- Joined
- Nov 27, 2014
- Messages
- 4,044
Musings after seeing us play for the second week and in light of the upsets (including the BAMA near loss) from this weekend...
The obvious and completely expected: We are (of course) not elite. We are not a CFB playoff quality team IMO. We certainly have pieces that are elite, but from stem to stern, the first two games have shown what 99.9% of us already suspected, but now have seen it on the field.
I think overall, in comparison with other teams across the country, we are a good team. Not great, not very good, but good.
I do believe in our coaching across the board. (Captain obvious here) I think we have an elite coaching staff. That and the head man, have us headed in the right direction and I expect for us to improve from the beginning of the year to the last game. The last time I truly felt we did that was under Butch - even in 97', we improved by the end of the year. By the end of 2000', that might have been the greatest CFB team of all time and not the 2001 crew.
ESPN has us favored against the Aggies and I don't disagree. I think we'll beat them (but could also lose by 2 TD's if things go right for them and we start spiraling), and if we do beat them, might go undefeated until Clemson.
We can actually beat Clemson because they're O is not a championship caliber group and I think Steele will own DJ (assuming he's still the starter). If that frosh gets in there and lights it up, that will alter my expectations for that game. DJ doesn't scare me. We can beat DJ in Clemson.
I predicted preseason that we'd go 10-2 regular season and I still predict that. I predicted that we'd beat A&M, lose to Clemson and someone else. I still think that is a likely outcome. Having said that...
...Clemson's O is not good. Their OL is not championship caliber, their QB isn't and neither is their OC. Their skill position players ARE championship caliber athletically, but I'm not convinced that they are being developed.
If we continue to improve throughout the year as I expect that we will, we could have an elite record and even end up in the CFB playoffs (if things bounced in our direction), where we would get exposed, but that would be a great outcome.
Still predicting 10-2 reg season, but in a season like this, a good team like us might over-perform and have a great season.
Of course, this is all subject to change by midnight this Saturday...
The obvious and completely expected: We are (of course) not elite. We are not a CFB playoff quality team IMO. We certainly have pieces that are elite, but from stem to stern, the first two games have shown what 99.9% of us already suspected, but now have seen it on the field.
I think overall, in comparison with other teams across the country, we are a good team. Not great, not very good, but good.
I do believe in our coaching across the board. (Captain obvious here) I think we have an elite coaching staff. That and the head man, have us headed in the right direction and I expect for us to improve from the beginning of the year to the last game. The last time I truly felt we did that was under Butch - even in 97', we improved by the end of the year. By the end of 2000', that might have been the greatest CFB team of all time and not the 2001 crew.
ESPN has us favored against the Aggies and I don't disagree. I think we'll beat them (but could also lose by 2 TD's if things go right for them and we start spiraling), and if we do beat them, might go undefeated until Clemson.
We can actually beat Clemson because they're O is not a championship caliber group and I think Steele will own DJ (assuming he's still the starter). If that frosh gets in there and lights it up, that will alter my expectations for that game. DJ doesn't scare me. We can beat DJ in Clemson.
I predicted preseason that we'd go 10-2 regular season and I still predict that. I predicted that we'd beat A&M, lose to Clemson and someone else. I still think that is a likely outcome. Having said that...
...Clemson's O is not good. Their OL is not championship caliber, their QB isn't and neither is their OC. Their skill position players ARE championship caliber athletically, but I'm not convinced that they are being developed.
If we continue to improve throughout the year as I expect that we will, we could have an elite record and even end up in the CFB playoffs (if things bounced in our direction), where we would get exposed, but that would be a great outcome.
Still predicting 10-2 reg season, but in a season like this, a good team like us might over-perform and have a great season.
Of course, this is all subject to change by midnight this Saturday...
