As far as “coming out of nowhere” goes, this season has to top the list, right? I can only vaguely remember the buildup to ‘85, but I’m pretty sure no one saw that coming. In 88, we were coming off a 5-6 year and rebounded to go 11-1. But everyone knew we underachieved in 87. Those teams were just stupidly talented. 92- ah, what could’ve been. Moving on. 98 was seen as a rebuilding year after losing Peyton, Brown, Little, Fair, etc. But we were a recruiting machine at that time. We just replaced 5 stars with more 5 stars and won it all. 04 was kinda out of the blue. A trip to Atlanta with two freshmen QBs was a pleasant surprise.
But this year? We have a roster full of 3 stars. Our talent level is still in the bottom half of the SEC. NOBODY saw this coming. Most of us would’ve been satisfied with 8-4. If we finish strong, I think this will go down as the best single-season coaching job since Bob Stoops in 2000.
Nit...you mean that 89 was a turnaround from 88. I know we had plenty of talent back then, but I was definitely shocked at the 1989 season...pleasantly of course. That was my senior year so I greatly enjoyed it.
Another nit...our recruiting was actually in the top half of the SEC almost throughout the last 10-12 years, with a couple of exceptions (like Jones and Dooleys final seasons). That isn't to say it was great, it was probably still well down the list but IIRC we probably averaged about 6th. Our coaches defintely underachieved with the talent they had, all of them even Kiffin IMO. Not that we had great talent, but let's put it this way...our record since Fulmer is 11th in the conference and over the decade of the 2010s it's 10th. That's underachieving for sure!
Now, factoring in the portal departures we may well be in the bottom half, but we did pretty well out of the portal also. I have no idea how the portal affects us, I guess it could be figured out, but yeah, given what I would call mediocre recruiting (but not terrible) and departures, this is an amazing season for sure. That goes without saying!
Just don't give Poot and Jones too much of an excuse. They should have been better than they were for sure.