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Are “we” overconfident?

QuattroCane said:
I just got through reading a piece about a forecast for the season, and it has us going six and three in the ACC and losing to Duke in the championship. I’ve also read quite a few quips where they think Stanford can upset Miami.
So I got to thinking, are we overconfident? What am I missing? This seems like our strongest team in, dare I say, decades.

//man, the season needs to start!
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So we took the two best players Duke has had in 30 years and now we're losing to them in the ACC Championship game. Sounds like you're reading garbage.
 
QuattroCane said:
I’m convinced a lot of you don’t read anything beyond this site.
I also just read we have the fourth highest “meltdown rate” this weekend.

i’m just telling you what I read, the amount of people that are getting butt hurt over this is pretty comical.
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Not butt hurt at all and I completely understand. Just wouldn’t put much into what the exterior’s opinion is. 99% are not knowledgeable on a ground floor level of what’s happening here and/or are lacking knowledge overall.

I’m amazed at the staff continuity Mario has brought to our program. Anyone who is an old timer/relatively old timer knows our program has a seen a lot of lateral/demotion transfers of our staff members to other programs through the years. Add in not just roster talent but more importantly proper composition and distribution, and I believe we’re in for more success this year and in years to come than what outside the program realize.

Losing Bain and Mesidor will be felt this year. Been at camp daily with Bain and his loss can’t be understated. On the other side, this roster is deeper all around and has a unique quality only an elite staff can keep. That quality is an inner competitiveness amongst the players and staff that make everyone better. Proof of that is the depth at each position and the relatively low percentage of transfers out. Bottom line is 99% of our guys want to be here and know they have to push boundaries to see the field at all.

I expect a cleaner, more efficient team this year.
 
Memnon said:
Absolutely not.

We essentially have the same team as last year, except with a
- Better QB
- More DLine Depth
- More Speed at WR
- Better playmakers at TE

The only real drop off is experience at OL & Nickel.

The OL will be fine despite being younger, they're equally if not more athletic, just don't have the reps.

Nickel in coverage in particular is a question because what Keionte Scott brought to the Defense in instinctual capabilities is difficult to replicate. But with the imminent emergence JJ Dunnigan, it gives us a versatile piece in the Secondary that can allow for multiple coverage looks that can supplement for Scott's absence.

The LB's are both grizzled old *** vets. However, there's a health concern with both & potentially movement in open space is an aspect to pay attention to throughout the season, as teams will look to put them in one on one coverage situations against their RB's, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

But the overall collection of talent on the team is better than last year, which means the expectations should be similar.

It's rare for a team to get a better QB & somehow devolve in play. And we have easily one of the top 3 best QB's in the Nation, combined with the rest of the roster, there's not much other logical summations that can be made other than Deep playoff run with another Natty appearance.

As far as the Stanford game, we're going to beat the Sh*t out of them.

An already banged up bottom tier ACC roster, turning around in 7 days going up against one of the 5 best rosters in the Nation on 8 months rest.

Plus, Stanford is a Pitt-like Brostyle team that wants to play NFL ball in college, or in other words, they have no explosive playmakers so they have to slow every game down in order to have a chance. That will only work against teams that are one dimensional & can't move the ball in multiple ways... Which isn't us.

It'll be blowout.
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8 months of rest and being ****ed off about the Natty loss. We're going to come out on fire
 
JHallCanes said:
Well said

I don’t do predictions and get myself all twisted up on what’s acceptable and not acceptable before the season

College football is so great because anything can happen

Last year we were winning games but the offense was consistently going through droughts and it felt uneasy because you knew we were playing with fire

So I dunno. It’s stacked on paper. I’m sure Clemson and Penn State felt good last year too

We won’t know much about the team from playing Stanford. We will know more when we play Clemson/ND/Pitt etc in the middle of the year

But this team is absolutely loaded
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Mensah and company are scoring 40+ a game along with a very very good defense.

Im leaning undefeated way more than multiple ACC losses.
 
I mean, we did have Bain and Mesidor last year and that wasn't enough to win the Natty. Arguing that because we don't have Bain and Mesi this year, we are somehow going to be a lesser team is some real cuck ****. Indiana didn't have Bain and Mesi and they beat us and went undefeated. This team is DEEEPAH than all of our previous teams combined over the past 20+ years. Our OL has the body types, the personality types, and returns 3 veterans (Okunlola, McCoy, Rod). Trust the staff and the culture that is obviously evident. Every position room is headed by ELITE coaches and is full of elite character dudes.

Also, the only Miami transfer that actually did anything so far is Popo Aguirre (NC State). All of the others that have played thus far have been duds or buried in the depth chart with no chance of breathing playing time. We have upgraded in each of those lost roster spots (minus Aguirre - his pass coverage was subpar but on run D, elite). Another reason to trust the staff on this roster. Too much PTSD from 20+ years of being cat **** seeping into the fanbase still. That's gotta stop.

Enjoy this ride because it will be an epic one! GO CANES!!!!!!
 
Hegemon said:
Mensah and company are scoring 40+ a game along with a very very good defense.

