These two first years are miles from what Marrone. Miles.
Not really miles. You like to put things in perspective when defending DB but not when something could be perceived as anti-DB, or DB less than god status.
When Marrone took over he got rid of a huge
% of players. He also had about 3 months to recruit before National signing day and he started during or around a dead period. He literally signed guys with no stars and 1 star players who only had a star because they had a heartbeat. He had a team full of football Smurf’s that were largely out of shape and were being crushed the previous year(s) under GROB’s guidance.
Did Marrone face the schedule of and SOS of DB, absolutely not. But to discount what Marrone accomplished under the conditions is somewhat lazy.
During the Shafer years you said the players we were signing was trending up; more capable of playing D1 football, more ready to play, bigger, faster, stronger, and team players. You also said while you were on board with Shafer that while the players were here he was getting them bigger, faster, and stronger because of our S&C program was improved. So based on that, DB walked into a significantly better situation that Marrone ever did, by miles.
So proportionally, DB absolutely had the more difficult schedule but Marrone had far,
far less talent and depth playing in what had become a fairly decent BE. At the level of the ACC, of course not but playing with less talent and depth is a huge equalizer
