I'll be the first to list CPJ as a pro for us. I think in general he has been very good at milking everything out of the talent he's had on offense. Injuries, turnovers, lack of depth have hurt at times. We haven't had many openers as tough as UT under him. We weren't ready to play at Kansas in 2010. At VT in 2013 was a heartbreaker in OT, but I think CPJ had the boys ready to play. Hopefully having 8-9 starters back on offense means they know what has to be done to win. We closed out last season on a roll (unlike 2009 when we lost two of the last three before going to Kansas and 2012 when we lost three of the last four before going to VT) and that usually translates into a good start.
The second pro I would list is depth. Even with an injury epidemic in 2015 and heavy losses to graduation, most of the losses were in doubt until late in the 4th qtr. We looked like the fresher team against uga in the 4th qtr last year. They were the ones hoping to hang on and run out the clock. I think UNC was the only game last year where we ran out of gas. How many did we lose off the O and D two deep from late season last year? Less than ten? We basically have one big question to answer on offense, and two much less significant ones on defense. I'm not sure if we had this much experience returning in 2009 even.
The biggest con to me is the schedule. The team could easily drop a couple before the open date and get down on themselves and have a qb controversy erupt. We better have a united and focused team with momentum before heading to Miami and Clemson in October. A four loss team by the end of October might mean no bowl game. On the other hand, beat UT, and suddenly the schedule becomes a pro with us likely being 5-0 heading into the open date.
