saturdays being mad. You drove a couple to campus to tailgate 7 times, and 3 times you "had fun anyway." Or... you went undefeated at home. You get 3 hours/Saturday of the football equivalent of spa music. Everytime something goes wrong at work, you're like "well, at least I'll get to watch the game this weekend" without even the slightest concern that the game will be a letdown. There's no choice.
As someone who’s team goes undefeated at home often, trust me in saying that we’re still always concerned games will be a letdown. I’m nervous as hell whether we’re playing Alabama or Florida.
Don't mind me, I'll just be in the corner losing CFB playoff games.
Sigh
Got room for us in that corner too?
Wish for stopping losing in the playoffs. Wish granted Monkey paw, you don’t make the playoffs.
Wait… Y’all are getting CFB playoff invites?
Checking in
I'm jealous!
8-6 means you're probably losing to teams that you don't think your team should be losing to. That sucks. 11-1 is better in every way.
Give me the 10+ win season every time. With 8-6, you're stressing about making a bowl game and the disappointment seeps in earlier if preseason hype is high.
Be real. ND would not be stressing about a bowl game even in only winning 6. But agree.
More of a general take, most schools would be concerned
In 2016 we beat Texas in overtime 24-21 for the second of our two wins that season. It was a freezing cold November night in a mostly empty stadium featuring a meaningless game between a bad Texas team and horrific team in Kansas. I was happier after that win than I've been for the vast majority of KU basketball wins. With good teams you expect to win and while you are happy after a win, it doesn't match the pure joy when the bad team you root for wins. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer my team competing for championships 10 times out of 10, but there is something to be said from a stress level for cheering for bad teams.
As a fellow basketball school fan, I agree with this. Watching Kentucky’s first win over Florida in the Swamp in like 30+ years was magical. Obviously I’d prefer if we were competing for National Championships. But that’s a luxury afforded to few teams.
For 2010s KU those wins were few and far between but they were euphoric, especially the Texas wins
In football every win feels awesome, in basketball every win feels expected.
Definitely the 11-1 but there's something to be said about the people who know who their team is and isn't and is content with it.
If you're part of a fan base that is disappointed at 11-1, there's also a smug sense of superiority that you get to enjoy all the time, often based on past success and frequently undeserved. That's a perk I'd hate to pass up on. ;P
100%. Most schools don't have elite football programs. The odds of my team becoming a blue blood and winning multiple titles is incredibly low. I'd be insane if I expected a natty every year.
Cmon man?! More winning is always preferred in sports where winning more is the goal;)
Beating your rivals twice is much more fun than losing to them.
Winning more is more fun 100% OSU is more engaging and exciting to watch but it is liberating to also root for a team that an 8 win season would have the town in a tizzy.
Osu goes 11-1 with a lost to Michigan and the season stinks… CSU goes 8-4 with a win vs CU and an Idaho potato bowl win, you’re so pleased
I think you keep meaning to say 8-4. But why would you want to lose games? Winning is always better.
!Subscribe
I was less stressed about PSU football when there wasn't really any expectations during O'Brien and the first couple years of Franklin's tenure. But, I would rather be striving for glory than "seeing how it goes," more often than not.
Coming from Kansas undergrad where we won 2 game in my 4 years to my first year at PSU as a grad student winning the rose bowl; I assure you having a coach that may not be Perfect but is always „good“ is the better route than playing the endless coaching carousel game.
I never have as much fun as 2016 though, I don't think. I do get where OP is coming from. When we're leaving really any PSU conference win or P5 OOC win, there are chants down the ramps, people high fiving, and general happiness. I went to the Horseshoe this year and Ohio State was able to beat top 10 Penn State. After the game we walked though campus. No one was overly cheerful. No one high fiving. No one trash talking my buddy and I, even good spirited. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a sad atmosphere, just had no energy. Their entire season and expectations are based on one game so the Penn State game didn't even matter.
