Almost everyone that has watched this team agrees it is better than last year. After thinking about this for a week, I am not giving up on this team creating some special moments yet this year. Here's my thinking.
The 2013 team was a very young team. It was a rebuilding year. Looking back at who was playing that year and you'll find some of the same guys on the 2015 team. That youth is now seasoned experience. A missing ingredient is that they haven't tasted much success. More on that later.
2014 started off badly when 2 of our best defensive linemen were kicked off the team before the season started. And when the backup center (he's the 2015 starter) went down on the first day of fall camp, it should have prepared us for what was yet to come. Injuries just wiped out this team and the lack of depth showed on the field. Thinking about how this played out, well, I've had better nightmares.
So here we are in 2015. We have a lot of experience on this team. We have depth at many positions. The defense has looked really good, with the exception of a few breakdowns which all teams have. There is not many excuses for the offense not to be better. We are inexperienced at running back, but if you are going to be inexperienced anywhere, that is probably a good place for it. Offensive line depth is thin, but the starters and the first couple of backups are solid. We've had some trouble in the first two games, which is a bit puzzling, but things started to click in the Toledo game. And we've identified our main running back. Good things should lie ahead for this group.
So having time to reflect on where we were and where we are now, I see no reason why we can't have an enjoyable season. So one might ask what was wrong in the two losses. I really believe that when you look at what we have this year relative to the last two years, we shouldn't be struggling. What I think is our biggest issue is that this group of players hasn't experienced success and doesn't know how to win. What's that mean? It's means they don't have the confidence that they can make the plays that matter when the game is on the line. It means they don't expect to win.
Hopefully the Kansas game will provide the opportunity for this team to get some mojo going. We are good enough to win some games so hopefully with some success that breeds confidence, we can take down Texas Tech. And maybe then we will be up for the challenge when the big guys come up on the schedule. I still think some good times will occur this year. Sorry for being so long winded.
The 2013 team was a very young team. It was a rebuilding year. Looking back at who was playing that year and you'll find some of the same guys on the 2015 team. That youth is now seasoned experience. A missing ingredient is that they haven't tasted much success. More on that later.
2014 started off badly when 2 of our best defensive linemen were kicked off the team before the season started. And when the backup center (he's the 2015 starter) went down on the first day of fall camp, it should have prepared us for what was yet to come. Injuries just wiped out this team and the lack of depth showed on the field. Thinking about how this played out, well, I've had better nightmares.
So here we are in 2015. We have a lot of experience on this team. We have depth at many positions. The defense has looked really good, with the exception of a few breakdowns which all teams have. There is not many excuses for the offense not to be better. We are inexperienced at running back, but if you are going to be inexperienced anywhere, that is probably a good place for it. Offensive line depth is thin, but the starters and the first couple of backups are solid. We've had some trouble in the first two games, which is a bit puzzling, but things started to click in the Toledo game. And we've identified our main running back. Good things should lie ahead for this group.
So having time to reflect on where we were and where we are now, I see no reason why we can't have an enjoyable season. So one might ask what was wrong in the two losses. I really believe that when you look at what we have this year relative to the last two years, we shouldn't be struggling. What I think is our biggest issue is that this group of players hasn't experienced success and doesn't know how to win. What's that mean? It's means they don't have the confidence that they can make the plays that matter when the game is on the line. It means they don't expect to win.
Hopefully the Kansas game will provide the opportunity for this team to get some mojo going. We are good enough to win some games so hopefully with some success that breeds confidence, we can take down Texas Tech. And maybe then we will be up for the challenge when the big guys come up on the schedule. I still think some good times will occur this year. Sorry for being so long winded.
