Best team ever

[Boomer]

19 hours ago, dabull80 said:

The never ending of comparing teams of the past with teams to come.

And don't forget comparing conferences of the past as well.

Still have to see what the defense has done during the off-season.  I'm one of those that doesn't think we'd have had such a great season if we were still in the Big East and played defense like we did last year.  No doubt in my mind our offense is the best (even considering old teams and conferences), but we need to get the defense up to par for it to be the best "team."

[Who'sYourData?]

18 hours ago, The Sheriff said:

Going to say it right now... this is the best team we've had on paper in a long time. Rodney Adams was a great receiver, but in my opinion, I played with two receivers that were better than Adams back in 2000 (DeAndrew Rubin and Scott McCready). Adams is replacable. I personally think DJ was the best back on our team. I liked Mack a lot, but not as much as DJ. If Flowers can continue to improve similar to how Blackwell, BJ and Grothe improved, then our defense is the wild card.

Personally, I think our biggest gain was in coaching. I liked Taggart for two reasons - he could recruit the Bay area and he didn't think twice about playing 60 minutes of football (especially against a school like UCF). I still enjoy thinking about him throwing it deep in the last minute against them. I still don't think Taggart was an X's and O's type guy - just my opinion based on the entirety of his body of work for his tenure here. Most people won't agree with me - but hey, it's an opinion.

Anyways... the horrible schedule coincides with the best team we've had to date. At least it makes booking the Peach Bowl hotel rooms and flights more affordable as we know where we'll be playing on 1/1/2018. 

Whoa, I agree with The Sheriff!

Well stated, sir.

[BullyPulpit]

21 hours ago, Brad said:

 

I pulled these quotes from another thread where the quality of OOC opponents current and future was being debated.

I can't get my head around how this team could be considered (potentially) the best ever.  Potentially is the key, I know.  Yes it could happen.  But what's the basis of the argument? Just to be better than last year, we have to somehow compensate for losing two greats in Mack and Adams.  That's a big ? in my books.  When I think best ever, I think of teams from the past that were significantly better defensively than we were last year.

I wrote last season that Flowers/Mack/Adams may have been the best QB/RB/WR combo ever, and now it's gone?  Addition from subtraction?  Lot of people banking on DJ, The Strong Defense along with a more regularly contributing MVS and McCants.  

I'm not really able to assess whether this is potentially the greatest team of all time.  I'm still concerned with whether it's improved over last year's squad.

 

The second quote you cited from the OOC schedule discussion is attributable to me. I posted the other day about being 18-4 over the past 22 games. Granted, there are no marquee wins in there, but I think the 3 consecutive games thrashing Temple, Cincy, and UCF in 2015 was pretty darn impressive. Couple that with last year's 11-2 season despite having a spotty defense, and I see the possibility of big things this season. I think I agree with a few of those others that have responded to your query in that 1. QF is the most dynamic play maker we have ever had on the offensive side of the ball, 2. Gilbert has been deemed an offensive genius by many, so I have hopes he can actually improve upon what the Taggart regime built, and 3. CCS has the defensive pedigree that makes me believe we will see a marked improvement over the Woodie coached team of last season. Too often players were out of position, blowing assignments, and we really didn't seem to consistently know how or when to blitz. I think that changes this season. If we can maintain the offense and Strong can get us to just a top 50 caliber defense, we should be favored to win every game. To me, regardless of the perceived level of competition, if we go 14-0 or 13-1, that will make the 2017 Bulls the best iteration to date.  

[Skingraft]

Stats: 2016

Strength of Schedule W/L: 2007

[usfgrad84]

My opinion is this will be a better all around team.  I never like to compare a team of one era to another.  

My opinion on Adams is that he was just a good runner and we were smart enough to run an offense that took advantage of his outside speed.  I think we lose very little in offensive productivity this year, it will just be different.  Instead of spreading the field horizontally I think we spread it vertically.  I believe we will see a lot more downfield completions and that will then give Flowers even more open field space with green in front of him.

I really am not concerned about losing Mack.  Tice and Johnson are both proven backs.  Even if rushing yards from the backs comes from 2 guys instead of just 1 I see little dropoff in total productivity.