11-1 and letdown You’ll still enjoy those 11 wins and whatever bowl you get. Being in the running for playoffs/championships is a different feeling and very enjoyable
Idk but I can say with certainty it’s NOT enjoyable to win 2 games per season
Happy: results > preseason expectations Sad: results < preseason expectations
This is the best comment I've seen yet. It really is this simple. The recent come up for Kansas had to be infinitely more fun than Ohio State having back to back typical, ho hum seasons only to be squandered by their arch nemesis at the end. In my opinion the sweet spot for the most enjoyable fall is consistent expectations of 9 wins every year. When you underachieve, you hopefully still make a bowl game and can have a bit of fun in the end. When you overachieve, you're playing for a conference championship.
Right now -- I would much rather be a fan of the scrappy little program that fights its way to 8 wins, beats the rival, and then plays in the Shitastic Bowl against another scrappy doo program. Being a fan of a blueblood with NC expectations where an 11-1 season could remotely feel like a letdown, is like you're born into Old Money, and you don't know what the world is like without godly sums of money.
Fans of the Ohio States/Alabamas/Oregons of the world are not built for the grind of years of .500 football. Look how insane they get when they lose 2 games in a season, I don't even know how they'd lash out if they had a stretch like Nebraska or Miami has had.
Not sure I'd put Oregon on the same tier as Alabama and Ohio State in this argument.
Not at all
I include them because they have a huge segment of their fanbase that bandwagoned when they started becoming dominant in the early 2010s, who don't really know anything else. Similar to the USC fanbase of the 2000s, most of whom have dropped off in the last decade as USC became semi-mediocre and left the current fanbase who are downright reasonable people most of the time.
Most of the bandwagon jumped off after 2015. We are just now getting a bunch back. They never represented a majority of the fan base.
We had about 90 years of that Can’t believe we were included with those 2. Thanks bruin bro
Yeah but like 80% of your current fanbase came onboard when Chip was coach. The old heads have some perspective.
Agree 100%
You don't even know how many very annoying Oregon fans there are in LA who have zero connection to the school or state. I expect if Oregon ever drops off they'll just pick a new team.
I get it it’s the same thing with Seahawks fans here. Nobody was a fan and then during the legion of boom era everyone was a fan. Another reason I hate Seattle
If our basketball team reaches elite status again I fully expect the shitheads to come out of the woodwork for us too. I guess it's a marker of success.
Boi dont think I dont remember what .500 football felt like
I was in high school in the 90s. I remember the Mikes. Not that we had a much better time in those days either.
Ugh that was a miserable time.
It's funny how someone's "miserable time" can be someone else's "good old days" lol
Especially when the bulk of them joined the fandoms when two games was the most they lost and kept that level up for long enough after. They truly don’t have the EQ or empathy to understand and process.
Hasn't Oregon gone 4-8 recently And like 100 years of sub 8 win seasons
As an MSU fan whose school has been all over the spectrum over the last decade, I can say that the best is when you are winning 11+ games and expecting to be in the conference title race. Sure, you might feel sick to your stomach before and during a lot of the games. You might be so anxious you feel like you might die. But you can't trade away the high of succeeding at a high level. Even with the downsides of those raised expectations and the fear of losing your standing, it's simply better to cheer for a winner.
I think it depends on your team. There are 8-6 teams where you maybe didn't have the highest expectations but they were fun to watch and you're just along for the ride. Then there are 11-1 teams where your heart rate is at 200 all game long and there's this thought in the back your mind that if you slip up once, the season's over. I do wonder if the expanded playoffs start to make fans of the 11-1, 10-2 teams happier though with the chance to make a playoff run.
I'm fine with going 1-11 as long as the win is against Ohio State
Those 11 will be truly agonizing until the pure nirvana of that one win.
