The House of Blue

I like your enthusiasm, but I think you are about 1-2 yrs off. This yr we may very well struggle quite a bit........2013 the defense should be very, very special....not to mention that most of the offense should be back.

2014 about half the defense should be back, but nearly the entire offense should be back.

There's no question our offense will have more production than last year. Lots of skill guys return, and our OLine will be fine.

I need to see improvement in several areas. Not just wins. I want to see a collective effort by this team and staff each week to get better. An exciting attacking gameplan offensively would be refreshing and it seems Joker has done that by shifting the focus of the offense. I think the defense as a whole will be better and Minter has already shown he is aggressive.
No more Vandy/USC games those were just terrible to watch and really stoked the fires of the LOD. Hopefully, the team shows enough improvement and promise for Joker and staff to return. Not sure if we will win more games this year so selling improvement will be tough. I could see anywhere from 4-7 wins. This will be the first year in 3 years that I will be able to attend a game so I am very excited and hoping to see some good football.

How could it be any worse than it was the first 3-4 games last year? Depth is a big concern but we bring back our 3 most talented linemen in Miller, Smith and Warford. West is talented but unproven. RT is the scary part but we do have some options. I think the OL play will be better how much better who knows.

The guys that will be playing this year will A. hopefully be more healthy, B. and are more talented than those who they are replacing and C. We have one of the best centers and guards in the nation...

I have to admit, the closer the season gets the more excited I am about this season. I don't know if the improvement we see will equate to more wins than last year but I expect to see a big leap forward in our offense and the defense to either hold steady or slightly improve. We have added a number of young play-makers on offense which we sorely lacked last season as well as restocked the Oline with young guys that are capable of providing depth as freshmen.

Personally though I think the biggest improvement may come from an improved environment in the locker room. The young group of players the staff has brought in the last two years have brought a new attitude and a renewed desire to win (think the Woodyard recruiting class). It seems from day one they have tried to bring a "win as a team" attitude to this program while some of the guys that have left the program were more "I wanna get my stats" kinda mind-sets. Finally the majority of the team has taken on the win as a team attitude and I think that above all else will make a huge difference in how these young guys (as well as the rest of the team) handles game prep, game focus, and the way they handle adversity when it comes along.

I love this team! They're young but they're hungry, they're enthusiastic, and they are willing to give it everything they have to get a win. I'm not sure we, as fans, have seen that out of our program as a whole since the Woodson era ended.

Every team in college
Football is replacing starters. The guys moving Into starting roles are almost universally more highly regarded than the people they are replacing. The guys moving into starting roles on the o-line are reported to be bigger and stronger than the guys who graduated. Add to that the fact that we have experience at qb and running back and have two of the best I-linemen in the conference and there is some reason for optimism.

The reason I dont bring up UGA is we didnt win and I didnt watch it but from what I read and heard the effort was there. UT I didnt mention because we won and broke the losing streak. Obviously the effort was there. Make no mistake about it, I agree with you the last two games where good signs. I am very optimistic we will be better and look forward to seeing this young team mature. However, our young talent will cut its teeth in the SEC and usually doesnt spell a big season as far as the win column goes. 2 or 10 wins I just want to see we are ready, aggressive play to win football.

I was optimistic to begin the season last year but honestly, they totally lost me with the lack of effort @ home against a clearly inferior Louisville team. Louisville just came into Commonwealth Stadium and whipped us in every aspect of the game. And don't even get me started about our non-existent passing game and our "pretend" WR's!
I am back on board now because those of you who saw them In the Spring Game say we'll be improved, however, only time & a consistently better effort tells that tale.
I want to see some improvement with good effort. We get that & I will be happy.

But we always play UGA tough. We even beat UGA @UGA, now they are better now, but how much? They have a lot of questions too. How good will Murray be without his safety blanket (Orson Charles, which he went to HS with)?That game is late enough in the year to be affectted by injuries (or lack there of) too. I think the first 2 games, you can predict off of preseason stuff, after that, young players come through and injuries happen (or vice versa). You have to be closer to determine weeks 3 -13. Arkansas could implode by the time we play them too, or the offense could not be as explosive as under Petrino. Their D isn't much better off than ours either. USCe, LSU, Bama, and Auburn, seem to be the class of the SEC this year, but the first three are Prominent.

I guess the reason i'm not high on UGA is they always suck when they are supposed to be good and are good when not much is expected of them. One could say that about USCe too though, as well as Ark, so, i have no clue what to think about those three teams. Also, the Mizzou game is late enough to think they could be very beat up by the SEC by that point and could be a W.

Im just not freaking out about the Oline - we had a down year last year. The law of averages says Coach Summers and the Oline will be better this year.

In short Kooky - Im optimistic. I have a hunch.