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Portal Woes and Lack of Development: Why 9-1 Feels Worse Than it Should

nickster said:
Do you realize the schedule this year is about as easy as it gets? Our record of 9-1 is very good but we should be undefeated until the playoffs.
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Why? Vegas has us at 9.5 and this whole freaking board said they would be happy with a 10 win regular season with the cherry on top being wins against UF and FSU and now we are moving the goal posts more than the recruits do.
 
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Canesmia01 said:
Not sure what the record has to do with it. We are having a nice season mainly due to older players not in the classes being discussed and portal acquisitions. This is not a post saying our recruiting is not great. I’m talking about elite prospects in years 1/2/3 developing. Are we going to be starting like 10 new players from the portal next year or will our young players be named starters based on green tree practices and not gameday production? I would have liked to have seen more gameday production from some of these guys in years 2 and 3.
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fair ... what i've learned is that guys step up when the opportunity is clear ... the portal tho is important, it's a security blanket ... i'm not sure going to it to sure up areas is a bad thing, especially when your foundation is obviously in hs recruiting ... our OL next year will be hs recruited as will our backfield, TE's, and atleast one starting wr ... on defense one de, atleast one dt, two lbs, our corners will be high school recruited as well ... that's alot a wins ... and that's just based on what i know as of now, he knows he progresses over the offseason
 
Gables Cane said:
People can question the timing of the OP but the data cannot be ignored. You can stick your head in the ground if you want, but it doesn’t change the roster.

Again, I believe it’s too early to draw any conclusions but to say you are not concerned is naive.
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but football is age game ... we get caught up with the exceptions ... but especially along the line of scrimmage you want your guys to have beards and mustaches ... i outlined in a previous post that over half our starters for next year will be high school/juco recruited ... that's a nice hit rate in this environment
 
ageezy said:
fair ... what i've learned is that guys step up when the opportunity is clear ... the portal tho is important, it's a security blanket ... i'm not sure going to it to sure up areas is a bad thing, especially when your foundation is obviously in hs recruiting ... our OL next year will be hs recruited as will our backfield, TE's, and atleast one starting wr ... on defense one de, atleast one dt, two lbs, our corners will be high school recruited as well ... that's alot a wins ... and that's just based on what i know as of now, he knows he progresses over the offseason
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Yeah I am not freaking out. If we do need to use the portal I think we will. I do think there will be a lot of tough decisions though. But that’s above my pay grade.
 
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TOcane said:
Why? Vegas has us at 9.5 and this whole freaking board said they would be happy with a 10 win regular season with the cherry on top being wins against UF and FSU and now we are moving the goal posts more than the recruits do.
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Again, I’m not mad about the results so far. Wins are wins, and we haven’t been relevant since 2017 (which ended up being a mirage). I alluded to that in my post, both to start and to finish.

But if you think that barely scraping by mediocre ACC teams is good enough, then that’s your opinion. Totally cool.

Me, I want to whoop teams from start to finish. Based on the high school recruiting stars we’ve brought in, we should be. Based on the strength of record and the quality of the teams in the ACC, we absolutely should be. Even ND is whopping ***, and we were clowning them. They’re doing what we somehow can’t to ACC teams - whoop them from start to finish.

Otherwise, what separates Mario from his predecessors? Everyone has had a flash in the pan - even Golden had a 7-0 start. The difference is sustaining wins and building upon your success.

Next year, we’re going to play a much improved UF team, ND, @SMU, @VT, Louisville, and a slew of other opponents we’ve had trouble putting away recently. Without Cam Ward…can you confidently say we’ll reproduce what he’s done this season?

I simply can’t. There’s no evidence to suggest it.
 
WeBallinBoyz said:
Again, I’m not mad about the results so far. Wins are wins, and we haven’t been relevant since 2017 (which ended up being a mirage). I alluded to that in my post, both to start and to finish.

But if you think that barely scraping by mediocre ACC teams is good enough, then that’s your opinion. Totally cool.

