[gocard14]

I know it's a bit premature, but I was curious about people's thoughts on the team next year. IMO the biggest factor by far will be whether we can adequately replace Anderson, Perry, and Leuders on the D-line. 

QB: My thought is Hogan comes back unless it is clear that he will lose the starting job, either way we should have stability or improvement.  (=)

OL: If Peat stays the Oline should be improved next year based on the dramatic improvement we've seen over the last 3-4 weeks of this year. (up)

RB: We will at least be stable, and I'm hopeful that an offseason with Turley can turn McCaffrey into more of an every down back. (up)

TE: Tight ends are young and should continue to improve, plus the addition of Dalton Schultz (up)

WR: We take a hit with Montgomery leaving.  But our offense showed against UCLA that it can function just fine without montgomery at WR. Cajuste and Rector are back, and Owusu looks poised for a big step up here. (down)

D-line: The big question mark. We lose 3 of our top 4 DLs, including 2 studs in Anderson and Parry.  Coming back we have Shittu, who looks good but injury prone, Phillips, who looked good but undersized, Kaumatule, who is athletic but inconsistent, and people who have not yet seen the field (hoping for big things from Solomon Thomas). At best we can hope for a mild drop off, but regardless of how the starters play our D-line depth will again be a major concern. (way down) 

LB: We lose Vaughters and Tarpley, but have a lot of talent waiting to increase rotation time including Kalambayi, davis, palma, alfieri, etc. We have shown ourselves to be quite adept at replacing stud linebackers and I don't forsee a major problem here. (=)

DB: Assuming Carter stays and Lyons gets a 5th year from the NCAA, we lose Richards (big loss), and Olugbode. We will need Whitfield and others to step forward, but should still have an excellent DB corps. (down)

Special teams is another important factor: We went from excellent to terrible on ST this year and that made a key difference in several of our losses.  Lot of room for improvement here.

By my count we should have improvement at most positions on offense and a mild to moderate regression on defense.  That being said, looking at losses at the end of the year always paints a negative picture as it fails to account for the contributions of incoming redshirt and true freshman and reserves.  Our defense has shown to be especially adept at replacing departing talent, though if we don't have the bodies on the D-line there's only so much scheme can cover for that. The schedule is also much kinder next year about home vs. away splits, but I would be shocked if our non-conference slate of ND, northwestern, and UCF was not the toughest in the country.

This should be a team with upside to compete for a Pac-12 title or even the playoff with a few breaks in our direction, while the lower bound being little improvement on offense with a regression on defense leading to a 6-6 record.

[gocard14]

I know it's a bit premature, but I was curious about people's thoughts on the team next year. IMO the biggest factor by far will be whether we can adequately replace Anderson, Perry, and Leuders on the D-line. 

QB: My thought is Hogan comes back unless it is clear that he will lose the starting job, either way we should have stability or improvement.  (=)

OL: If Peat stays the Oline should be improved next year based on the dramatic improvement we've seen over the last 3-4 weeks of this year. (up)

RB: We will at least be stable, and I'm hopeful that an offseason with Turley can turn McCaffrey into more of an every down back. (up)

TE: Tight ends are young and should continue to improve, plus the addition of Dalton Schultz (up)

WR: We take a hit with Montgomery leaving.  But our offense showed against UCLA that it can function just fine without montgomery at WR. Cajuste and Rector are back, and Owusu looks poised for a big step up here. (down)

D-line: The big question mark. We lose 3 of our top 4 DLs, including 2 studs in Anderson and Parry.  Coming back we have Shittu, who looks good but injury prone, Phillips, who looked good but undersized, Kaumatule, who is athletic but inconsistent, and people who have not yet seen the field (hoping for big things from Solomon Thomas). At best we can hope for a mild drop off, but regardless of how the starters play our D-line depth will again be a major concern. (way down) 

LB: We lose Vaughters and Tarpley, but have a lot of talent waiting to increase rotation time including Kalambayi, davis, palma, alfieri, etc. We have shown ourselves to be quite adept at replacing stud linebackers and I don't forsee a major problem here. (=)

DB: Assuming Carter stays and Lyons gets a 5th year from the NCAA, we lose Richards (big loss), and Olugbode. We will need Whitfield and others to step forward, but should still have an excellent DB corps. (down)

Special teams is another important factor: We went from excellent to terrible on ST this year and that made a key difference in several of our losses.  Lot of room for improvement here.

By my count we should have improvement at most positions on offense and a mild to moderate regression on defense.  That being said, looking at losses at the end of the year always paints a negative picture as it fails to account for the contributions of incoming redshirt and true freshman and reserves.  Our defense has shown to be especially adept at replacing departing talent, though if we don't have the bodies on the D-line there's only so much scheme can cover for that. The schedule is also much kinder next year about home vs. away splits, but I would be shocked if our non-conference slate of ND, northwestern, and UCF was not the toughest in the country.

This should be a team with upside to compete for a Pac-12 title or even the playoff with a few breaks in our direction, while the lower bound being little improvement on offense with a regression on defense leading to a 6-6 record.