Here's the deal. This is Dooley's 3rd year. There are no more "Moral Victories" like LSU was. The realistic take from this game is that the team is finally in a progressing mode. They have the experience and depth to finally be able to apply techniques and practice (I'm talking mainly everyone but Kickers and Secondary). We had 4 Major issues coming out of Florida: Running Game, Pass Protection, competing all 4 quarters, and Defense. We fixed 75 percent of our problems within a matter of 14 days. Now, this is not to say they were perfect, but the running game was the best that I've seen it in a good while, Bray was hurried some tonight, but had great protection, and we played all the way thru the game. Defense still looked suspect, but it's really on the big plays.
The defense is still confused, and the defense hasn't clicked for them yet. We have an offense that CAN get us the wins even if the defense struggles, which is what we expected from the beginning of the year.
The problem with our fans is they say "We're going to win 8 games max, and lose to this, this, and this team." Then, when we DO lose to that team, and it's by the slimmest of margins, they do nothing more but put this team down because they can't stand the reality. The REALITY is, what we said in the offseason is closer to true than what we're saying now. We're a team who's offense is going to have to win games for us. We're a team that still has a QB that, albeit is a Junior, has played less than 20 collegiate games (not even a sophomore that started from day 1 has this many games through 2 years). So, it's not realistic to expect him to be a finished product like Murray, who has played 3 or 4 years worth of football games.
Anyway, this is kind of the end of a rant in response to all of those posters who are pissed that we lost a game that, before the season, we didn't even belong in. Be upset with a loss, that's natural, and fine, but don't pretend there wasn't progress, and a lot of progress from 2 weeks ago. This team showed more progress in these 2 weeks than a Dooley team has showed in his 2 years. Offensive side of the ball has balance, these things take time. Everybody, finger off the trigger, ease down, and root your heart out for our boys who put it on the line every week!
GBO!!!!