Me, I want to whoop teams from start to finish. Based on the high school recruiting stars we’ve brought in, we should be. Based on the strength of record and the quality of the teams in the ACC, we absolutely should be. Even ND is whopping ***, and we were clowning them. They’re doing what we somehow can’t to ACC teams - whoop them from start to finish.

Otherwise, what separates Mario from his predecessors? Everyone has had a flash in the pan - even Golden had a 7-0 start. The difference is sustaining wins and building upon your success.

Next year, we’re going to play a much improved UF team, ND, @SMU, @VT, Louisville, and a slew of other opponents we’ve had trouble putting away recently. Without Cam Ward…can you confidently say we’ll reproduce what he’s done this season?

I simply can’t. There’s no evidence to suggest it.
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The 4 and 5 star players you mentioned at this point have an average age of roughly 18.5 years old what are you expecting? Why can't we continue to upgrade and bring along a lot of the guys that are young. Your Non factor category should be a NC not complete. You think we are going to sit here and not upgrade the roster. Wins are wins yes I really don't care. I'm not going to penalize a win like the rest of the world when the "elite" teams are losing games they are not supposed to as well it's a double standard and it's dumb.
 
TOcane said:
The 4 and 5 star players you mentioned at this point have an average age of roughly 18.5 years old what are you expecting? Why can't we continue to upgrade and bring along a lot of the guys that are young. Your Non factor category should be a NC not complete. You think we are going to sit here and not upgrade the roster. Wins are wins yes I really don't care. I'm not going to penalize a win like the rest of the world when the "elite" teams are losing games they are not supposed to as well it's a double standard and it's dumb.
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So just to clarify, you’re saying they all need time.

What quantifies enough time? And why does almost every major program in America have multiple freshmen and sophomores balling out?

And if they need time, why haven’t the portal players been home runs? Is there a potential QB in 2025 that can do what Ward is doing this year? Because if there isn’t…well I’ll let you guys deduce what’ll happen if the trajectory for this current batch of players continues.
 
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OrangeBowlMagic said:
I genuinely appreciate the effort but four recruiting classes? Mario has had TWO recruiting classes. They ranked 4th and 7th in the country. Let the man cook. **** of a write up and post, though.
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I agree with OP that the trend is alarming, but that could also just be CFB these days: look around, so many average to good teams--including us. No one retains talented depth anymore. As a result, most teams are a few plays (i.e. injuries) away from 6-6 or worse.
 
nickster said:
Do you realize the schedule this year is about as easy as it gets? Our record of 9-1 is very good but we should be undefeated until the playoffs.
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Why do people keep saying this?

We have to play 8 ACC games every year. Louisville, GT, VT and Cal are good teams - the kind that spoil seasons. We can't help that FSU are terrible.

We stomped Florida at their place. USF were thought to be on the rise, but have taken a step back this season.

Like, short of playing a gauntlet of P4 teams instead of Ball St and FAMU this season is about as difficult as it gets in the ACC. We haven't played SMU, Pitt, UNC and Clemson, but you can only really guarantee Clemson will be good every year.

The hand wringing is odd.
 
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Genuine question and I don’t know the answer… how does this compare with other successful teams? Do top teams compete with only the top half of their rosters (approximately 40 players) and the rest are developmental or dead wait? Or what is the number of players in any given year that is historically considered dead weight on any team or in any program?
 
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Re: the D

I think something is being missed: our guys appear (and play) mentally slow--in that they generally have low football IQ, stuggle with pre-snap alignments and post-snap reads, and are simply way too slow/inefficient and processing what they see post-snap. I think some of the "lack of speed" is a failure to quickly and confidently react to what the opposing offenses are doing. That's probably why we are struggling to make any palpable changes on D.
 
tsimonitis said:
Genuine question and I don’t know the answer… how does this compare with other successful teams? Do top teams compete with only the top half of their rosters (approximately 40 players) and the rest are developmental or dead wait? Or what is the number of players in any given year that is historically considered dead weight on any team or in any program?
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Good question.

