2025 Expectations?

[iceeater1969]

I just want to get a head more each quarter on most games like a dominating team. Way fewer dead quarters or foot off the gas.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Who knows what the roster will look like come next September?

 

[gtrower]

So much depends on who we have returning. If we can keep Faulkner, King, Haynes, Singleton, and most of the OL then we’re likely to be the best offense on the field for our entire schedule. Probably need to add OL/TE/WR in the portal. Not a ton though.

If we keep Santucci I have confidence our defense will be decent, but we’ll need to hit the portal hard for DLs. Biggers will not be easy to replace in particular.

That being said, this is the easiest schedule I can remember seeing since I started at Tech.

ACC road games at BC, Duke, WF, and NC State. Arguably the three easiest places to play and a shorter road trip to Raleigh against a team on the decline.

ACC home games Cuse, VT, Clemson, Pitt. Not gimmes, but still avoid Miami / Louisville / FSU (assuming they portal hard?). You also don’t want the schedule to be too easy.

UGA in Atlanta. 2 non P4s at home. And a road trip to Boulder to face a team that will have lost a lot of production, have hit the portal hard again, and will likely be starting a true frosh QB in his first game.

Vegas will probably have us at 7ish wins O/U. I’d say anything less than 8 would be a disappointment. 9 would be a step forward. But feels like this would be our chance to really make a run with King’s last year and a manageable schedule.

All that to say…expectations are 5 wins baseline then add 1 more win for each of the following that happens:
- hang onto Faulkner
- hang onto Santucci
- hang onto King/Haynes/Singleton or replace with equivalent from portal
- net quality OL from portal
- net quality DL from portal

 

[MonroeJacket]

Barring any transfers (there will be some unfortunately) here’s what we’re returning. These are guys who have taken meaningful snaps at Tech. We have to replace A LOT more production on D.

QB
King
Philo
Pyron (could portal)

RB
Jamal
Chad
Carrie
Maddox

WR
Singleton
Malik
Leo
Stockton
Canion
Leo (Hope he stays)

TE
Seither
Harpring
Beetham

OL
Cory
Joe
Moore
Brown
Rutledge
Mackenny
(There are others like Best, Riggs, Tano, plus some highly ranked freshmen)

DE
Romelo

DT
Van den berg
Horace (hope he stays)
Moore

LB
Efford
Lightsey
Hamilton
Tahj

DB
Clayton
Taye
Amari
Tobe
Gibbs
Daniels
Shelley

There are several young DBs who play special teams, and young front seven guys who I’m looking to step up next season. I think we’re definitely gonna have to find several experienced players in the portal though, especially up front.

If the outgoing portal guys are a minimum, and we replace our D production with equal or better talent, and keep our coordinators, I think we can have a special season considering the schedule. I hate we play COFH at the Benz tho.

 

[yeti92]

Barring any major coaching/portal/injury losses, worse than 9-3 regular season would be a disappointment. Should make the ACC championship and CFP.

 

[mtodd30]

I said it at the beginning of this year (mods deleted it lol)

2025 is our year. 10-2, ACC game, playoffs

Book it

 

[bke1984]

From here :

• Colorado
• Gardner Webb
• Temple
• BC
• Duke
• Clemson
• Pitt
• Syracuse
• VT
• NC State
• Wake
• dawgs

Seems like 7-8 wins should be the expectation at minimum? Much easier than this year, on paper.

We can beat every team on that list. If King can recover and come back that’s a 9-3 or 10-2 schedule.

 

[stinger78]

I just don’t know. We lose a lot of key players. We’ll have to see how younger guys and the portal line up for us.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

We have also set ourselves up for next year. We will clearly have the respect of the FB community and hopefully start the year ranked and not have a letdown with the first game to build the momentum throughout the year with this schedule.

I would guess we play for the ACC championship and make it to the playoffs. range from 14-2 to 16-1 next year

 

[stinger 1957]

We now have money, think we keep most all we want to keep and go to the portal and get what we need to make a run at the playoffs. We've been developing kids on Fridays during the season and will have some kids already on team that have ability step up along with what we get from portal to truly make that run. What will tell me if I'm right is what we do in the portal this time around, we may see some game changers brought on board, we'll see. IMO GTFB is headed to the bigtime and it starts in 2025.

 

[john813]

I don't bet, but if I did I would bet for 9+ wins.

Even with the uncertainty of the portal and if anyone leaves for the draft.

 

[Yoda]

We need to beat the hell out of whoever we play in the bowl.

 

[Thwg777]

I don't bet, but if I did I would bet for 9+ wins.

Even with the uncertainty of the portal and if anyone leaves for the draft.

