I’m just going to be happy with 7-5, regardless of how it happened or how it could have been 8-4 or even 9-3 with a break or two… this has been one of my all time favorite seasons and DEFINITELY one of my all time favorite teams. The heart, all-out effort and general attitude of this year’s team has been something to behold and a benchmark for teams (that will almost certainly be more talented and deep…) to come. What these guys did with duct tape, baling wire, smoke and mirrors and out & out effort won’t soon be forgotten. Everything this program will do under Heupel’s leadership will be directly traceable to the example set by this year’s team.
I'm afraid we take a step back next year. Especially if Hooker and Tillman leave. Mays gone. Velus. Payton. Butler, Tae, Theo. I dont know who are incoming safeties and cbs are. We need more at rb. Not sure we have any stud wrs waiting. Appears we may lose a couple of speed kids committed in this recruiting class. Portal is huge but it will take us time. My record expectations next year are about the same right now. Offense with Milton, small, Ollie, Dayne, Hiatt, merril, Calloway doesn't sound like a winning lineup
I don’t really see a way for the roster to improve so much in one off season for us to expect much more record wise next year.
Games we won this year that are losable next year: Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky. If we have Hooker, I think we win all three. Even if we don’t, we have a shot in all three. None of those teams are just out-talenting us. Games we lost this year that are winnable next year: Pitt, Florida, SEC West Rotation (Ole Miss -> LSU). I think you can argue that all three will be inferior next year to what they were this year. We probably won’t win them all, but we’ll have our chances. Point is, with our schedule, there’s room for improvement. Obviously, who comes back matters a lot. We need some depth, and we need a QB.
If Hooker comes back, you can straight up add at least 1 win to the win total of the regular season with the 2022 schedule. Pitt without their 6th year QB is a different team, and with Hooker we would have beat them this year.
If hooker and Tillman leave, and we don’t do well in the portal the roster could be worse. If they come back and we kill it in the portal we win 10 games next year.
Personally, I think we have seen the floor with Heupel and his crew. If you can go 7-5 with this MASH unit of a team, then I don't know how you got 6-6 or 5-7.
Hooker has played exceptionally well, I think we're taking for granted how good he was this season. It could have been a lot worse with a bad qb, there's only really 4 plays to make the season any better. That's a compliment to Heupel, though. He absolutely got everything he could get and had the refs not blown a spot against Pitt or a fumble recovery against Ole Miss, he looks even better.
I don’t think the portal is going to be the magic trick that people are hoping. We’re in quite the hole talent wise. Particularly defensively.
I don't see Milton being "fix-able" either. He's real close to beating Guarantano in the completely unaware on a football field category. So, please come back Hendon so Jackson isn't starting as a true freshman from day one