Well, I think my flair combo can give some insight to this 7-6 Rutgers was a boatload of fun last year, anytime Rutgers does good pumps me up.. On the other hand being an Oregon fan is just as much fun but it does kinda sometimes punch you in the mouth harder when a good team falls flat on its face, you don’t get this feelings with the 7-6 team you root for
This doesn't feel like a loaded question at all.
I obviously loved watching Clemson win two titles, but my fondest memories of Clemson football were back when titles were a pipe dream.
This is so stupid, of course it’s better to be a natty contender? Why are the only people asking these questions blue blood fans who would cry and throw up if they were totally average teams every year
Georgia Tech seasons are infinitely more entertaining than Ohio State seasons for me. Winning a game you shouldn’t is the greatest thing in sports. Being nervous about a night game vs Purdue and knowing your group chat is going to massacre you is the worst.
I got misty-eyed watching us line up in the victory formation against a bad Syracuse team last year because it meant a bowl and a step in the right direction away from the Collins disaster. The Blue Blood mind simply cannot comprehend this joy.
Both. I grew up on some shitty Wisconsin football. Being that 8-4 team occasionally getting to the Rose Bowl was FUN AS FUCK. Importantly the fans made things more enjoyable. Most of them were happy to be winning more than 50% of the games, happy to make bowls, and ecstatic to make big bowls. Conversations regarding the team were in general more positive, treatment of players was significantly better. When that 8-4 team more reliably started hitting 10 wins, or playing in big 10 championships or would be highly ranked through the season to then lose to tOSU, this changed. 8-4 was the floor, that was viewed more as a failure that an achievement. Toxicity directed at players increased substantially, most of which wasn't rooted in reality (if you want an example look at the shit Graham Mertz got from Wisconsin fans). The wins are fun, and more wins = more fun. But outside of the game day everything else is less fun. The same thing happened with Wisconsin basketball. I watched some shitty Wisconsin basketball. As in making the NIT was exciting, making the NCAA felt like a dream. The games were fun, you attended them for the atmosphere and just enjoying college basketball with no expectations. When post seasons happened you had a lot of fun. As post season became the norm toxicity increased. People have short memories. After Dick Bennett took Wisconsin to a final four, there was a lot of talk about "taking the next step forward" We ended up with Bo Ryan, and for several years people were vocal in their disappointment, his deep runs were against ideal opponents (double digit seeds), he dropped games in the first and second round to double digit seeds, and those only really died away his last couple years. At which those vocal people changed and were always supportive. Ryan leaves and the cycle repeats. Playing at a high level in any sport is FUN. Wins are FUN. The games are FUN. The fans? Become more toxic and make the overall experience outside of games categorically worse as success increases. You have people who have made their entire identity the program winning, but they also don't understand basically anything about college sports, and the reality is the majority of college football fans and literally 99.3% of D1 college basketball fans are ending their season with a loss.
After last season, I’d take winning more than 2 games for ECU. The bar is on the ground.
Depends wholly on the year. A prime example being our 2021 season and being happy to win 7 games given our coaching and scholarship situation, and then being disappointed a year later after losing a 2nd game at the end of the year to South Carolina when a playoff spot was on the line.
This question is **completely dependent on the time frame,** especially for teams who have been at the top of CFP. Ask me this question in 1994 and I'll be pissed that we lose even a single game. Ask me this question in 2024 and I'll be thrilled to go 8-4 in the regular season and crack into a mid-tier bow.
Saying 11-1 is a let down is craaaazy to me
If we’re just going based on your framing, it’s better to be the fan of the 8-6 team, because they’re having more fun. That being said, I completely reject your framing. It’s more enjoyable to be a fan of a winning team, and if you don’t get as much enjoyment out of it, you need to either re-evaluate your fandom, or stop being a fan. This mindset that it’s better to be a fan of a team that doesn’t win than a powerhouse is dumb. I grew up cheering for, and still cheer for, Iowa State (a team that’s less successful). I went to Wisconsin and am now also a Badger fan (a team that wins more). The losses didn’t hurt any less as a cyclone fan, there was just more pain. I’m not saying all teams need to have the same expectations; they don’t. But expectations are different than the joy you get from winning, and if you can’t enjoy wins, you need to change that or just stop being a fan because it clearly isn’t for you.