Oregon, Ohio State and Texas have phenomenal depth. They look like they’ve been hitting on a ton of their recruits, and granted they’ve blasted conference opponents to the point that we get to see those recruits in action.

Bama was very young, but as you can see against LSU…they’re developing VERY quickly. They’ll be stocked up, plus they have leftover Saban recruits.

Clemson has some young talent, but Dabo will Dabo.

A&M has some dudes, so does Tennessee, UGA is declining but still some good guys.

People will hate to hear this, but UF looks like they’ve hit on a fair number of 2023/2024 kids. I know we’re not allowed to mention them on here, so I’ll stop.

Miami is certainly still in the upper echelon of recruiting, imo. But what we are doing with those recruits, remains to be seen
 
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the 2022 analysis is fair, the 2023 analysis is in-depth and detailed but ultimately dumb because labeling people as "non-factors" due to the depth in front of them and talent in front of them causing them not to see the field yet (which is normal at most major programs) is just not telling the proper story
 
407cane said:
the 2022 analysis is fair, the 2023 analysis is in-depth and detailed but ultimately dumb because labeling people as "non-factors" due to the depth in front of them and talent in front of them causing them not to see the field yet (which is normal at most major programs) is just not telling the proper story
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So if the depth in front of them isn’t good, that means…they’re currently not good?

Year 2 btw, not year 1. And I never said non factor meant bad, just that…they’re not a factor. But if they’re not a factor and the depth in front of them is bad…you can draw your own conclusions.

Ultimately - two points are there to analyze.

1. The class of 2023 is struggling to see the field in year 2 behind very mediocre or objectively bad players.

2. They still have plenty of time to grow and develop. Because they’re only in year 2.
 
WeBallinBoyz said:
Again, I’m not mad about the results so far. Wins are wins, and we haven’t been relevant since 2017 (which ended up being a mirage). I alluded to that in my post, both to start and to finish.

But if you think that barely scraping by mediocre ACC teams is good enough, then that’s your opinion. Totally cool.

Me, I want to whoop teams from start to finish. Based on the high school recruiting stars we’ve brought in, we should be. Based on the strength of record and the quality of the teams in the ACC, we absolutely should be. Even ND is whopping ***, and we were clowning them. They’re doing what we somehow can’t to ACC teams - whoop them from start to finish.

Otherwise, what separates Mario from his predecessors? Everyone has had a flash in the pan - even Golden had a 7-0 start. The difference is sustaining wins and building upon your success.

Next year, we’re going to play a much improved UF team, ND, @SMU, @VT, Louisville, and a slew of other opponents we’ve had trouble putting away recently. Without Cam Ward…can you confidently say we’ll reproduce what he’s done this season?

I simply can’t. There’s no evidence to suggest it.
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For 8 months we heard Emory the God, until the last few weeks when people realized EveryQB is the God against our **** poor defense and now we are likely to portal for QB - like we should.

Lots of football to play this year, but we need people to start being developed. This season we will lose a solid dozen players leading the team - Manny guys and portal players.
 
WeBallinBoyz said:
So if the depth in front of them isn’t good, that means…they’re currently not good?

Year 2 btw, not year 1. And I never said non factor meant bad, just that…they’re not a factor. But if they’re not a factor and the depth in front of them is bad…you can draw your own conclusions.

Ultimately - two points are there to analyze.

1. The class of 2023 is struggling to see the field in year 2 behind very mediocre or objectively bad players.

2. They still have plenty of time to grow and develop. Because they’re only in year 2.
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the only position group you can claim that for is DB and it would be fair - addae got let go, and we're currently in contention for the best DB class in the country this year


what we're seeing on the field is majority **** poor coaching. kiko didn't stop being a good linebacker - he was in better position last year to make plays
 
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