He won 10 games, certainly better than most expected but the coach they ran out of town last year won 10 games his first year there too, won the east and then followed that up with a 9 win season his second year, again winning the east. Take a look at the UF schedule this past year-non conference was even worse than ours because GT was actually better than FSU. So they played Charleston Southern, Idaho, and Colorado State. In conference, yes they played LSU and Miss State, winning both those games, but I would say our west games were just as tough-having to travel to LSU and Auburn. Miss State lost 5 games, same as Auburn. But then dig a little deeper, UF lost THREE SECe games this year, two of which were in Gainesville, Kentucky and Missouri.
Take a look at their 2019 schedule and it appears much tougher at least on paper, They open in Orlando against Miami-they should win but the Canes will have talent, they have road trips to UK(they will be down most likely), Missouri, South Carolina and LSU. They host Auburn, Tenn, UT-Martin, Towson, Vandy, and FSU, while playing us in Jax. To me it is quite possible they win 8-9 games again next year, but I will be surprised if they go above the record they had this year at 9-3.
Mullen is a positive/sunshine pumper coach and the media oh so wants UF to be back and taking over the SECe, there is no doubt in my mind. What is sad though, with the mess at FSU and Miami, Mullen still failed this year to get a top 10 recruiting class, they are 11. FSU is 17 and Miami is 33. Compare to our signing class at #2. We have 5 kids that are 5 stars and 15 that are 4 stars and 3 3 stars out of 23 commits, UF has 15 4 stars and 8 3 stars. Further, if you look at the top 10 players in the state of Florida, it goes like this-
Bama with 4, UGA 2, Clemson 1, FSU 1, and Miami 1, with Elam choosing between UF/UGA, the next UF commit comes in at 18 in the state. UGA had a bad year with the top players in our own state, but even with that we got 2 of the top 10, and if you look at the other 8, you see OU, OSU, Tenn, Clem, AU, MIchigan, Bama, and ND. So no other school got 2 out of our top 10.
Bottom line is Mullen could turn them around but to me, it is wait and see. He is not a bad coach but I am not ready to proclaim him the next Spurrier or Oscar Meyer by a LONG SHOT. The talent difference between UGA and UF has grown more and more over the years, it will be him outcoaching and his teams our performing us to get the win-very possible, considering how we played against Texas but not likely when our team is focused and playing for something like the SECe title.