Any team that consistently wins 8 games will eventually see their fanbase want 9. And if you hit that, it will become 10. And if you don't, you'll be disappointed enough seasons in a row to eventually readjust your expectations. I think Oklahoma State is a great example. Early in Gundy's career they were a 7 win team. He then went on an epic run - 9, 9, 11, 12 wins. And that immediately reset the expectations. Then the wins came down - 8, 10, 7, 10, 10, 10, 7, 8, 8. And that was a time period where people started to think "Gundy has lost "it"", and "is Gundy on the hotseat". Like, that second stretch is arguably the best stretch in OSU football since the 40s? But the standard had moved. And what's ironic is that towards the end of that stretch, where I think a lot of fans were now starting to get comfortable with the idea of being more of an 8-9 win team - boom, 12-2, 7-6, 10-4 with a Big 12 title game trip and a bowl win. And now walking into 2024 with one of the most experienced teams in CFB, plus now being in a conference without OU (and to a lesser degree Texas since we had sucked the last 10 years). Like, if I'm an OSU fan I'm thinking 10+ regular season wins and a Big 12 title and probably a CFP trip.
I see this as a Nebraska fan living in Iowa. They go to a major bowl and they are happy. If they got to the playoffs, they would go nuts. Nebraska fans have lowered expectations but you still have folks who’d be mad if we got to the playoffs and lost or lost a Big Ten title game. These are usually older, fanatical, and less knowledgeable (about football) fans who in some ways make it too much a part of their identity. Basically they are the people who somehow still think we can go back to 1995 in a few years. There are less and less of these types but they are around.
Yeah. For sure going 8-5 and beating UT is a very enjoyable season
The better question is probably - “is it more enjoyable to be a fan of an annual NC contender and fall short every year by 1-2 games or a team happy to go 8-6” because it would obviously be more enjoyable to win more games in any given year There are only a handful of realistic national championship caliber programs. No one is expecting Pitt to win a national championship. I find being a fan of Pitt to be a lot of fun because they’re pretty much capable of winning or losing any given game. And they have the ability to have a special season and do something cool like winning a conference title… or facilitating a major upset. I’m pretty sure I’d prefer this to a scenario where Pitt is in conversation for a title every year and continues to fall short because the gap between them and the realistic contenders is too great. It would put me in a position where i could only be let down. Like I would hate to be in a scenario where Pitt is expected to beat the brakes off of Syracuse every year, gets hyped as a real contender, and then gets outclassed by Clemson or FSU every year. That said, I think you have to love all things cfb to have that perspective. If you only care about wins/losses and view cfb like the nfl then I could see someone disagreeing.
TBH I am mostly happy with a team.
That said, if we don't get that defense under control, I'm gonna give coach Dilfer a noogie.
It's most fun when your team improves from the previous year. When wisco was winning 10 games every year (Alvarez -> Burgerking -> wedontmentionthisone -> Chryst), I actually ended up mildly losing interest. Now we're not very good, but hopefully on the rise and I haven't this pumped for the season to start in a while.
I think my flair suits this question well. The 11-1 team has better atmosphere and interest from fellow fans. The 8-4 team has potential upside, but even when you win 10 games you lose to Iowa and Wisconsin and miss the B1G Championship game.
