Last year Bray combined for 44 passes for 539 yards and three TDs against UGA and Florida, the toughest pass defenses he faced. Add that to the fact that he was out in the last half of the 4th quarter (UGA game) when we desperately needed him, and that injury affected the rest of his season, IMO i think he has shown promise against good SEC defenses. I agree that Hunter's return is a huge question mark, but i'm also optimistic after reading post practice reports saying he's well ahead of where anyone thought he could be. Patterson is also a big question mark, and i'm looking forward to the summer when he can finally show himself in practice.
In addition, our running game has been suprisingly solid (I know it's only the spring), and that shows our line mas matured to a level where they need to be. Everyone keeps talking about how the defense is flying around with a much faster tempo, boding very well for next season. I think the NC State and UF games will be good games, and we defintely have the POTENTIAL to beat them.
With that being said, if we lose both those games, expect for everyone and their mother to call for Dooley's firing, creating a lot of team drama which is never good. Whether or not we can recover depends on how the players respond to crticism and strife. From what i've heard, maturity levels among the top playmakers are increasing, and Rogers said the team chemistry is way better than it has been in previous years (I know it's rogers), meaning that hopefully we can respond to the adversity we would face losing those two games. It also helps we have a few confidence builder games (correct me if i'm wrong because i dont have the schedule in front of me) between those games to get our offense and defense down. My biggest fear is the special teams game because apparently Palardy already missed an extra point and had a field goal bloacked this spring practice so...please god help us on that.
Last year, Mark Richt lost his first two games (I absolutely hate anything having to do with UGA so i even hate bringing this up as an example) and was on the hot seat, but he pulled it out and made it to the SEC championship (where they got slaughtered!), showing that it can be done.