2-10 or 3-9 is the only thing I can see. Not an indictment of CSS, but it's just a reality. A bad team learning a new system, that lost a lot of players and depth to transfer/graduation. And we didn't bring in really any new talent to add to the team. EKU, WKU, & possibly Wake.
Some of you forget that this was not a good team coming into last season. I remember making a thread at the end of 2017 saying how I was afraid that we were heading downhill fast. You all said I was being crazy and extreme.
Nothing last year screams this team just had sleeping talent that wasn't trying. We were not competitive against any Power 5 opponent we played other than Florida State. (FSU who beat FCS Samford by 10 at home). The only 2 teams we beat were a FCS Indiana State who was dominating us in the 1st half and a 3-9 WKU team we beat on a blocked field goal.
That wasn't just bad coaching schemes. That team was weak, undeveloped, undisciplined, and just plain awful. We were the WORST team in Power 5 football. It is debatable if we would have even made a bowl in the MAC.
But lets look and see where the talent is, and I mean proven not what their star rating was in high school.
Offense. Jawon Pass is not good and one positive offseason isn't going to change anything. 3 years of not being developed is not going to change overnight. We heard how the offense was going to be better because Jawon was a better passer than Lamar? Remember how you all bought into that crap. How good he looked in practice? One good offseason is not going to change that fact. 3 years of bad habits aren't changing overnight. We have one proven guy in Dez, but the rest of the skill guys just had fast 40 times and hype from high school.
The offensive line? It has been pretty bad and gotten worse since Bobby arrived in 2014 Even when we were a playoff contender in 2016, the line was just awful. They are not really big/strong. They do not have depth. They haven't been developed properly until just this offseason. That just screams that the pass protection will be awful and no holes for the backfield. This ain't the Big East no more, these ACC lines will eat us up.
The entire defense I have no confidence in at all. We had a historically bad defense last year. After the Clemson game in 2016, the defense just continued to regress. Then we lost some guys to the draft and 2017 was awful but had a few highly talented players. Then we lost the last few talented guys we had and then we saw what we saw. The Charlie guys and the Grantham teaching was pretty much out the door. We are now on our 4th coordinator in 4 years.
I don't see corners who can cover, I don't see pass rushers who can get to the QB, and I don't see a front line that can push back against any run blocking scheme. This defense wasn't filled with good guys and just suddenly quit last year, none of them have ever been good.
Now can we be better in 2019? For sure and I expect it to be a bit better. We can stop the stupid penalties. We can be in the correct spot on the field. We can give 110% every down. But we have problems that are not being fixed over night.
Size, speed, and talent development cannot just pop up in 6 months. We are going against a top conference in college now. No more Rutgers or UConn's. We can't just work harder and the wins show up, it takes time. A total rebuild is needed and Satterfield is going to need time. We aren't bringing in top 25-30 classes every year where the talent level will just come up immediately. We are changing culture. It won't be fast, so don't get to antsy the first 2-3 years if we do not make a bowl.