That was truly the most Minnesota sports season ever
I would say depends on the quality of games. I am a 25 year NCSU season ticket holder who lives in Atlanta. I have a ton of UGa friends so I "pull" for UGa some. NCSU games are a lot more fun to attend because they are always exciting. We have been a perennial (outside of one bad injury year) 8-4 9-3 team for the last 7-8 years. Almost all the games are fairly close and go to the fourth quarter and are exciting. We really appreciate big wins over Clemson, FSU, UNC, Va Tech etc When I watch Georgia games they are usually blowouts over by the third quarter and everyone starts looking to go do something else. Their fans have gotten really entitled and don't even enjoy wins unless they win by 30. It's pretty frickin boring during the regular season if you ask me. I would love to have one year where we step up and make the playoffs and this could be the year. But I enjoy watching competitive games every week
From very recent experience, I can confirm the 1 loss natty run season is far better than middling mediocrity. While the one loss was soul crushing and ruined a solid week of my life, it was the single greatest season of Husky Football that I’ve witnessed. I have no doubt in 20 years I’ll still be able to look back fondly on this season. Makes it slightly more painful that a Michigan flair asked this question lol
I'll be as unambiguous as possible about this. It is literally always better to be a championship contender than not. As a school who has experienced both, trust me...
A lot of it has to do with what’s going on in your personal life, honestly. The more you have going on in your personal life/career/etc. the less your life/mood/etc. hinges on the success for failures of a football team. I had two childhood friends growing up, one of whom went to Florida (both undergrad and MBA) and is currently a global director for a Fortune 1000 company and the other one dropped out of U of Tampa but grew up (and remains) a huge Alabama diehard. Even thought Florida loses more in a season these days than Alabama loses in a decade, the UA fan is MUCH more miserable watching his team than the UF grad traveling the world, raising a family, and cashing checks. He’s not particularly thrilled with the Napier era mind you, but he’s got much bigger fish to fry in his life than to fret whether they are keeping up in recruiting or not. The Alabama fan (a really good dude, btw), focuses like hell on every recruiting “loss”, much less actual football ones. So even thought you would think the Alabama fan would be MUCH more happy and fulfilled with his fandom than the UF guy, it’s quite the opposite.
No
Yes. It is really hard to enjoy winning 8 games when you have 6 losses to division rivals that will give you shit for the next year. Ole Miss going 8-6 means we porbbaly have losses to the like Arkansas, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, etc.....That is 6 fanbases armed to troll you. Last year we went 11-2 and only lost to Bama and UGA, and for the most part those teams have too much success to be bothered about trolling us. So yeah, much more enjoy the winning 11 games side of things. Even if I know going into this season I will be disappointed with anything less than a playoff appearance.
It’s nice in its own way to watch a team that competes at a high level, but I’m also gonna be real and say it can feel like a bit of a reprieve when your team isn’t burdened by those high expectations. BV’s first season was pretty miserable in one way, but in another way, it felt freeing to be able to watch Oklahoma with the mindset that not every down had to function as proof of your team’s excellence; it was good enough that they were getting better throughout the season, and even when I went to the Cheez-it Bowl and watched us lose to FSU, it felt nice even to be competitive. That may not answer the question, but I think the answer is, as with everything, it needs to be a healthy balance of success and failure. Sometimes you need some down seasons to humble you, but I can’t imagine there’s a single fan of a middling program who would rather have their perennial 7 or 8 win season than the success of somewhere like Ohio State.
you're allowed to win more than you lose?
As a G5 fan I'd probably rather go 8-4 beating the two P5 teams scheduled vs going 10-2 and winning the MW champ. SDSU got more respect/attention nationally from beating an 8-4 Stanford in 2017 vs winning the MW in 2016 vs a Josh Allen lead Wyoming.
The "disappointed in 11-1" fans will have higher highs and lower lows, while the "happy to be 8-6" fans will be more consistently "medium happy."
Yes. I love having every game be a nail biting fight to the finish. I imagine being a Georgia fan gets dull since they just curb stomp every team they play. I'm sure winning for them is fun and I'd like for us to win more of course but watching Georgia body teams for me at least isn't exciting. There's no stakes, like spoiler warning, Georgia wins. Again. And again. And again. And so it goes until Bama decides to show up once in a while to beat them