As we judge success and failure, It's time for all of us to also remember a few key details that are being omitted....
1. We lost the strength of our team early on. 3 starting receivers all out for the year, only Boyd is left standing. That changes how teams play us knowing we will be one dimensional and predictable....We have been and we aren't good enough to be and it's showed.
2. QB play with JS has been spotty at best...but he flashed at times and was better than Rosen against UCLA. DS didn't exactly throw it all around Sam Boyd either, but he is a better passer than we saw...The team will have to prove we are capable of throwing and running. See point 1. The receiver injuries really re-shape our attack.
3. I know JSU wasn't a power 5 school but they weren't a JC team either....We did whatever we wanted that night because we still had most of our starting team together. We just aren't deep enough to lose a QB and 3 starting WR's.
4. Our defensive play is also suffering because of the offensive injuries. D line gets gassed from 280lb guys playing without enough rest after picks and 3 and outs. We have more sacks this year, we are doing much better against the run but can't defend 3rd and 20's down field. Our secondary is horrendous and wasn't last year...That's the biggest mystery of them all to me. Maybe they read their own headlines a little too often but they need to get better or all bets are off.
Just my take...With a healthy team of core players for all the games we would have won 7 of them this year with one big win in there somewhere. I know injuries are a part of the game and next man up...but it's year two of Coach Sanchez. The "next man up" isn't here yet or he's a true Freshman....By 2018 this team will be really good, flag this post!