[stupac2]

You seem strangely unconcerned about the defense.

As many as 8 of the 11 guys who started the FF Bowl Game may be gone next year, apparently along with as many as two other projected starters.  We may have to switch to a two man front just to find bodies to put out there.

A lot of the guys coming up would seem to have some talent, so there's hope, but that's a lot different from being highly performing players on a cohesive unit - as we all found out with the OLine this past season.

I think part of that is that our improvement over the past few years seems to be mostly schematic, the coaches have gotten better about putting guys in the right place to succeed. Plus we've been razor-thin on DL for the last two years and while it definitely cost us somewhat, it's not like our defense sucked.

I think that, given where the program is right now, expecting mild-but-surmountable defensive regression is reasonable, and how well we do next year is basically entirely determined by what you think about our chances on offense.

[stupac2]

You seem strangely unconcerned about the defense.

As many as 8 of the 11 guys who started the FF Bowl Game may be gone next year, apparently along with as many as two other projected starters.  We may have to switch to a two man front just to find bodies to put out there.

A lot of the guys coming up would seem to have some talent, so there's hope, but that's a lot different from being highly performing players on a cohesive unit - as we all found out with the OLine this past season.

I think part of that is that our improvement over the past few years seems to be mostly schematic, the coaches have gotten better about putting guys in the right place to succeed. Plus we've been razor-thin on DL for the last two years and while it definitely cost us somewhat, it's not like our defense sucked.

I think that, given where the program is right now, expecting mild-but-surmountable defensive regression is reasonable, and how well we do next year is basically entirely determined by what you think about our chances on offense.