I can only expect the defense to be improved.  I see more pressure from the DL which allows less pressure on the secondary because they have to cover guys for so long.

The thing I have been most impressed with Flowers is his ability to not mistakes.  He makes very few dumb passes and if you look at the majority of interceptions have been in meaningless situations.  He very rarely, if ever, makes a dumb turnover at bad times.

As far as the schedule and becoming a top ten team, I have said this before on here, my opinion is we need to take the same approach, in every game, that UCONN Girls basketball does.  If we blow teams out by 50 and 60 points the style points should give us enough attention to keep us recognized as a better team.  Hopefully, Strong has that mentality and don't play a gentlemanly game.  With this schedule, the goal has to not be just win, but to win decisively and dominantly.  If Alabama beats the lesser team 70-3 with no shame, we have to take that same mentality in every game and prove to the powers that be that we are worthy of a top ranking, otherwise we are just going to be considered a good team in a bad league.  I feel this the only way to take the next step.

 

 

[NewEnglandBull]

17 minutes ago, usfgrad84 said:

My opinion is this will be a better all around team.  I never like to compare a team of one era to another.  

My opinion on Adams is that he was just a good runner and we were smart enough to run an offense that took advantage of his outside speed.  I think we lose very little in offensive productivity this year, it will just be different.  Instead of spreading the field horizontally I think we spread it vertically.  I believe we will see a lot more downfield completions and that will then give Flowers even more open field space with green in front of him.

I really am not concerned about losing Mack.  Tice and Johnson are both proven backs.  Even if rushing yards from the backs comes from 2 guys instead of just 1 I see little dropoff in total productivity.

I can only expect the defense to be improved.  I see more pressure from the DL which allows less pressure on the secondary because they have to cover guys for so long.

The thing I have been most impressed with Flowers is his ability to not mistakes.  He makes very few dumb passes and if you look at the majority of interceptions have been in meaningless situations.  He very rarely, if ever, makes a dumb turnover at bad times.

As far as the schedule and becoming a top ten team, I have said this before on here, my opinion is we need to take the same approach, in every game, that UCONN Girls basketball does.  If we blow teams out by 50 and 60 points the style points should give us enough attention to keep us recognized as a better team.  Hopefully, Strong has that mentality and don't play a gentlemanly game.  With this schedule, the goal has to not be just win, but to win decisively and dominantly.  If Alabama beats the lesser team 70-3 with no shame, we have to take that same mentality in every game and prove to the powers that be that we are worthy of a top ranking, otherwise we are just going to be considered a good team in a bad league.  I feel this the only way to take the next step.

 

 

+1000 run up the score every game you have a chance. It's not our problem but the other teams. 

[JoeB]

I'll wait until we finish the season before I make the claim that this is the best team ever.  Hard to tell from the Spring Game.

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

On 6/25/2017 at 2:19 PM, The Sheriff said:

 

Personally, I think our biggest gain was in coaching. I liked Taggart for two reasons - he could recruit the Bay area and he didn't think twice about playing 60 minutes of football (especially against a school like UCF). I still enjoy thinking about him throwing it deep in the last minute against them. I still don't think Taggart was an X's and O's type guy - just my opinion based on the entirety of his body of work for his tenure here. Most people won't agree with me - but hey, it's an opinion.

 

I totally agree with this. Loved when he tried to bury the opponents right up to the end of game and he could recruit but I don't think he was a good game manager or X's and O's guy.

[DELdaBull]

We have big shoes to fill on offense AND have to actually stop somebody on defense. 

[BullyPulpit]

42 minutes ago, DELdaBull said:

We have big shoes to fill on offense AND have to actually stop somebody on defense. 

I think part of the problem last year was fatigue. Our offense was scoring in under two minutes rather frequently. Our defense did OK on first and second down, but third and fourth down we were definitely below average. We were 114th in the nation in time of possession. Our defense was on the field too long. We didn't give up an exceptional amount of big plays to opposing teams, but we were hurt on third and long quite frequently. Additionally, our team scoring so much led to other teams going for it on 4th down a disproportionate number of times. We had the 4th most 4th down attempts against us in the nation and allowed over a 50% conversion rate. I think part of the key to improving the defense will be shoring up the 3rd and 4th down defense and finding ways to make sure our defense stays fresher.