You're crazy. j/k
I think it sort of depends. We don't have the elite talent that some have and we're not going to overcome that with wishful thinking. Our run defense and our pass defense did pretty good last year against lesser competition which they should if they are well coached. Against better competition one or the other failed us. No surprise right?
So Kenny Picket is gone and maybe if we make a bowl we won't have to face a Purdue-like relentless pass attack. The point is that our performance has a lot to do with the strengths of our opponents. We need to figure out how our defense can slow down mobile QBs.
I think South Carolina and Missouri should likely improve from last year. If Kentucky wins 10 games then we don't have to worry because every time they win 10 games they lose to us. If they win less than 10, we may be in for a fight.
I looked at the SP+ Bill Connelly put out earlier this year and best I can figure we have 9 wins, 1 toss-up (on the road at Pitt), and 2 losses (UGA and UA). I'm not optimistic that's the way things will shake out. We'll see.
I think we have an essentially 3-star secondary sometimes going up against 5-star/NFL receivers/QBs and generally that's not a favorable matchup. Our guys are fine against peer or lesser competition but after that we're toast. I think maybe the way to compensate is to have 3 or 4 elite pass rushers, rotate them so as to keep them fresh, but do everything we can upfront to help the guys on our back end when we're up against the elite teams. Then the challenge becomes can our pass rushers beat the elite offensive linemen they're going against.
I don't know how this season is going to go but I suspect we're going to get a good deal of hype in the preseason. We may be picked to beat Florida but if Napier can get Richardson going, he could be a nightmare.
I think we actually did really good last year what with all the attrition and a new coaching staff. I think that's a testament to the coaching and the new culture with the team. We did pretty well against teams where we weren't overmatched. Can we improve this year? Well, yeah, we can, but it's going to be a tall order to overcome the talent gap we'll have with some of our more elite opponents. jmo.
So the bar is set, 10-2, 11-2 with a bowl win. We just have to figure out how to get there. jmo.
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