Remaining opponent thoughts, two games in

[roadkill]

Since our last two post-game threads have drifted into future opponent territory, I thought it might be useful to focus the discussion with my takes on our remaining games, two games in.

As an aside, Louisville appears to be a pretty strong team. They crushed their FCS opponent week 2 as they should, and with their schedule, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are ranked soon.

Opponent	Wk 1	Wk 2	Thoughts
Miss	W, v Mercer, 73-7	W, v Tulane, 37-20	Ole Miss had to rally with a 20-point Q4 to beat a Tulane team playing a backup QB. I don't like our chances with the way our D has played, but I feel like we can avoid the embarrassment of last year.
Wake	W, v Elon, 37-17	W, v Vandy, 36-20	Wake appears solid but beatable if our offense continues to shine.
BG			Never take any team for granted, but we should not struggle with Bowling Green.
Miami	W, v Mia (Oh) 38-3	W, v T A&M, 48-33	Miami may have finally gotten their act together. They have the athletes. Not liking our chances.
BC	L, v N. Ill, 24-27	W, v Holy Cr., 31-28	BC hasn't impressed. We should be able to outscore.
UNC	W v USCe 31-17	W, v App St, 40-34 (2OT)	Strong opening performance, then almost lost to Appy St. After game 1 I was afraid they had found a defense, now thinking they are inconsistent as is typical. At home I like our chances.
Virg	L v Tenn 13-49	L. v JMU, 35-36	We don't do well in Charlottesville, but Virginia is struggling.
Clem	L v Duke, 7-28	W, v Char. S., 66-17	Clemson has seemed unprepared and unfocused for 5 qtrs, then started playing like a ranked team. Klubnik is not their answer at QB. Need more data.
Syr	W, v Colgate, 65-0	W, v WMU, 48-7	Cuse has taken care of business against lower-tier teams. We get them at home but they could be a tough out.
uga	W v UT Mart, 48-7	W, v Ball St, 45-3	UGA has struggled a bit in the early qtrs against inferior teams, but then the lights seem to come on and they steamroll. Not sure if they are as dominant as last year but still appear to be a playoff contender.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

We are going to have to find and play some defense if we want to have a chance against most anyone left on our schedule. Not sure if we just don’t have the horses or if our defensive coaching staff just can not motivate the guys we are trotting out there to play with some fire. We look soft and unmotivated.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Every team we play looks vulnerable. Unfortunately, we do too. We’ve got lots of work to do on both sides of the ball. Especially the Line of Scrimmage.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Since our last two post-game threads have drifted into future opponent territory, I thought it might be useful to focus the discussion with my takes on our remaining games, two games in.

As an aside, Louisville appears to be a pretty strong team. They crushed their FCS opponent week 2 as they should, and with their schedule, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are ranked soon.

Opponent	Wk 1	Wk 2	Thoughts
Miss	W, v Mercer, 73-7	W, v Tulane, 37-20	Ole Miss had to rally with a 20-point Q4 to beat a Tulane team playing a backup QB. I don't like our chances with the way our D has played, but I feel like we can avoid the embarrassment of last year.
Wake	W, v Elon, 37-17	W, v Vandy, 36-20	Wake appears solid but beatable if our offense continues to shine.
BG			Never take any team for granted, but we should not struggle with Bowling Green.
Miami	W, v Mia (Oh) 38-3	W, v T A&M, 48-33	Miami may have finally gotten their act together. They have the athletes. Not liking our chances.
BC	L, v N. Ill, 24-27	W, v Holy Cr., 31-28	BC hasn't impressed. We should be able to outscore.
UNC	W v USCe 31-17	W, v App St, 40-34 (2OT)	Strong opening performance, then almost lost to Appy St. After game 1 I was afraid they had found a defense, now thinking they are inconsistent as is typical. At home I like our chances.
Virg	L v Tenn 13-49	L. v JMU, 35-36	We don't do well in Charlottesville, but Virginia is struggling.
Clem	L v Duke, 7-28	W, v Char. S., 66-17	Clemson has seemed unprepared and unfocused for 5 qtrs, then started playing like a ranked team. Klubnik is not their answer at QB. Need more data.
Syr	W, v Colgate, 65-0	W, v WMU, 48-7	Cuse has taken care of business against lower-tier teams. We get them at home but they could be a tough out.
uga	W v UT Mart, 48-7	W, v Ball St, 45-3	UGA has struggled a bit in the early qtrs against inferior teams, but then the lights seem to come on and they steamroll. Not sure if they are as dominant as last year but still appear to be a playoff contender.

If our lines were better we would have a winning season and a bowl. It looks as though we need to score about 30 points a game to win. The defensive front 7 is not physical and will get abused by some teams that we should beat. I am still holding to my 5 win preseason prediction. The tackling by the defensive backs remains disappointing. Bright spots are the play of the quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs. The kicking game looks to be improved as well. The only, more or less, sure wins to me are Bowling Green and Virginia, maybe Boston College. IIWII

 

[FightWinDrink]

Bottom tier:
BC, BG, UVA - if we lose to these teams we're in trouble. they're bad teams

Toss up tier:
Wake, Cuse - could see these going either way. definitely winnable.

Good talent, questionable play tier:
UNC, Ole Miss - teams that should be favored against us but if we have a really good day can def catch them off guard and possibly win

I have no clue how to rate you tier:
Clemson - team plays way worse than the sum of its parts. who knows
Miami - always want to call them overrated but they're actually playing well

Other:
georgia - maybe bobo and muschamp implode the team or they get sanctioned or something

 

[roadkill]

Bottom tier:
BC, BG, UVA - if we lose to these teams we're in trouble. they're bad teams

Toss up tier:
Wake, Cuse - could see these going either way. definitely winnable.

