[stupac2]

I'm not particularly worried about the coaching staff. Shaw has shown a good eye for talent, so far at least. And, really, this isn't a whole lot of turnover. A lot of internal promotion, which means people don't need to learn much new, even if they're in a different spot. I don't think we'll see that much of a drop from last year on offense, and if we find a few good replacements in key spots (or if we finally find some wide receivers) we might be improved.

The worrying thing is that the offense wasn't great last year. But at the same time, great defense combined with "good enough" offense is a recipe that can work at all levels.

Is this a top 5 preseason team? I don't know, preseason polls are meaningless, and I have no idea where on the scale of things our turnover really is. (How many coaches/players did Alabama lose? I don't know.) But at the same time I don't really care what people outside the program think about us, I doubt we'll ever have USC's arrogant sense of entitlement that doomed them this year, so I don't see why it matters. Temper your own expectations and let the bloviators bloviate.

We'll have a much better idea of what this team will be after Spring Game.

[stupac2]

I'm not particularly worried about the coaching staff. Shaw has shown a good eye for talent, so far at least. And, really, this isn't a whole lot of turnover. A lot of internal promotion, which means people don't need to learn much new, even if they're in a different spot. I don't think we'll see that much of a drop from last year on offense, and if we find a few good replacements in key spots (or if we finally find some wide receivers) we might be improved.

The worrying thing is that the offense wasn't great last year. But at the same time, great defense combined with "good enough" offense is a recipe that can work at all levels.

Is this a top 5 preseason team? I don't know, preseason polls are meaningless, and I have no idea where on the scale of things our turnover really is. (How many coaches/players did Alabama lose? I don't know.) But at the same time I don't really care what people outside the program think about us, I doubt we'll ever have USC's arrogant sense of entitlement that doomed them this year, so I don't see why it matters. Temper your own expectations and let the bloviators bloviate.

We'll have a much better idea of what this team will be after Spring Game.