I dont want to base too much on a win vs a bad WV team that was playing on the road, but...
I have been expecting to see improvement from both the team and the staff as the year goes on. Typically you see the biggest jump in the 2nd and 3rd weeks once your team gets back to real competition form.
This year, we had the following:
1) All new coaching staff. 1st time NCAA head coach with a staff that had never coached a game together.
2) A team that had players working with all new systems on both sides of the ball. While most of them had the Spring to learn the system, that's not enough to be really good in a new system. The normal learning curve would naturally be a little flatter.
3) Mix and match OL learning to play together, and having to do so with 3 different QBs so far, and a coordinator that may have been adjusting his calls to the guy taking the snaps.
4) OC has 3 different QBs starting in the first 6 games, and all of the above-mentioned learning curves to deal with.
My feeling right now is that we have faced a very tough front half of the season with all of those challenges to overcome, and that our learning curve may have just steepened as we move into the "easier" part of our schedule. If that is true, and we are getting players back in the next couple of weeks, the chances of a 9-3 season are very real. What do you think?
TLDR: Are we getting better at just the right time?
I have been expecting to see improvement from both the team and the staff as the year goes on. Typically you see the biggest jump in the 2nd and 3rd weeks once your team gets back to real competition form.
This year, we had the following:
1) All new coaching staff. 1st time NCAA head coach with a staff that had never coached a game together.
2) A team that had players working with all new systems on both sides of the ball. While most of them had the Spring to learn the system, that's not enough to be really good in a new system. The normal learning curve would naturally be a little flatter.
3) Mix and match OL learning to play together, and having to do so with 3 different QBs so far, and a coordinator that may have been adjusting his calls to the guy taking the snaps.
4) OC has 3 different QBs starting in the first 6 games, and all of the above-mentioned learning curves to deal with.
My feeling right now is that we have faced a very tough front half of the season with all of those challenges to overcome, and that our learning curve may have just steepened as we move into the "easier" part of our schedule. If that is true, and we are getting players back in the next couple of weeks, the chances of a 9-3 season are very real. What do you think?
TLDR: Are we getting better at just the right time?