If I am recalling correctly, season win totals start popping up around May / June. We’ve gone over each time under Key, and I don’t believe we’ll see another 4.5 win total in 2025!

Ending strong and starting strong is critical to keep the momentum from a ranking perspective to establish and maintain relevance. If we get a good bowl game and win, I’m not certain we’d begin 2025 in the low 20s rankings but could be close.

We’ll likely get a lot of eyes on us in the opener in Boulder. 2025 Colorado is one of the most ‘uncertain’ teams in my opinion. If Deion is there, they may reload but we’d play them early. And if he’s not there, they may fall off the map (again).

 

[Root4GT]

Barring any major coaching/portal/injury losses, worse than 9-3 regular season would be a disappointment. Should make the ACC championship and CFP.

You seem to assume other ACC teams don't get better. SMU, Miami, Clemson and Louisville will always be good to very good teams just based on talent. BC has made dramatic improvement under O'Brian (who I can't stand).

So much depends on who we have returning and gain/lose via the Portal. That applies to the teams I listed as well. Way too soon to make any kind of realistic prediction.

9-3 would be an excellent season!

 

[4shotB]

- hang onto King/Haynes/Singleton or replace with equivalent from portal
- net quality OL from portal
- net quality DL from portal

QB's with HK's skillset, leadership and credentials are rarer than hen's teeth. I don't think he is replaceable through the portal and can't help wondering what he would bring in the open market. The OSU QB looked like hot garbage in their game against UM and they would be the odds on favorite to win the NC right now with Haynes as their QB. Of course we all hope and prays that he stays to finish the drill next year. However, if I were in his shoes, I would want to find out my fair market value, especially if he has pertinent feedback from NFL scouts. Next year may be his last to earn guaranteed $.

 

[gtg8r85]

If we can stay healthy and have decently scheduled bye weeks, I think 8 to 10 wins is realistic. There's a good chance we drop one we shouldn't (probably a road game) but I can also see us going undefeated at home again.

One thing I'm confident of: CBK and the guys have that Thanksgiving weekend game circled on their calendars. I think we pull off a win over UGA in 2025.

 

[4shotB]

If we can stay healthy and have decently scheduled bye weeks, I think 8 to 10 wins is realistic. There's a good chance we drop one we shouldn't (probably a road game) but I can also see us going undefeated at home again.

One thing I'm confident of: CBK and the guys have that Thanksgiving weekend game circled on their calendars. I think we pull off a win over UGA in 2025.

Heck, let's go ahead and circle them all and be done with it! The big takeaway for me from Friday night is that, for the first time since GOL (and based on the last two games with them), we will go into the Uga game with the confidence that we can win. For too long, we have entered that game with nothing but hope bc we knew they were better at almsot every single position, esp. on the LOS. That advantage has dried up and it was evident Friday night.

 

[stinger78]

 

[orientalnc]

I want us to continue to run the ball, so I hope we bolster our OL with big bodies and sign a big running back from the portal. Even in the pass happy NFL, having a big powerful RB is important. As an example:

In last year’s free agency period, three running backs moved on from the team that drafted them to another team. Those three RBs were:

Saquon Barkley – – leading the NFL in rushing
Derrick Henry – – second in the NFL in rushing
Josh Jacobs – – third in the NFL in rushing.

However, there is a much more interesting statistic concerning those three players:

Giants had Barkley; Giants are 2-10 this year.
Titans had Henry; Titans are 3-9 this year.
Raiders had Jacobs; Raiders are 2-10 this year.
Combined, the teams that tossed these running backs aside are 7-29.

Now, just for giggles, here are the records for the teams that acquired these running backs on the free agent market:

Eagles signed Barkley; Eagles are 10-2 this year
Ravens signed Henry; Ravens are 8-5 this year
Packers signed Jacobs; Packers are 9-3 this year.
Combined, the teams that signed these running backs are 27-10.

 

[Ramble1885]

From here :

• Colorado
• Gardner Webb
• Temple
• BC
• Duke
• Clemson
• Pitt
• Syracuse
• VT
• NC State
• Wake
• dawgs

Seems like 7-8 wins should be the expectation at minimum? Much easier than this year, on paper.

My way way way to early thoughts

Assuming King, Jamal, and Malik stay and we get all the commits to sign, next year COULD be special.

Colorado: it's up there so I'll mark that as either a close L or a close W.
Gardner Webb: W
Temple: W
BC: should win
Duke: should win
Clemson: likely a loss BUT if I'm the GTAA I make that the homecoming game immediately.
Pitt: should win
Syracuse: tossup.
VT: tossup
State: should win
Wake: should win
Dawgs: a loss on paper but after last Friday, who knows! each year Key has closed the gap. we NEED to win to keep Dodd's ocho streak alive!