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Message: [QUOTE="OttoinGrotto, post: 1062579, member: 297"] I know that when I don't post much on the football side that it leaves a gaping hole in the lives of so many of you. Don't worry. You haven't been forgotten. I'm here to fill your holes. [CENTER][/CENTER] I'm as excited about this upcoming season as I've been since the McNabb years, and wanted to share the reasons why: [B]1. We can actually get off to a good start this season. [/B]Unlike in seasons past, we have what should be a very easy start to the season, beginning with Villanova, then enjoying a bye to work some kinks out, a road trip to Central Michigan, and a home game vs a Maryland team that we beat last season on the road. I think we'll be favored in each game. Won't it be nice to start a season with some momentum, and not have to dig ourselves out of a hole right when the season begins? If we do go 3 and 0, that Notre Dame game becomes [I]very[/I] interesting. [B]2. The team learned to win last season.[/B] It was particularly encouraging that the team found the resolve to pull out the BC game late to become bowl eligible, and made the plays at the end of the Minnesota game to come home a bowl winner. They know they can now. I think that's one of the things that gave Nassib's teams an edge - they were familiar with finding a way to make plays late in the game to protect a lead or come from behind. [B]3. The coaching staff learned too.[/B] McDonald's offense was a mess at the start of the season (more on this in a little bit). There were times when I didn't think Bullough would keep his job. Shafer's fire was a welcome change from Marrone's statue-like sideline demeanor, but at times seemed a little out of control. But you know, they grew together, cleaned things up, and by the end of it had ironed out a lot of wrinkles and functioned like you'd hope a staff would. My hope is that going forward the staff resembles more what the were towards the end of the season. [B]4. McDonald didn't spend time with the Falcons.[/B] In Cool Kid We Trust, but I was really nervous when last offseason McDonald elected to spend his time with an NFL team. The college and NFL games are just so different; what works in college doesn't necessarily work in the NFL, and what works in the NFL requires such a high degree of skill that you're unlikely to find talent like that at a rebuilding program. Throw in how much less prep time college players get compared to the pros, and... yeah. I didn't like hearing that he was with the Falcons. This offseason though we've heard him talk about studying high-octane college offenses. Hackett had a similar revelation, and we saw the results. Maybe this is just something coordinators have to go through, but I'm very optimistic that out of everyone on the staff McDonald is the one that will show the most growth. [B]5. Hunt returns as the clear cut starter at QB, and a team leader.[/B] Now, obviously we'd expect Hunt to improve with experience, reps, etc. but that's not actually the biggest reason why I'm excited to have a returning starter. The biggest reason to be excited about having a returning starter at QB is that the staff now has a much better understanding of the type of talent they're working with and how to use it. It was clear last season that the offense we were running was built for Allen, not Hunt. Some of that worked itself out over the season, but that's not the same as establishing a core offensive identity and building around it as the season progresses. McDonald has hinted at what that means for this year's offense - faster pace. Assuming that our experience QB allows us to run things cleanly, I think we'll see better offensive schemes as well as better utilization of the talent. [B]6. On that note, some of our more exciting talent on offense is ready to take center stage.[/B] I've always had an irrational belief that McFarlane, Morris and Cornelius were going to be dynamic players. We saw glimpses of that last season, and their roles are only going to increase. Broyld supposedly was a guy Marrone had planned to center his offense around in 2012 - now, we have enough talent at the skill positions that he can be a part of the machine instead of the engine. We're bringing in a collection of receivers that is arguably the best we've ever landed in a single class. I feel like you'd look at any one of those guys in a given recruiting class and say he's our best skill position recruit in the class, and instead of just one we have 5 of them. The line should be stout and we have some new faces worth getting excited about. There are (presumably) some talented QBs waiting in the wings. We're trending up. [B]7. It's not just the offensive depth chart that's filling out. [/B]We're not playing with a short deck anymore. Guys are getting the chance to redshirt and fill in some spot duty before being thrust in to prominent roles. The questions on the two deep are now about who will step up, and not whether we have a scholarship player to do so. That provides a huge dividend to the special teams, which has been an area of weakness for too long. It also allows you to trust your defense more when you know you have competent guys to rotate in, allowing us to play Shafer's helter skelter brand of defense. [B]8. Shafer's helter skelter brand of defense.[/B] If we know one thing, Shafer can and will create chaos and will be aggressive. Love to see those TFLs. It's not a blip on the radar, it's a pattern. Giggity. [B]9. We have a lot better idea of what we have. [/B]Last season we pounded the teams that were worse than us, got pounded by the teams that were better than us, and were in slug fests with teams that were our peers. It was actually really, really easy to figure out where we stood. Given the roster improvements, experience and growth on the staff, and relatively low loss of talent compared to other programs, I think it's clear that we will be a better team than last season, and if last year's performance holds true (beat who you're better than, lose to who's better than you, duke it out with your peers) I believe our trajectory is such that the number of teams better than us is shrinking, our peer group is a little better overall, and the number of teams we're better than is growing. If the wins and losses play off accordingly, I think we're in line for some more buzz and a solid 7 or 8 win regular season. [CENTER][IMG]http://media.syracuse.com/borkowski/photo/sfb-110817-domejpg-693024a19d139e0e.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]

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