Good talent, questionable play tier:
UNC, Ole Miss - teams that should be favored against us but if we have a really good day can def catch them off guard and possibly win

I have no clue how to rate you tier:
Clemson - team plays way worse than the sum of its parts. who knows
Miami - always want to call them overrated but they're actually playing well

Other:
georgia - maybe bobo and muschamp implode the team or they get sanctioned or something

Pretty much spot on with my thinking. The only thing I wanted to add is that, after looking more closely at the game stats, Virginia does not seem as bad as their record would indicate. They were winning with a good passing attack against JMU (with their backup QB) until a rain delay disbursed their home crowd. Their running game looks bad, but we can't take them for granted on the road. They should still be below the toss-up tier, though.

 

[ThatGuy]

Pretty much spot on with my thinking. The only thing I wanted to add is that, after looking more closely at the game stats, Virginia does not seem as bad as their record would indicate. They were winning with a good passing attack against JMU (with their backup QB) until a rain delay disbursed their home crowd. Their running game looks bad, but we can't take them for granted on the road. They should still be below the toss-up tier, though.

Agreed with all of this.

I think based on what I've seen so far from our team, 6 wins will be tough to get to, but is doable. 7 wins is a big reach. 5 is probably doable, unless we have more starters injured and 2nd stringers don't step up.

And I don't care how bad they look - UVA in Charlottesville scares me. That place is cursed. Always seems like we're still paying off the karmic debt from 1990.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

IMO, and I stress opinion, I think we should be favored in three more games:

BG, BC, and UVA. Like @ThatGuy said above, however, UVA @ UVA always scares me. If we win all four we meet the 4 win floor that I called at the beginning of this season.

Nothing in what I have seen so far suggests we will beat Ole Miss, uga, or Miami. Not that we couldn't play above what I've seen, but the odds are heavy that these three are additional losses. That puts us at 4-4.

That leaves Wake Forest, UNC, Syracuse, and Clemson. I think it's entirely possible we could split these four to go 6-6 this year, providing we take care of business in the games that IMO we should be favored in. Wake Forest has less talent but is a well coached team. They consistently win games against teams with more talent than them. UNC has a lot of talent but a strong record of playing to the level of their opponent. We are also their "UVA" so here's hoping. Syracuse is probably a close game. They should have a good team but we won't know for a few weeks just how good they are. They play Purdue this weekend so we should be able to see just how good they might or might not be. Finally, there is Clemson. I have my doubts we win, but after witnessing week 1 and the first half of week 2, there's definitely a glimmer of hope.

At the beginning of the season I predicted 5-7 with some close losses. 6-6 if we get a break or two along the way. I think that's still a reasonable prognostication. Our OL, while improved, still leaves a lot to be desired when matched against P5 competition and our DL is in desperate need of a breakout player to emerge. Until we get the OL/DL issues resolved, we are going to need to make hay against the bottom end of our schedule and get a break or two along the way if we want to make a bowl game this year.

 

[RamblinRed]

IMO, and I stress opinion, I think we should be favored in three more games:

BG, BC, and UVA. Like @ThatGuy said above, however, UVA @ UVA always scares me. If we win all four we meet the 4 win floor that I called at the beginning of this season.

Nothing in what I have seen so far suggests we will beat Ole Miss, uga, or Miami. Not that we couldn't play above what I've seen, but the odds are heavy that these three are additional losses. That puts us at 4-4.

That leaves Wake Forest, UNC, Syracuse, and Clemson. I think it's entirely possible we could split these four to go 6-6 this year, providing we take care of business in the games that IMO we should be favored in. Wake Forest has less talent but is a well coached team. They consistently win games against teams with more talent than them. UNC has a lot of talent but a strong record of playing to the level of their opponent. We are also their "UVA" so here's hoping. Syracuse is probably a close game. They should have a good team but we won't know for a few weeks just how good they are. They play Purdue this weekend so we should be able to see just how good they might or might not be. Finally, there is Clemson. I have my doubts we win, but after witnessing week 1 and the first half of week 2, there's definitely a glimmer of hope.

At the beginning of the season I predicted 5-7 with some close losses. 6-6 if we get a break or two along the way. I think that's still a reasonable prognostication. Our OL, while improved, still leaves a lot to be desired when matched against P5 competition and our DL is in desperate need of a breakout player to emerge. Until we get the OL/DL issues resolved, we are going to need to make hay against the bottom end of our schedule and get a break or two along the way if we want to make a bowl game this year.

I went positive with a 6-6 record and a bowl game before the season started and I feel we have enough talent to be a bowl team.
The next 2 weeks will give us a much better idea of how we are trending.

The OL/DL are what's going to make or break this team. If they improve as the season goes on getting to 6-6 is reasonable - if they continue to play as they have the first 2 games (especially the DL, even the Front 7 on D) then getting to 6-6 is going to be a big task.

On the defensive side, other than maybe Kennard, nobody has really played well 2 weeks in a row in that front 7.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I went positive with a 6-6 record and a bowl game before the season started and I feel we have enough talent to be a bowl team.
The next 2 weeks will give us a much better idea of how we are trending.

The OL/DL are what's going to make or break this team. If they improve as the season goes on getting to 6-6 is reasonable - if they continue to play as they have the first 2 games (especially the DL, even the Front 7 on D) then getting to 6-6 is going to be a big task.

On the defensive side, other than maybe Kennard, nobody has really played well 2 weeks in a row in that front 7.

I agree with all points. We have the talent and the coaching to win 6 games...but, <CAVEAT> we need a break or two along the way for that to happen....