Last night was a huge win and it could end up being a turning point in Napier's reign, though that won't be known for some time. Our team is slowly "learning" how to win, which is often more difficult than assembling the pieces to do so. This season was always about how well we do in the 8 games (minus Charlotte, McNeese, Vandy and UGA) that could conceivably be either wins or losses, with varying probabilities for each. Truth be told, after what I saw from UGA yesterday, I think you could make it 9. So far we are 1-1.
It's certainly feasible to say that the Tennessee game is a better indicator than the Utah game, but each game is its own test and it's hard to ignore that BN is 1-5 in road games and 1-7 in all games away from the Swamp. So this learning to win process is likely still a work in progress. The at Kentucky game is a perfect opponent to continue that progress. Kentucky has 3 Non-Power 5 wins and faces Vandy this weekend, so they have not had a real challenge before UF comes to town. UF having already faced Utah and Tennessee. Very winnable game, but again we can't ignore they have beaten UF the last 2 years and 3 of the last 5 and yes this game is away from the Swamp. We don't likely have the firepower and downfield passing game to get out to huge leads, so there's likely several close games ahead and hopefully Smack will solidify the kicking game because its likely to be needed at some point in the season. Yesterday's win buys us some time to continue making progress without the noise in the system.
To me, this is still about getting to the end of the season and getting that class signed, especially Lagway. This is a young team and we do not lose much from it. The key to me is if things start to fall in place that we do not delay the changes that have to be made to get to the next level, much the same way Saban has focused on continuous improvement regardless of how successful they were. This is already a good defense, it's scary to think just how good they could be next year on that side of the ball. I'm not going to propose many changes at all on that side, just need to continue to develop the talent they have and sign the ones who are committed. The offensive side is where the opportunity is. We need an OC, have heard that is the plan hopefully they don't rationalize their way out of it. I think the value isn't just in better offensive performance but freeing up Napier to focus on other aspects (game/clock management, player rotations, special teams, complete oversight). The other opportunity is changing our Portal approach. We have to be aggressive in the Portal in November and December and not wait for the scraps in January. We will know by early December if the approach has changed, you will either see Transfer OV's those Dec weekends or you won't, the latter a sign that not much or not enough has changed. I think we could use 2 maybe 3 OL from the Portal, plus 1 maybe 2 WR.,
We will also have no choice but to be more assertive in making sure the right people portal out, it's sort of an optional choice today, unfortunately given the numbers (culture argument becomes irrelevant) that won't be possible this Winter. Each spot in the 85 limit has to be viewed as an opportunity for improvement and address vulnerabilities in the roster. While this seems like a no-brainer, I don't think it's going to be easy to make that mindset jump especially since they will likely have to dip into "their players" since there are likely not enough Mullen players on the team to find the necessary numbers. We've seen the PG-13 Napier, is he ready to be the Rated R Napier (apologies to Swingers movie) that we likely need to move the program forward? I hope so.
No telling what the rest of the season has for us, but I'm going to presume there will be more peaks and valleys, with both negative and positive surprises. Let's keep plowing ahead and building. We all know we aren't where we want to be long term, so we don't need to be constantly reminded of that. Enjoy the climb up, even if it isn't always a straight line.
It's certainly feasible to say that the Tennessee game is a better indicator than the Utah game, but each game is its own test and it's hard to ignore that BN is 1-5 in road games and 1-7 in all games away from the Swamp. So this learning to win process is likely still a work in progress. The at Kentucky game is a perfect opponent to continue that progress. Kentucky has 3 Non-Power 5 wins and faces Vandy this weekend, so they have not had a real challenge before UF comes to town. UF having already faced Utah and Tennessee. Very winnable game, but again we can't ignore they have beaten UF the last 2 years and 3 of the last 5 and yes this game is away from the Swamp. We don't likely have the firepower and downfield passing game to get out to huge leads, so there's likely several close games ahead and hopefully Smack will solidify the kicking game because its likely to be needed at some point in the season. Yesterday's win buys us some time to continue making progress without the noise in the system.
To me, this is still about getting to the end of the season and getting that class signed, especially Lagway. This is a young team and we do not lose much from it. The key to me is if things start to fall in place that we do not delay the changes that have to be made to get to the next level, much the same way Saban has focused on continuous improvement regardless of how successful they were. This is already a good defense, it's scary to think just how good they could be next year on that side of the ball. I'm not going to propose many changes at all on that side, just need to continue to develop the talent they have and sign the ones who are committed. The offensive side is where the opportunity is. We need an OC, have heard that is the plan hopefully they don't rationalize their way out of it. I think the value isn't just in better offensive performance but freeing up Napier to focus on other aspects (game/clock management, player rotations, special teams, complete oversight). The other opportunity is changing our Portal approach. We have to be aggressive in the Portal in November and December and not wait for the scraps in January. We will know by early December if the approach has changed, you will either see Transfer OV's those Dec weekends or you won't, the latter a sign that not much or not enough has changed. I think we could use 2 maybe 3 OL from the Portal, plus 1 maybe 2 WR.,
We will also have no choice but to be more assertive in making sure the right people portal out, it's sort of an optional choice today, unfortunately given the numbers (culture argument becomes irrelevant) that won't be possible this Winter. Each spot in the 85 limit has to be viewed as an opportunity for improvement and address vulnerabilities in the roster. While this seems like a no-brainer, I don't think it's going to be easy to make that mindset jump especially since they will likely have to dip into "their players" since there are likely not enough Mullen players on the team to find the necessary numbers. We've seen the PG-13 Napier, is he ready to be the Rated R Napier (apologies to Swingers movie) that we likely need to move the program forward? I hope so.
No telling what the rest of the season has for us, but I'm going to presume there will be more peaks and valleys, with both negative and positive surprises. Let's keep plowing ahead and building. We all know we aren't where we want to be long term, so we don't need to be constantly reminded of that. Enjoy the climb up, even if it isn't always a straight line.
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