Now that 2018 is mercifully over let's look at next year
Personnel Losses
QB - Trace. - love the kid. He is a warrior but he has limitations. As others have pointed out Barkley, Gesicki, Hamilton caught a lot of Spectacular catches at PSU. This year drops. While the WRs deserve some blame - I don't think from a production standpoint we lose anything - we might actually have a better QB. What we lose though is the leadership. How big is this? in 2016/2017 was he the reason for the late game heroics or was it more Gesicki/Barkley/etc. This to me is the biggest question mark. Can somebody lead the team
RB - sanders is a good back and if he comes back - great. If not then I think between Slade/Ford/Cain and throw in brown/Holmes and we will be fine. This isn’t a knock - I realize he is good - but not irreplaceable. Whether he comes back or not - RB will be a strength.
WR - I think it is obvious that the 3 Freshman are the best. They will be on the field more and thus we should be better
TE - Will be improved. Bowers looked Servicable - but Kuntz will be in the rotation and he looked solid too. Frieirmuth should be better.
OL - ? We have been saying they will be better next year for years. I won't say that. I will say that they can't play worse.
DE- if Miller leaves he’ll be hard to replace. Toney/Simmons don't look very good. Perhaps Parson moves to DE with the arrival of 2 top LBs. Miller was streaky though - so this position should
DT - Depth is what did us in this year. Next year that should be better. No losses of players - so should be good
LB- Brooks/Brown/Parsons look good. Adding Luketa/Smith should add good depth.
Secondary- oruwariye/Scott solid but not irreplaceable. they young corners are looking good. Sutherland/Taylor look solid at Safety. The freshman will push and add good depth.
Also for the 1st time next year 3* players won't be starting by default. Yes I realize we had 4*s on the bench behind 3*s this year but the 3*s were way more experienced and that matters in CFB. Next year if a 3* is starting it will be because he earned it.
Yes Stars aren't everything - but they do matter. Next year - we will be loaded with talent and should have true depth where if somebody goes down we aren't in trouble.
The Schedule.
Yes going to the Shoe is tough, and Sparty is tough in EL. We also have to go to Iowa. We have Michigan at home.
The key to next year is the timing of games. I stated to people this year that the schedule was brutal. We had a 6 game stretch that I feel only Bama could navigate. OSU-MSU-@Indy-Iowa-@Michigan-Wisconsin. This 6 game block had only 1 week team (Indy) and they aren't horrible plus playing at Bloomington always seems to give us trouble (we only have 1-2 double digit wins there since we joined the conference). This stretch had a playoff caliber team to start - a very tough opponent second - and finishes with 3 of the most physical teams in the nation in 3 weeks. Few teams would have gotten out of that without 1-2 losses.
This year it sets up better.
We should be 3-0 going into conference play
We open @ Md and then host Purdue
We have a tough 3 game stretch @Iowa, vs Mich@MSU
We have @Minny and then vs Indiana
Finish @ OSU then home vs RU.
This schedule despite 3 tough road venues vs 1.5 this year is much more manageable.
Every game should be winnable OSU really can't beat us twice like they did the past 2 years (hangover effect).
I feel that many times this year that the team watched Trace and expected him to win the game. Kinda like how players would give Michael Jordan the ball and let him win the game. Next year we don't have that. Many felt we wouldn't miss much from Gesicki/Hamilton/Barkley due to the talent we had. Obviously that was wrong.
However - we did find replacements from Hamilton/Gesicki - they are Freshman and will be better next year. Sanders did a good job at replacing but wasn't 'elite'. Slade looks more electric. I never felt that Sanders could break a huge run - but I feel that Slade can.
For my projection. I think Clifford will win the job.
I feel like 10 wins is the floor. I think 11-1 regular season is realistic. I think our passing game is improved. This will make the offense better. People criticized Rahn all year - but when you can't pass consistently it limits your ability to call the game. Our offense will be the most consistent it has been in a really long time. I feel we will have game changers at 3 or 4 positions. I think Shorter/Hamler will fit this mold. I think Slade will take the next step and be better than Sanders next year. If Clifford Starts I see him being talked about as one of the better QBs. His throws are that good.
The defense will be better. Most of the late game drives by opponents were a result of 3 things.
1) weak depth
2) in experienced players
3) players not make play (int)
While 3 obviously wont' necessarily be fixed - I feel it will be better as we have 'better players' back there. 1-2 will be better.
People get sick of hearing how sanctions affected this team - but it really did - the starters until this year were recruited during sanction years and may not have even been on the roster had it not been for the sanctions. Plus the sanctions caused shortages at positions that snowballed to others.
All of that is corrected next year. 2019 is the 1st year we are truly passed the sanctions and they shouldn't be used as an excuse.
