Originally Posted by
Olympic Fan
Actually, our schedule is kind of flipped from recent years -- the schedule starts off with some of the team's toughest games. True, we get a gimmie to open (NCCU). But the next four games in September are Northwestern (which has had our number) Baylor, at North Carolina and Miami (the probable favorite in the Coastal Division).
We get Florida State, Pitt and Virginia Tech in Octover.
This year, the most winnable games are in November -- Army, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.
I share the optimism for this season -- and not just because of Jones.
My reasons:
(1) This is the strongest redshirt class Cut has ever had. There are several future stars in the class.
(2) Because of last year's unbelievable rash of injuries, last year's team was somewhat undervalued. We missed a bowl because we lost winnable games to Virginia, Wake Forest and Northwestern early, while Daniel Jones was having growing pains. But even with all the injuries, we still beat Notre Dame in South Bend, UNC in Durham and took Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Louisville to the wire.
(3) Also because of injuries, a number of young players were forced to play before they were ready. But that experience will help this year. Just look at our secondary -- it was devastated by graduation, but true freshmen Mark Gilbert and Dylan Singleton got starting experience. Along with Fields, McDuffie and Saxton, we have a solid core to that unit.
(4) Duke is the only team in the Coastal Division with a proven QB on hand. Some of the newcomers around the league will be very good ... but some will flop.
I'm most worried about the kicking game -- two years ago, we might have had the best all-around kicking game in college football. Last year, we stunk (only good return teams kept us from behind the worst kicking tea in FBS). That has to get better. And Jones has to stay healthy. Parker Boehme is a good backup with a lot of experience, but it's not the same thing.
I think the talent level of the roster is rising. There are a lot of promising young players on the DL. The OL looks solid, especially with the addition of the kid from Ohio State. We really have some quality linebackers. This is the deepest receiving corps that Cut has had -- if Bracey is healthy and lives up to the hype, it could be his best. I like our crop of running backs -- Shawn Wilson is the veteran, but watch out for Brittain Brown.
We just need to catch some breaks -- a fairly healthy year would be a good start.