For This to be a Special Year

[okiemon]

I think it's the pass rush, period, whether it's the DL, the LBs, or safety blitzes. Average 4 sacks per game and we're golden.

 

[Boomergump]

I agree on Adams and will add Cooper at center on O.

I agree with the importance of Cooper, but at the same time, he played really well while he was in, so, even without improvement, he should be a stalwart.

 

[Boomergump]

I am not sure what the demarcation is between a good year and a special year, but nine wins in consecutive years would be very good. Is it nine wins in the regular season, or including a bowl game. If it is 9-3 for the regular season, it is, of course doable, but probably means we have to go 4-3 against the group of Tennessee, Clemson, Miami, Pittsburgh, UNC, VPI, and Georgia. Someday somebody is going to acknowledge our league has gotten pretty strong, and we play Georgia and Tennessee OOC.

Good question. In my mind, double digit wins is a special year.

 

[1BearJACKET]

Coastal Div. Champs, New Year's Day Bowl, beat the Mutts at home, and run Miami out of their own stadium.

 

[Ibeeballin]

Punting will be improved extremely imo
FG Kicking has me nervous
I know CPJ say he plays the best, I hope the same applies with CTR.

Adams/KCH combo could be the missing ingredient for the Def. Lets hope CTR confidence has risen in Lewis bc he seems to make plays when he's on the field

 

[Sideways]

Which player on the team has to make the biggest jump?

In my mind it is Brandon Adams. He was the only DL last year to get meaningful push on the interior and hold his ground consistently. Many will look for a QB in order to answer the original question, but for my money, a firm interior of the defense is the ingredient we need. What say you?

Branch, Adams, and Glanton all need to make significant improvement followed by the linebackers. If we are better on defense, this could be a special year.

 

[redmule]

We've lost two in a row to Clemson, Pitt, UNC, and Miami. We coulda/shoulda have won at least one of the games against Pitt, UNC, and Miami. I think Clemson, Pitt, and UNC all lost substantially more off their last year teams than we did. I would put Miami similar to us in personnel lost. That being said, I believe (hope) we are good enough and deep enough to beat every team on the schedule. To me that says turnovers and confidence are what's needed to make this a special year. We lose the turnover battle substantially, then we probably lose confidence, win 6 games, and blame the QB. We win the turnover battle substantially, then we play confidently, win 10 games, and blame the two losses on the QB. If Roof's defense can win the turnover game, it will be a special year.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Punting will be improved extremely imo
FG Kicking has me nervous
I know CPJ say he plays the best, I hope the same applies with CTR.

Adams/KCH combo could be the missing ingredient for the Def. Lets hope CTR confidence has risen in Lewis bc he seems to make plays when he's on the field

Adams needs to avoid the KFC.

 

[Stray Dog THA GAWD]

Not the original point of the thread, but for this to be a special year, we clearly have to start by beating Floppy Top in our own city.

 

[InsideLB]

A bad arse edge rusher with Attaochu-like effectiveness would be pretty schweet to have.