Im leaning undefeated way more than multiple ACC losses.
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I wouldn’t trade any QBs for Mensah I think he’s that good

We don’t really have any weaknesses. OL is a bit of a “concern” but we’ve got maybe the best coaches in the country for that

We are gonna wreck the ACC imo though I think the conference is better than people think. There’s some good coaching and QBs in the confernce

Won’t matter though
 
JHallCanes said:
I wouldn’t trade any QBs for Mensah I think he’s that good

We don’t really have any weaknesses. OL is a bit of a “concern” but we’ve got maybe the best coaches in the country for that

We are gonna wreck the ACC imo though I think the conference is better than people think. There’s some good coaching and QBs in the confernce

Won’t matter though
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Our fanbase is afraid to get hurt. Look at Cam Wards offense in 2024. Look at 2025 defense with Heatherman. We have the EXACT SAME coaches. We have MORE TALENT. Mensah is more like Ward than Beck, and BETTER than Beck. Our fans seem to not believe that it is possible to pair an offense like 2 years ago with a defense like last year. Why? Did Dawson and Heatherman forget how to do it?

We are going to be really **** good man.
 
Some of us are conditioned to fold early, just based on anticipation…what’s next, fire Mario?
 
STs and TEs are the biggest weaknesses/unanswered questions... they cost us the national title last year...

i still think we need a dedicated ST coordinator...
 
LoyalCane24 said:
Our fanbase is afraid to get hurt. Look at Cam Wards offense in 2024. Look at 2025 defense with Heatherman. We have the EXACT SAME coaches. We have MORE TALENT. Mensah is more like Ward than Beck, and BETTER than Beck. Our fans seem to not believe that it is possible to pair an offense like 2 years ago with a defense like last year. Why? Did Dawson and Heatherman forget how to do it?

We are going to be really **** good man.
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Bain, Mesidor, Scott, Thomas brought some leadership and intangibles beyond just how ******* great they were. They just had aura as the kids say

We take a step back on defense (but not much) but we take a much much bigger step forward on offense

But I do think we have the potential to have a better defense than in 2025 just based on some progression of guys like Scott/Blount/Lightfoot

I’ll save my full thoughts for tomorrow but I think we are the best team on paper in the country
 
JHallCanes said:
Bain, Mesidor, Scott, Thomas brought some leadership and intangibles beyond just how ******* great they were. They just had aura as the kids say

We take a step back on defense (but not much) but we take a much much bigger step forward on offense

But I do think we have the potential to have a better defense than in 2025 just based on some progression of guys like Scott/Blount/Lightfoot

I’ll save my full thoughts for tomorrow but I think we are the best team on paper in the country
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Not to be a complete homer, but who were Bain, Mesidor, Scott, Thomas pre season? Bain was doubted after his Sophomore slump. Mesi was definitely doubted after switching positions. Scott and Thomas were thought of as role players not superstars. Guys will emerge. Thats why Corey makes the big bucks
 
Buckle Up Here We Go GIF by Peacock
 
LoyalCane24 said:
Not to be a complete homer, but who were Bain, Mesidor, Scott, Thomas pre season? Bain was doubted after his Sophomore slump. Mesi was definitely doubted after switching positions. Scott and Thomas were thought of as role players not superstars. Guys will emerge. Thats why Corey makes the big bucks
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Yup I’ve said those same things quite a few times

And we barely had any time with Heatherman last year now we’ve had over a full year many of these guys

Felt disrespectful to last year but we could be better in 2026 especially with more help from the O
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
I hope you're right. I've been saying something similar all off-season. The "let it rip" **** was roundly laughed at on here. But it probably did have some effect.

Although to be fair, we came out looking like absolute *** against Syracuse the very next game after the SMU loss. So who knows. What I hope last season proved to Mario is you're able to lean on both your offense AND your defense together in the same game. In 2024, we played offense like we knew our defense was ***. And in 2025, we played offense like we knew our defense was elite. How bout do both this year? There's no rule that you can't beat teams by 40. Everyone talked about "style points" at the end of the year, and I can't remember if Mario ever actually acknowledged it, but he **** sure played like he was aware of it.

Beck threw a TD pass with 11 minutes to go in the game when it was 34-0 against NC State. We'd have never done that if we were undefeated, but we needed style points.

Beck threw a TD *ON 4TH DOWN WITH 20 SECONDS LEFT* against VT when we were up 27-17. Never, in a bazillion years, would Mario do that under normal circumstances.

Beck threw a TD with under a minute left to CJ Daniels at Pitt when the game was 31-7. Again, this is completely out of character for Mario. He's only doing this because we needed to impress voters, period.

So, maybe, just maybe, last year taught him to rack up "style points" all season. I have my doubts, but I'm hoping so. You have an elite offense AND and elite defense. They can help each other. You can win games with either unit, period. So go play like it. Go into every single game saying we are going to play this game like we need to score 40 to win, AND we need to shut the other team out to win. I promise, it'll be OK.
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That posters are pushing back on your takes in this thread proves that the answer to the thread question is YES. As it has been for decades. We beat ourselves 3 times last year and you provide the numerous times this has happened recently. Let's break that pattern and win.
 
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