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Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 114401, member: 27"] Don't have a lot of time to respond right now, perhaps I can get back to this later if this proves inadequate. I'll try and answer your questions one by one... [I]With that said, what is your opinion about him losing this team to finish 0-5? Do you think he lost this team?[/I] When I hear the phrase 'lost the team', I think of a team that stopped trying and just gave up. I don't think that happened...the team played hard all season long. They got discouraged at times, lost discipline, lost confidence at times, made a lot of mistakes, did some foolish things, bad penalties, etc. but if anything, many of the problems were caused by trying [B]too[/B] hard...over pursuing on defense was a constant problem, late hits, jumping off sides, etc. [I]Did the players not think he could lead them to their goals (Big East Championship) and therefore did not give 100% at the first sign of adversity?[/I] [I]Was there some type of mutiny going on??[/I] Again, I don't believe they gave up or failed to give 100%. Maybe the defense a little in one of the last home games (Cincinnati I think) late in the season. They didn't gang tackle that game as much as they normally did. But I think it was more a bunch of discouraged kids than disenchantment at work. How could Marrone let this (missed tackles and blocks; execution in generla) happen for most of the season? I think most of the problems with missed tackles were a function of playing a young defense that was unfortunately hit hard with injuries throughout the season. We had games where all 4 starters in the secondary were playing with casts on, games where we played walk ons more than half the snaps, Phil Thomas was hurt, playing hurt or suspended most of the season, Sharmarko was not healthy all season, Anderson had a cast on and leg problems, Scott played banged up all season, Lyn had mono and struggled with multiple injuries, Chandler Jones got hurt early, missed close to half the season and while he was still one of our best players, was not at the same level he was when he returned. All of our LBs were playing their positions for the first time as starters, all were badly undersized...we had a lot of inexperienced and banged up players out there every week and it is probably a miracle they were able to play as well as they did given everything that they were up against this season. On offense, the OL blocked poorly early in the season but I thought they improved as the season went on. Still did not do a good job pass blocking...Hay in particular had a brutal season here. But even they was better than last season and it improved as the season progressed and I thought the run blocking was much improved the second half of the season, when we faced a lot of BE teams that were strong against the run. You can't ignore a 5 game losing streak. It was ugly football, the offense was brutal to watch, the special teams were awful. But still, we were in those games to the end and could have easily won 3 or 4 of them. I am not saying we should have, just that we could have. A modest improvement from the offensive unit, just adequate special teams and a return to solid play from the defense and I think we have a good chance to get 4 or 5 conference wins next season. In the watered down world of the BE, the difference between 1-6 and 6-1 is not a lot...as we saw with Cincinnati and Rutgers this season. I am a lot more optimistic about the 2012 season than the 2011 season. I can't imagine special teams will not be much better than it was in 2011. I can't imagine the defense will not be much better than it was in 2011. And I expect the offense will be better in 2012 as well. Not a top 20 unit but somewhere in the middle of the pack in the conference. That should be good enough to win somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 games. This might change if we get some injuries, if we lose a couple of key players to transfer (like Lyn) or to the NFL (Jones). The depth on the team is much better than it has been in a long time but it isn't good enough to cover the loss of some of our top players. When I evaluate a team, I like to look at the number of senior players the team will have in key leadership positions. That seems to be one of the criteria that is very important towards determining success for a given season. We didn't have much in the way of senior leaders on the 2011 team, which is one of the reasons I was sceptical we would be able to earn a bowl bid. Next season, we should have a bunch of them: Nassib, Lemon, Graham, Chibane, Jones, Goggins, Boatman, Vaughn, S Thomas, etc. Already lost 2 important players from that class in P Thomas and Adam Harris. I hope that we don't lose any more. [/QUOTE]

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