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are we a year early?

Yoyo423 said:
should be more explosive? than the '24 offense?

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Year early is not the right thing to say. We were one drive away from winning it. That's not early, that's being right there. The Patriots were early for their big game and it showed.

People can spin it however they want to, but outside of Ohio State, nobody came closer to winning this game against Indiana. And we beat Ohio State convincingly.
 
BS85 said:
Super Bowl or bust
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It's early (we still have Spring ball and Fall camp to fill our hopes with propaganda), but would many here consider a successful 2026?

National Champions?
ACC Champs and a playoff win or two enough?

2025 was unexpected and exceeded what many of us believed would make the season a success while at the same time falling short of winning the ACC.

2026 defense might very well be better than 2025 for several reasons: year two in the system, and several key contributors (Moten, Scott, Lightfoot, Mo, OJ, Lucas, O'Conner, Poyser, Bryce) are back with playoff experience as well as the added additions of Wilson and Thornton.

2026 offense will be better than 2025 - as long as Dawson can use all of the pieces effectively - and could be more effective than 2024. 2026 offense may not put up 2024 video game numbers, but the offense - as long as the OL comes together - could very well average 40 points a game while also having the ability to manage the win at the end (this is something Pete and D$ recently discussed with 2024's offense - it's inability to ice a game).
 
No, i don't think we were a year early.

The OL and DL will not be as good next season as they were this season. You can't lose the high draft picks this roster is losing, the leaders we're losing, and think the guys replacing them will be as productive. It's not realistic. The loss of Scott and Thomas on the back end will be significant as well. Those guys were tone setters back there. The OL has me concerned. The tackles have been lockdown positions for 2-3 years.....now both will have new starters, as will C and RG. That's a LOT to replace and a lot to gel with so many new guys.

Even if Mensah brings more explosive plays to the offense and maybe we score more points or have a better record overall (including ACC Championship), i can't see any way i view the actual composition of these team as more talented or complete than last years. Ultimately it doesn't matter, because you can only play the guys across the field from you.....and that's who you have to beat, not last year's team (Miami's or Indiana's).
 
Think back in early years of MC , many here wanted MC to fired his first year and get LK at any cost.

Even today if MC makes one mistake many here again will call for his head.

A new top coach needs 3-4 years to get the team he needs , here we give HC 3 months of the summer to put everything together for NC run or else.
 
PSU Cane said:
No, i don't think we were a year early.

The OL and DL will not be as good next season as they were this season. You can't lose the high draft picks this roster is losing, the leaders we're losing, and think the guys replacing them will be as productive. It's not realistic. The loss of Scott and Thomas on the back end will be significant as well. Those guys were tone setters back there. The OL has me concerned. The tackles have been lockdown positions for 2-3 years.....now both will have new starters, as will C and RG. That's a LOT to replace and a lot to gel with so many new guys.

Even if Mensah brings more explosive plays to the offense and maybe we score more points or have a better record overall (including ACC Championship), i can't see any way i view the actual composition of these team as more talented or complete than last years. Ultimately it doesn't matter, because you can only play the guys across the field from you.....and that's who you have to beat, not last year's team (Miami's or Indiana's).
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While I don't disagree with your take, here is how I am looking at defensive side of the ball...Canes losing Mesidor and Bain as leaders but now the leadership shifts to the iterior players, Motan and Scott. This past season the attention drawn by the DEs allowed the DTs to really blossom, next year it flips. Moten and Scott will draw the attnetion and allow the DEs to flourish, Ligthfoot, Lowe, etc. Wilson should not be discounted in his production, even if it is "different" than Bain or Mesidor.

In the secondary, Canes played a lot of true sophomores, with Thomas and Scott as the veterans, this year it flips. Guys like OJ, Poyser and Lucas lead and allowing Thorton and Fitz etc to settle into their roles...

The defense will be different but the returning production is there....
 
