[stupac2]

"We have a better and deeper team now than Luck ever had, and if we lose momentum next year, I doubt it will be the QB's fault"

If we have a better and deeper team next year, which I agree we will, it would most likely be the QBs fault that we regress.  If you do believe the rest of the team is better and deeper.

Well, yes and no. A big part of why we expect improvement is that:

1) The defense should be a lot better.
2) The running game should be no worse.
3) The passing game and QB rushing will likely decline, but not a lot.

Any of those things can go wrong without it really being the QBs fault. Our run game sucked last year with Hogan, but it wasn't his fault our OL played like hot garbage for a bunch of the year. If that recurs then we're sunk. Similarly, we got by this year with a middling defense because our offense was elite, but if the offense goes back to the 2013 level of "good, not elite" then the defense needs to step up. If it doesn't, which would be no fault of the QB, then we have a problem.

The way our scheme is designed we should be able to be an elite team with merely competent QB play. But it requires a good, coherent OL and a capable defense. If it's missing either of those latter things then we need more than competent QB play. So it goes both ways.

[stupac2]

"We have a better and deeper team now than Luck ever had, and if we lose momentum next year, I doubt it will be the QB's fault"

If we have a better and deeper team next year, which I agree we will, it would most likely be the QBs fault that we regress.  If you do believe the rest of the team is better and deeper.

Well, yes and no. A big part of why we expect improvement is that:

1) The defense should be a lot better.
2) The running game should be no worse.
3) The passing game and QB rushing will likely decline, but not a lot.

Any of those things can go wrong without it really being the QBs fault. Our run game sucked last year with Hogan, but it wasn't his fault our OL played like hot garbage for a bunch of the year. If that recurs then we're sunk. Similarly, we got by this year with a middling defense because our offense was elite, but if the offense goes back to the 2013 level of "good, not elite" then the defense needs to step up. If it doesn't, which would be no fault of the QB, then we have a problem.

The way our scheme is designed we should be able to be an elite team with merely competent QB play. But it requires a good, coherent OL and a capable defense. If it's missing either of those latter things then we need more than competent QB play. So it goes both ways.