Have you guys ever considered that Manny left a team that was just THAT bad. Now that we know what a real OL looks like, can anyone honestly believe we had the OL we did when Mario took over? Was anyone really surprised at our 5-7 season in hindsight? Now I know the talent was better than 7-5 last year. But other than Ga Tech, can you really put any of the other losses on Mario and staff?
TVD, whom most of us including myself believed was going to have an NFL money year, was a total basket case, a disaster. Our two five stars performed exactly like they got graded out by the NFL. Our RBs were completely average, we had no TEs, our LB outside of Kiko were meh, Davis was abused at CB, at one point our DL was so decimated we played a 3-3-5 out of necessity, even Kam got beaten multiple times. And at the same time as all of that, we had guys like Brashard pouting and George losing it on the field.
For this season, I've been saying Vegas got the outlook right at 9.5, meaning we are most likely to win 9 or 10 games. But we just keep loading. The post-Spring portalers are the truth, the 2024 kids are the truth, everyone's back from injury ... we're now so talented that a 9 win season would be a fail for nearly everyone on this board, certainly for the team. We're all expecting 10 wins or more.
Seems to me like Mario is doing a lot of things right. Mario has been a winner his entire career. Maybe, just maybe, he knows how to win at Miami, too?
1. U don’t go from 7-5 to 5-7 & say we shouldn’t be surprised at the results when:
a. The rhetoric surrounding the 2021-22 team was “if” we had a real coach, that was really a 9-10 win team
b. The 2021-22 team, as mentioned, went 7-5; the avg. margin of defeat for this team was 12 ppg (3 of those 5 losses were 3 points or less). That team faced opponents that went a combined 87-66 on the season, with 5 opponents finishing in the top 20.
The 2022-23 team went 5-7, the avg. margin of defeat for this team was 21 ppg (4 of those 7 losses were 21+ points). That team faced opponents that went a combined 81-70 on the season, with 2 opponents finishing in the top 20, & 1 in the top 25.
c. The 2022-23 team sent 3 players to the draft
Tyrique Stevenson (2nd Rd.)
Will Mallory (5th Rd.)
DJ Ivey (7th Rd.)
Admittedly, this wasn’t a lot of players, but by comparison to the opponent’s on our schedule:
-BCU (0) W
-So. Miss (1) W
-A&M (3) L
-MTSU (0) L
-UNC (4) L
-VT (1) W
-Duke (0) L
-UVA (1) W
-FSU (1) L
-GT (1) W
-Clemson (6) L
-Pitt (6) L
Out of our 12 opponents, only 3 had more drafted players than us, with one tied.
2. I’m not sure what kind of QB TVD will be at Wisconsin, but the TVD that Mario inherited was
-ACC ROY
-ACC O-ROY
-2900+ yrds on a 9.0 ypr 25 TDs / 6 ints 160.1 rating
He actually got sacked more in 2021 than 2022 & 2022, but the efficiency declined tremendously, including his ypr.
So listen, again, what happened in 2022 should NEVER be excused, justified, reasoned, revised. It was total bull ****. 2023 was an uneven season, & who knows what happens if the GT debacle doesn’t take place. NEVERTHELESS, on paper, this is the best team we’ve fielded at some very key positions. We know what we have, & the expectations are making it to the ACCCG w/ this roster + schedule.
I’m not saying winning it or even making a CFP Final 12, but making it to the title game is NOT unreasonable.
Oh btw, the only reason why Vegas has us at 9.5 & not 10 has nothing to do w/ the roster, buddy, & that’s a fact. I’ve listened relentlessly to money shows & the ? is about Mario.