We will see the beginning of the run truly start next year.
Personnel Losses
QB - Trace. - love the kid. He is a warrior but he has limitations. As others have pointed out Barkley, Gesicki, Hamilton caught a lot of Spectacular catches at PSU. This year drops. While the WRs deserve some blame - I don't think from a production standpoint we lose anything - we might actually have a better QB. What we lose though is the leadership. How big is this? in 2016/2017 was he the reason for the late game heroics or was it more Gesicki/Barkley/etc. This to me is the biggest question mark. Can somebody lead the team
RB - sanders is a good back and if he comes back - great. If not then I think between Slade/Ford/Cain and throw in brown/Holmes and we will be fine. This isn’t a knock - I realize he is good - but not irreplaceable. Whether he comes back or not - RB will be a strength.
WR - I think it is obvious that the 3 Freshman are the best. They will be on the field more and thus we should be better
TE - Will be improved. Bowers looked Servicable - but Kuntz will be in the rotation and he looked solid too. Frieirmuth should be better.
OL - ? We have been saying they will be better next year for years. I won't say that. I will say that they can't play worse.
DE- if Miller leaves he’ll be hard to replace. Toney/Simmons don't look very good. Perhaps Parson moves to DE with the arrival of 2 top LBs. Miller was streaky though - so this position should
DT - Depth is what did us in this year. Next year that should be better. No losses of players - so should be good
LB- Brooks/Brown/Parsons look good. Adding Luketa/Smith should add good depth.
Secondary- oruwariye/Scott solid but not irreplaceable. they young corners are looking good. Sutherland/Taylor look solid at Safety. The freshman will push and add good depth.
Also for the 1st time next year 3* players won't be starting by default. Yes I realize we had 4*s on the bench behind 3*s this year but the 3*s were way more experienced and that matters in CFB. Next year if a 3* is starting it will be because he earned it.
Yes Stars aren't everything - but they do matter. Next year - we will be loaded with talent and should have true depth where if somebody goes down we aren't in trouble.
The Schedule.
Yes going to the Shoe is tough, and Sparty is tough in EL. We also have to go to Iowa. We have Michigan at home.
The key to next year is the timing of games. I stated to people this year that the schedule was brutal. We had a 6 game stretch that I feel only Bama could navigate. OSU-MSU-@Indy-Iowa-@Michigan-Wisconsin. This 6 game block had only 1 week team (Indy) and they aren't horrible plus playing at Bloomington always seems to give us trouble (we only have 1-2 double digit wins there since we joined the conference). This stretch had a playoff caliber team to start - a very tough opponent second - and finishes with 3 of the most physical teams in the nation in 3 weeks. Few teams would have gotten out of that without 1-2 losses.
This year it sets up better.
We should be 3-0 going into conference play
We open @ Md and then host Purdue
We have a tough 3 game stretch @Iowa, vs Mich@MSU
We have @Minny and then vs Indiana
Finish @ OSU then home vs RU.
This schedule despite 3 tough road venues vs 1.5 this year is much more manageable.
Every game should be winnable OSU really can't beat us twice like they did the past 2 years (hangover effect).
I feel that many times this year that the team watched Trace and expected him to win the game. Kinda like how players would give Michael Jordan the ball and let him win the game. Next year we don't have that. Many felt we wouldn't miss much from Gesicki/Hamilton/Barkley due to the talent we had. Obviously that was wrong.
However - we did find replacements from Hamilton/Gesicki - they are Freshman and will be better next year. Sanders did a good job at replacing but wasn't 'elite'. Slade looks more electric. I never felt that Sanders could break a huge run - but I feel that Slade can.
For my projection. I think Clifford will win the job.
I feel like 10 wins is the floor. I think 11-1 regular season is realistic. I think our passing game is improved. This will make the offense better. People criticized Rahn all year - but when you can't pass consistently it limits your ability to call the game. Our offense will be the most consistent it has been in a really long time. I feel we will have game changers at 3 or 4 positions. I think Shorter/Hamler will fit this mold. I think Slade will take the next step and be better than Sanders next year. If Clifford Starts I see him being talked about as one of the better QBs. His throws are that good.
The defense will be better. Most of the late game drives by opponents were a result of 3 things.
1) weak depth
2) in experienced players
3) players not make play (int)
While 3 obviously wont' necessarily be fixed - I feel it will be better as we have 'better players' back there. 1-2 will be better.
People get sick of hearing how sanctions affected this team - but it really did - the starters until this year were recruited during sanction years and may not have even been on the roster had it not been for the sanctions. Plus the sanctions caused shortages at positions that snowballed to others.
All of that is corrected next year. 2019 is the 1st year we are truly passed the sanctions and they shouldn't be used as an excuse.
We will see the beginning of the run truly start next year.
