I remember being in Washington DC before going to Charlotte for the ACC title game and hearing that Richards was ruled out of the game and thinking,'Well, no Herndon, no Walton and now Richards." That's 3 guys who have a real shot at having long productive NFL careers who were not available by the end of the year and with a program that still was shallow in depth
That's why last years late swoon didn't bug me all THAT much(well, OK, the Pitt game irks me) but any QB would've been hampered by that circumstance.