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Yoyo423 said:
next year's team will be a blend of '24 and '25 teams.

a more dynamic offense than '25 but not quite as good as '24 (Cam >Mensah) and significantly better defense than '24 but not quite as good as '25 (losing 2 1st round DEs will always hurt).

if we stay healthy, we should be able to make another run in the playoffs...
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We sure Cam>Mensah? Cam is elite but Mensah i believe is further advanced as a QB. Cam was raw, even getting drafted he wasn't polished.
 
brock said:
We had one of the most talented teams in the country. We did what we were supposed to do. We did not overachieve
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This 100%

First round draft picks on both lines, future draft picks still here, award winners, experienced QB. This is what you get when you have that kind of talent.

If anything, they underachieved by losing 2 games.
 
NE Canes said:
This 100%

First round draft picks on both lines, future draft picks still here, award winners, experienced QB. This is what you get when you have that kind of talent.

If anything, they underachieved by losing 2 games.
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i think there is a little moving of the goal post ... the goal was playoffs ... we went all the way to the natty
 
ageezy said:
i think there is a little moving of the goal post ... the goal was playoffs ... we went all the way to the natty
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Yeah, but whose goal was that and why should that matter what random people had as predictions in July. Their goal post doesn’t matter anyway.

The results are in, we know what we know, and at the end of the day they had the talent to do what they did and could have won a championship.

Yes, with hindsight, but it does not take hindsight to know they had the talent and never should have lost to SMU and Louisville and thus underachieved.
 
AtlAtty said:
I felt in 2024 we were definitely ahead of schedule because of Cam.

I felt like 2025 we were supposed to reach the playoffs. Reaching the championship game may have been ahead of schedule, but Mario’s teams are made for the playoffs when football plays and games are a grind.
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Accurate
 
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Handsome Squidbum said:
Agree. Ward is the most talented qb we have ever had, but overall the offense is more complete and should be more explosive with Mensah. I think it could be better than 2024, the offense frequently put Ward in 3rd and long situations, he was a wizard and still got 1st downs. I don’t think 2026 offense will put Mensah in as many bad situations.

As for defense, I think the secondary and interior DL will be better than 2025. Hard to replace Bain/Mesidor but Miami still has more talent than Indiana did at DE this year, so it could still be one of the best defenses in cfb.

Call me crazy but I think Miami goes undefeated in the regular season.
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I'm thinking 12-0, 11-1...Irish at home and there version of get back from keeping them out of the playoffs...but, Mario will have the team focused!...50/50 pick em
 
I knew we had a good team in 2025. I felt like we at least should've made the playoffs, and we did, and I said one playoff win would be a good step forward. We came up about 40 yards short, with about a minute left of winning our 6th Championship. I would not say we are ahead. I thought that in 2024, but not 2025. We exceeded my expectations, but I'm not surprised we were in the championship game.
 
Don't think a year early. Think it was the exact time you'd hope we'd be close to reaching the top given the superstars and experience we had and how generally with a full rebuild you'd want to go lose big, lose close, win close, win big ...

I think our true peak may be hard to match next season, but overall on average we will probably be better - given last year ultimately we did have a 2 game total collapse... If we eliminate that next yr as a whole we may still go higher. Tbd about the full on PEAK capabilities of this team. The only REAL major concern is OLine given the high quality experience we lose.

Obviously it seems we are peaking at the skill positions maybe with the only real Major downgrade appearing to be nickel CB and SS slightly. Everything else - QB, RB, WR, CB, S (**** even TE just by losing Bauman) - is a clear equal or upgrade.... So it all comes down to Trench play. And with all of Moten, Scott, Blount, Lightfoot being yr 3 or later and bringing in Wilson, we should expect high quality DLine play. I do think we peaked at what we should ever really expect out of our DLine play with Bain and Mesidor and the DTs last yr. But relative to everyone else in the country next yr I think we will be elite there again... Ultimately I definitely think last yr + this yr is gonna be a DLine peak ...

So yeah it all comes down to OLine play... However It seems to me this may be the year we have the worst OLine in the say the past 2+future3 yrs?
 
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