I think some of the posts are funny. We won 6 games. This is what a 6 win team looks like. 6 win teams have games where they make plays and compete with better teams. They also have games where they fail to make plays and look bad. 6 wins teams are also not very deep and serious injuries, such as to the top three receivers, the top recruit, the top nfl scout, will wear on the teams ability to make plays.
Questions/comments that don't make sense:
"Should they have won more? Should they have won less?" At the beginning of the season they were predicted to win 4 games by most experts. Some saw 5 wins. A select few saw 6 wins. I don't think many on this board saw 7 or 8 wins. We won 6 games. And, more importantly, we were in every game in the 4th quarter.
"If turnovers didn't exist, we would not have won so many games" ; " We got lucky with all of the turnovers" This isn't football and it would mean Lovie would need to formulate a new strategy to winning games. He has a well documented history of having defenses that take the ball away and score TDs. And, do this in the fourth quarter/end of the game.
"Look at all the yards we gave up" Football is won by scoring more points, not yards.
"But we lost to Northwestern/EMU/Nebraska/etc." Yes. And we won 6 games (including wisconsin/the most healthy our team has been), outplaying most predictions. If you ask me, our bad losses came when we had injuries in the secondary (Brown, Adams, or Green). I think having a strong secondary allows us to stack the box. I hope that we can see if this is true in the bowl game.
Questions I think people could look to answer to understand how next year will look:
"Are we better this year, than we were last year"
I think this is a resounding yes. We were more competitive in every game. When healthy, we showed that we had the talent to execute Lovie's defensive scheme.
"Is there reason to think we will get better" ; "what is the outlook" ; "how is the depth" ; "what do we have to look forward to" ; "What are the areas we need to improve" ; What positions will be a step down"
We graduated a handful of starters and contributors. And, this is the deepest roster we have had in awhile. We have even more and better young talent that we were able to redshirt and allow to develop. The defense loses some key pieces, but we have some capable people that will get better. Betiku, is just learning the position, he will get better with more technical experience. We have some highly talented DEs that will be able to contribute next year, including Gay, Carney, Randolph, and Coleman. We should add some rotational players (e.g., someone like Shipton or Finau) to the DT position and we have some talent that currently is on the roster (Pate, Woods, Avery, Okpala). We lose an ALL B1G LB. But we added a grad transfer (Smith) and the ones we had played pretty well when asked to step up (Tolson and Barnes) and we have an extraordinary LB waiting in the wings (Cooper). That experience for Tolson will pay dividends. Plus, we add Juco Gardner, who will add speed and depth. The DBs will also add some size and depth with Beason and Witherspoon (getting time to bulk) next season. Adding a Safety would help.
On the offensive side, remember our QB did not have time to rep with the receivers. Peters stepped in and learned the offense while playing. He will need to get better. I also expect Williams to get some time to work with the receivers and to learn the speed on Power 5 football. I would like to think he can step in mid season. We lose big RBs, but we have other solid RBs ready to play. Our WR situation is still not ideal. We have some talent, but we will need to bolster this position given the last few seasons with so many injuries. Fortunately, Jadon Thompson and James Frenchie could potentially contribute right away. And we may add Netherly or some other potentials that are not identified yet. Also Casey Washington will get some time to develop. Same with Campbell, Cumby and we may see Carter return. We also return all of our good receivers. Our OL loses 1, but between Brown, Myers, and the many others, I expect this position to improve next year.
Overall, I expect every position to improve with experience and depth (except for DT). I am excited about the incoming Freshman class and look forward to who else can step up.
