What do we need? More OL? Maybe another CB?
That schedule could not lineup better. O/U 5.5. I count 8 games that should be 1-4 pt spreads in either direction and winnable.
Honestly if you gave that schedule to lasy yrs team 7 wins wouldnt be insane. Cannot overstate how brutal the final 5 weeks pf thos season was for any team but especially a struggling one.
Iāll take another edge, a mythical starting tackle, road grater OG, CB, and throw in a big back for funsies.
Every UVA team begins the season 0 - 1.
You thought the OL regressed? I mean they were by no means good but I thought they were leaps and bounds better than previous season.
Tyree had 4 seasons at ND, a historically ground game heavy program, and never produced a 500 yard seasonā¦
I like this portal haul. Letās see what happens.
Yeah I mean you avoid Clemson, SMU, Miami, Syracuse, and GT who all finished top 5 in the ACC this past season along with also not drawing ND in non conference. You play the bottom 6 teams in the ACC standings not including us. You get Washington State at home having just lost their HC and starting QB. You get VT at home. And you play Coastal and W&M.
Itās a cupcake schedule thatāll likely rank near the bottom of P4 in terms of toughness going into next season.
Exsctly what the doctor ordered. WSU falling apart was an unexpected but welcome surprise. Imagine Wake will need time to transition from slow mesh to spread. Who knows what FSU team shows up. UNC under Belichick is a mystery.
Like you said no boogeyman on that schedule
We still need playable depth.
Iād love to use the Ivy League guys for playable depth now instead of starters.
Wouldnāt say the line ā where we returned every starter ā improved, thatās for sure.
2024
131.9/game 3.7/carry
47 sacks allowed
2023
117.9/game 3.1/carry
43 sacks allowed
Anyway, the last time we had a stretch as bad offensively as weāve had (2006-08), the OC was fired after three years, and the HC was fired following the next season.
Yet Des somehow will survive.
Des:
2024 105/134
2023 95/133
2022 126/131
Total: Bottom 18%
Record: 11-23
Mike G:
2008 115/120
2007 82/120
2006 111/119
Total: Bottom 14%
Record: 19-18
I mean your numbers literally show a ypg and average yardage improvement be it I agree with a small one.
Also the previous year we didnāt play as daunting of a schedule. Sure, Tennessee off the bat was brutal, but this yearās run had 2 playoff teams and some other pretty stout squads.
Iām not trying to defend Des here. But I also watched a guy who thought rotating 3 different QBs every series in the biggest game of his season evolve into creating a flame throwing offense. Like I said, prove it year.
The sack total for last year is deceiving because so many of them were due to AC unnecessarily running out bounds instead of throwing the ball away. That was not on the OL.
Negated by the sacks.
Elliott is terrible. Des is terrible. Weāre wasting millions putting lipstick on two pigs.
And by year 3, we had a competent offense, averaging 28.5 under Anae. Desā year three, with two returning starting QBs, two RBs, and an entire OL got worse ā from 23.2 points in 2023 to 22.7 this year.
Because he was running for his life.
Our OC never called plays rolling him out or moving the pocket. Colandreaās strength. So we ran plays with three- and five step drops out of the gun or pistol and routinely allowed pressure in the A- and B-gaps.
So he ran toward the sidelines. But it absolutely was the lineās fault that he had to escape the pocket so often.
Iām an extremely old school guy in most everything and my eyes tell me we were better then average offensively the first couple of drives this past year. This tells me we are very effective game planning, sticking to the script, but after teams made adjustments we kind of shyt the proverbial bed. Translation Des was a horrible play caller.
Our passing game, routes in particular took way too long to develop. Which led to ac running for his life.
Just my 2
Good stuff lodger and 100% dead on!
My biggest issue with the play calling last year. Plays were slow developing and the routes were basic goes flys and a few comebacks. It felt like they were trying to protect AC from AC
The line wasnt good enough to allow the play to develop. The QB wasnt good enough to process information quickly and find 2nd and 3rd options. When he did have time to pull the trigger his accuracy wasnt there.
I do wonder with a more accurate qb if we see more quick reads and medium throws.
Agreed 100
Great post.
Donāt think, with good reason, staff did not trust ac all the way. Very seldom did we see him changing the play, or change the blocking schemes
Pretty much sand lot shyt
This isnāt just an indictment of Desā playcalling but also the staffās inability to develop and improve player and also talent identification. Anae and Bronco brought Perkins and Armstrong in year 3, so they identified the QB type they needed, recruited and got the guys they wanted in year 2. We flipped Armstrong from Minnesota.
Benkert wasnāt an ideal QB for what we ran, but he had NFL caliber traits and a lot of experience at a high G5 level and Bronco got him in year 1. For year 2, Elliott identified and got Muskett who was highly experienced at the FCS level, but not a guy with high level traits and brought in Colandrea who we flipped from Middle Tennessee. He was rated 8483 on the 247 composite (Armstrong was 8710 - nationally ranked in the 600s vs the 1400s for AC).
Yeah, Iām not convinced FSU will be an utter dumpster fire next season.