For good reason, many people are saying 2015 will be a "rebuilding year" and there seems to be more uncertainty going in than any season I can remember. Well pour yourself a glass of Kool-Aid and put on your garnet and gold glasses and indulge with me in discussing a few factors that will be working in our favor this season...
1. Everett Golson. He's played in a National Championship before. He has played on the road in a hostile environment. And he did well. Golson went 18-1 heading into the game vs. FSU last season. That's a remarkable record few QBs have achieved. Obviously after playing FSU the wheels fell off. But Coach Fisher, unlike Brian Kelly, has a record of getting the most out of his QBs and you can be sure that under Fisher, Golson will improve to some degree. Perhaps most importantly, Golson will have better talent around him on offense and a young group on the Offensive Line that will protect him as well as or better than what he had in South Bend.
2. Improvement on defense. Last year, while our defense kept us in a few games, it was also one of the most frustrating years for an FSU defense since Mickey Andrews' later years as our DC. Considering we lost a boat load of talent to the NFL going into last season, we will have one more year of familarity with Kelly's scheme/philosophy and also, the hiring of Brad Lawing is going to be felt more than people realize. We have no where to go but up. We have way too much talent to underachieve again. And considering FSU is the biggest job Kelly has ever had, he has to know that another season like last year and he will be shown the door.
3. Favorable schedule. Yes, the Miami-Louisville-GT stretch of our schedule will be brutal, but keep in mind, of those three games, we get Miami and Louisville at home. GT is arguably the toughest and most physical game on our schedule, and we get Syracuse at home the week after to rest up and prepare for Clemson. As for Clemson, they get Miami and NC State on the road in the weeks leading up to our game with them. Also, as mentioned, Golson won't have a learning curve playing in hostile environments. From there, the schedule is much more manageable with NC State and Chatanooga at home and a severely weakened UF in Gainesville. Bottom line on our schedule: We have 3 tough road games at Boston College, GT, and Clemson. We will likely have the QB that came into Doak and almost beat us last year now running our offense. The home field advantage of our opponents won't be what it would be if we had SMag or another new QB under center.
All in all, I feel cautiously optimistic about this season. We always look ahead to future years as "our year." If you remember correctly, 2014 was supposed to be "our year" with 2013 as a year to break in a redshirt freshman QB and as we saw, it turned out being historic. I'm not saying that will happen again, but crazier things have happened in college football. With all of the talent we have and if a few things break our way, don't be surprised if we end up back in the College Football Playoff picture.
1. Everett Golson. He's played in a National Championship before. He has played on the road in a hostile environment. And he did well. Golson went 18-1 heading into the game vs. FSU last season. That's a remarkable record few QBs have achieved. Obviously after playing FSU the wheels fell off. But Coach Fisher, unlike Brian Kelly, has a record of getting the most out of his QBs and you can be sure that under Fisher, Golson will improve to some degree. Perhaps most importantly, Golson will have better talent around him on offense and a young group on the Offensive Line that will protect him as well as or better than what he had in South Bend.
2. Improvement on defense. Last year, while our defense kept us in a few games, it was also one of the most frustrating years for an FSU defense since Mickey Andrews' later years as our DC. Considering we lost a boat load of talent to the NFL going into last season, we will have one more year of familarity with Kelly's scheme/philosophy and also, the hiring of Brad Lawing is going to be felt more than people realize. We have no where to go but up. We have way too much talent to underachieve again. And considering FSU is the biggest job Kelly has ever had, he has to know that another season like last year and he will be shown the door.
3. Favorable schedule. Yes, the Miami-Louisville-GT stretch of our schedule will be brutal, but keep in mind, of those three games, we get Miami and Louisville at home. GT is arguably the toughest and most physical game on our schedule, and we get Syracuse at home the week after to rest up and prepare for Clemson. As for Clemson, they get Miami and NC State on the road in the weeks leading up to our game with them. Also, as mentioned, Golson won't have a learning curve playing in hostile environments. From there, the schedule is much more manageable with NC State and Chatanooga at home and a severely weakened UF in Gainesville. Bottom line on our schedule: We have 3 tough road games at Boston College, GT, and Clemson. We will likely have the QB that came into Doak and almost beat us last year now running our offense. The home field advantage of our opponents won't be what it would be if we had SMag or another new QB under center.
All in all, I feel cautiously optimistic about this season. We always look ahead to future years as "our year." If you remember correctly, 2014 was supposed to be "our year" with 2013 as a year to break in a redshirt freshman QB and as we saw, it turned out being historic. I'm not saying that will happen again, but crazier things have happened in college football. With all of the talent we have and if a few things break our way, don't be surprised if we end up back in the College Football Playoff picture.
